Detroit mayoral candidates Ken Cockrel Jr. (l.) and David Bing (r.) (Photo: Minehaha Forman)

DETROIT — There were no major surprises in Tuesday’s special mayoral primary, with interim Mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr. and businessman David Bing emerging as the two winners who will advance to the next round of elections, set for May 5. The results echo pre-election polling, which showed the two leading the field of 15 candidates.

At their primary-night victory parties, Bing, who secured 29 percent of the vote, and Cockrel, who came in second with 27 percent, wasted no time attacking each other.

Speaking to a crowd of 200 supporters at the Doubletree Hotel downtown, Bing called for more transparency in city government and said that he would only debate Cockrel, the former city council president, if he discloses his personal finances. “Then and only then, will I debate him.”

Cockrel gave an uncharacteristically fiery speech calling Bing a carpetbagger who moved to Detroit from a gated community in Detroit’s Oakland County suburbs to run for mayor. Cockrel called for six debates with Bing, accusing the businessman of buying his way into Detroit politics. “Money can’t buy you the knowledge to turn this city around,” the interim mayor told 300 supporters during his victory speech at the Atheneum Suites in Greektown.

Bing accused Cockrel of offering more of the same in Detroit politics. “My opponent is holding on to the past,” he said.

Bing invited the unsuccessful mayoral candidates to help him pool ideas on how to change the city for the better. “A lot of the other candidates have some good ideas,” Bing told a cheering crowd of supporters. “I don’t think I have all the answers. Because of that, I want to invite them to have this conversation about what is best for this city.

On Wednesday, Bing accused Cockrel of botching a proposed deal to sell Cobo Center to a regional authority, which would have allowed for the convention facility’s expansion. The City Council voted to retain control of Cobo on Tuesday. As the Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday, Bing said the interim mayor should have lined up enough City Council support behind the agreement when the city, state and suburban leaders were forging the deal back in December. “You don’t bring a deal to the table unless you know it’s going to be approved,” Bing said, according to the Free Press.

In Tuesday’s vote, former Deputy Mayor Freman Hendrix came in third with 23 percent and Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans was fourth with 10 percent.

Hendrix won’t run again in the regular election, which will start with a primary on Aug. 4 , according to Paul Garwood, a close family friend. “You can only run so many times before you get a loser tag,” Garwood told Michigan Messenger. “I call it the Sharon McPhail syndrome,” he said, referring to the attorney and former city council member who has unsuccessfully run for mayor three times before.

With about 100 people at his election party, Hendrix showed he had a strong support base but not enough to make the May 5 ballot. Before the results were announced, one Hendrix supporter who would only identify himself as Harvey, showed his disdain for the two leading candidates. “If Bing and Cockrel win, I’m buying a revolver and a bottle of whiskey,” he said.

Rev. Nick Hood III, who did not make the top five in Tuesday’s primary, told Michigan Messenger he ran the best ground campaign with campaign literature mailings, phone calls, door-to-door canvassing, billboards and bus ads to get votes.

Hood, a former city council member, ran for mayor in 2005 and did not say whether he would run again in the upcoming general election later this year. “We’ll take that day by day,” said Michael Carroll, a Hood spokesman.

The candidate who wins the May 5 special election will fill the remainder of Kwame Kilpatrick’s mayoral term. Candidates will return to campaign trail after that vote to run in the November general election. A primary is set for Aug. 4. The victor in the general election will take office in January.

Following slideshow features photos from campaign celebrations and polling places: