Interim Mayor Londeau, Rep. Coleman advance in race for Westland mayor

Interim Mayor Mike Londeau and state Rep. Kevin Coleman are headed for a general election showdown in November after they advanced from Tuesday's six candidate primary battle to replace former longtime Mayor Bill Wild.

Londeau finished with 44% of the vote to Coleman's 41%, according to unofficial results posted by the Westland city clerk's office. They will square off in three months to see who will fill the two remaining years of the term of Wild, who led the city for 16 years before resigning in January to take a private sector job.

Trailing the front runners were City Council member Jim Godbout at 8% and Ali Awadi at 4%. Anthony Jones, a 56-year-old truck driver and U.S. Army veteran, finished with 1%, while Ronald Sassak, 71, had 0.4%.

The turnout of 15.8% of Westland's registered voters was slightly lower than the 16.4% who participated in the last mayoral primary in 2021.

Coleman's advancement to the general election could affect the Michigan Democrats' narrow majority in the state House if he gets elected mayor. A Coleman victory would reduce the Democrats' majority to 55-54.

Separately, Democratic Rep. Lori Stone is running for mayor of Warren and advanced in Tuesday's primary. If she and Coleman were both to win in November, the House would be split 54-54, resulting in shared power for the first time since the mid-1990s.

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Keith Beecher was a first-time Westland voter Tuesday, having moved to the city recently to live with his girlfriend. Beecher voted for Coleman.

“The current guy doesn’t seem too bad," Beecher said, referring in interim Mayor Londeau. "I like that Coleman has Lansing experience, and he seemed to have the most specific answers” on various issues.

In May, videos from 2014 surfaced that showed Londeau making crude jokes at a roast for a radio station host. Londeau, who has expressed contrition, wasn't an elected official at the time.

A separate video controversy prompted Westland Police Chief Jeff Jedrusik to step down in April, when videos from 25 years ago showed Jedrusik, then a patrol officer, taking part in allegedly humiliating suspects. Coleman, along with State. Rep. Dylan Wegela, sent two joint letters to the mayor and city council calling for Jedrusik to step down. Jedrusik and the city agreed to a "mutual parting of ways" after the video became public.

All candidates agree the city needs to deal with a shortage of police, which is a national issue. The city is budgeted for 82 officers but is down eight to nine positions, Londeau said. Under his watch, he said the city secured contracts with two separate unions, one representing officers and the other lieutenants and sergeants.

But Coleman, a 40-year-old former City Council member, and Godbout both said not enough is being done to deal with public safety staffing shortage. Coleman said it is the lowerst number of police and firefighters the city has ever had and noted he helped get $7 million in state funding that will help rebuild two fire stations and purchase new equipment.

Godbout, 68, has been on the Westland council for more than 20 years and was council president for 13 years. Godbout said he didn't vote for the two contracts with the police unions that Londeau touts. He argued the contracts are expensive — more than 25% over four years for both unions — and keeps staffing levels the same.

Awadi, 54, a former director of public security of Allegheny College and currently a consultant, said he and others are concerned about the lack of police patrols in Westland and described the city administration as a "little bit too top heavy."

Christine Cardenas said a $500 jump in her property taxes last year meant she selected Awadi.

“He said he was going to lower taxes and that’s what I was looking for. I have no idea why my property taxes went up," Cardenas said.

laguilar@detroitnews.com