Former Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams Running For Detroit Mayor

DETROIT — Anthony Adams was once Kwame Kilpatrick's right-hand man. Now, he is running to become the mayor of Detroit, a position Kilpatrick once held and a seat currently filled by Mike Duggan.

Adams announced his campaign plans Tuesday in a video posted to social media on the Facebook page Anthony Adams For Mayor. The former city deputy mayor said his campaign focus will be on "We, Detroit."

"Anyone who lives in Detroit knows that the city is at a crossroad," Adams said in a statement. "We, Detroit, deserve so much more. Unless it is an election year, the residents of Detroit are placed on the backburner and have to wait to be acknowledged from the current administration. My campaign is about empowering our city's residents and restoring a strong sense of pride for all Detroiters."

Adams, an attorney, is the first person to formally announce plans to run against Duggan in the city's mayoral race but The Detroit Free Press reported Tuesday that Myya Jones, who lost in the 2017 Detroit mayoral race, and Cheryl Webb, have created campaign committees.

Duggan announced in December that he would run for reelection.

According to his campaign website bio, Adams is a former school board president in Detroit and interim Director of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.

In addition to working under Kilpatrick when he was mayor, Adams also served as an executive assistant to former mayor Coleman Young.

Kilpatrick, 50, served more than seven years of a 28-year prison sentence for corruption crimes before having his sentence commuted by former President Donald Trump. He was released from a minimum-security prison in Oakdale, Louisiana, last week.