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Detroit mayoral candidates vow to be specific about their fix-it plans

Napoleon campaign website

With the primary behind them, both top-place finishers say voters will hear plenty of specifics about how each would tackle Detroit's problems if elected mayor of the city.

Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon received the second largest number of votes.

"We will both present a written plan, I am sure," Napoleon told Michigan Radio's Stateside program the day after the election.  "I am in the process of finalizing mine and putting it out for the world to scrutinize."

Napoleon says he was outspent by Mike Duggan by a five to one margin in the primary.  He says he will do much better among the larger group of voters who turn out for general elections.

Duggan waged what some considered a long-shot write-in campaign, yet he finished a strong first.

Credit Duggan for Detroit
Mike Duggan on primary night

He said voters heard plenty of specifics from him at the hundreds of house parties he attended, where he says he recruited 5,ooo volunteers.

But publicly, most of his attention was focused on making sure voters who supported him knew the correct process for writing a candidate's name on the ballot - and spelling that name right.

Duggan says he'll use his image as a turnaround CEO to achieve his first priority.

"I'm hoping that the business leaders and the community leaders that supported me join me in going to the governor right after November 5th," Duggan told Stateside's Cynthia Canty, "asking him to dissolve the emergency manager and return Detroit back to the elected officials selected by the voters."

Detroit is under the control of  state-appointed emergency financial manager Kevyn Orr, who filed for bankruptcy on behalf of the city in July.

Orr says he plans to stay in the job for 18 months, which would make September, 2014 the date of his departure, nearly eight months into the term of the next mayor of the city.

Tracy Samilton covers energy and transportation, including the auto industry and the business response to climate change for Michigan Public. She began her career at Michigan Public as an intern, where she was promptly “bitten by the radio bug,” and never recovered.