Janice Winfrey Keeps City Clerk Job
Less than 1,500 votes separate Detroit City Clerk candidates in unofficial results.
In Detroit’s closest race this Election Day, City Clerk Janice Winfrey narrowly defeated challenger Garlin Gilchrist II.
With all the precincts counted, Winfrey’s votes totaled 49,882 (51 percent) to Gilchrist’s 48,400 (49 percent). Early results gave Gilchrist the lead but as the final 150 precincts came in, Winfrey moved ahead.
She declined to speak to media at the city’s election headquarters. But her husband, former Detroit School Board Member Tyrone Winfrey, is a spokesman for her campaign.
“Her campaign slogan was ‘continue the progress.’ And the things she’s implemented — cleaning up the dead voter files, the technology she’s brought to this office, the young people she’s hired — the constituents of Detroit are saying ‘continue with that,'” he said.
Gilchrist, meanwhile, hosted a party at the Jam Handy where he told supporters his campaign was about more than the election.
“This is part of what the staying power of a movement looks like, and I’m excited and thankful and humbled that so many of you have chosen to be part of this. Not just today, not just tonight, but really since March when we got started,” he said. “We’re going to keep working and making sure that every Detroiter that had enough confidence to cast a vote today, that had enough confidence to put an absentee ballot in the mail, that they’re going to believe that their vote was handled properly.”
WDET’s Laura Herberg and Bre’Anna Tinsley contributed to this report.
