Detroit race for Mayor stays slow with primary two months away

It’s December already and the February primary for Detroit’s special mayoral election is only two months away.

But in Detroit signs that a mayoral race is underway are just starting to show. Two weeks ago a public forum in which seven mayoral candidates voiced their agendas to 200 attendees at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American history took place.

Detroit Mayor candidate Nick Hood billboard on I-75

On an individual level, the 15 candidates who are in the running have not been very visible. The only signs of a campaign have come in the form of flyers from Wayne county Sherriff Warren Evans that were stuffed into various Detroiters mailboxes inviting them to his campaign “kick off” on November 12th.

Detroit Mayor candidate Nick Hood Billboard on Gratiot

Perhaps the candidate who has started his campaigning the earliest has been Nick Hood III, pastor at Plymouth Church of Christ who has three large CBS billboards in heavy traffic areas: two on Interstate highway I-75 (one for northbound and one for southbound traffic) and one on Detroit’s east side near Gratiot and Chene. Hood has also invested in ads on DDOT buses around the city, making him the candidate with the most visible ad campaign of the group.

Hood has also seems to have outspent his competitors so far. A CBS billboard on an interstate highway costs $4,000 a month. Hood has paid for two CBS billboards on I-75 for two months now, plus his expenditures on the Gratiot billboard and bus ads which probably cost another $4,000 a month. Unless he got a really good deal he’s already spent more than $25,000 on his campaign.

Detroit mayor candidate WArren Evans' flyer

What’s surprising is that none of the candidates have bought any TV or radio ads yet. These ads cost are considerably less than a highway billboard and could reach more people than passing out fliers. Plus, a billboard can only say so much. A TV ad could better inform the public on where these candidates stand.