Warren voters advance Dimas, Stone to mayoral race showdown

Warren — City human resources director George Dimas and state Rep. Lori Stone are facing off in November to see who will become the new mayor in Michigan's third largest city amid longtime Warren Mayor Jim Fouts' continued bid to stay in power.

Dimas, a former City Council member who was endorsed by Fouts, was the top vote getter in Tuesday's primary with 34% of the vote, an apparent sign of Fouts' continued influence in city politics. Stone followed with 28%. City Council President Patrick Green, a Fouts critic, finished third with 26%, according to the unofficial results.

Six candidates were vying to replace Fouts, who is prevented by the city's voter-approved term limits from running for reelection — a decision backed by a state Court of Appeals panel and the Michigan Supreme Court. Macomb County Commissioner Michelle Nard, former City Council member Scott Cameron Stevens and resident Alfonso King finished fourth, fifth and sixth in Tuesday's primary, respectively.

Dimas, 76, and Stone, 43, will batle during the next three months to see who replaces Fouts, who has been mayor since 2007. Fouts endorsed Dimas to succeed him, while continuing to challenge the city's term limits that barred him from seeking a fifth term. The mayor said he would help Dimas in an unofficial capacity if Dimas is elected.

"I have my own vision for the city of Warren. And I really feel that the residents of this city put their faith in me and I finished first because they understand my approach," Dimas said Wednesday. "They agree with me with the crack I want to take in improving services in this city and bringing good efforts to bring the new city downtown here in our community, and basically giving services full funding for the police and fire department."

Stone said the results reflect her strong record as a state representative and her experiences working as a teacher and volunteering in the community. She thanked voters for their support and plans to continue her "ground campaign" strategy of door knocking and relying on volunteers.

"I think my results just reflect how in tune I am with the community, how plugged in I am," Stone said. "For me, every election is a job interview. ... If voters didn't consider me in the first round ... I hope they take a look at my qualifications, my experience, and I urge people to reach out directly to me."

Dimas thanked voters for their confidence and asked any residents who didn't vote for him Tuesday to consider his vision for Warren.

"(I'm) very thrilled that the voters of Warren ranked me first," Dimas said. "I've been knocking on doors ever since I filed because I know that door-to-door contact with the voters is just so important. ... I'm just gonna continue that hard, straightforward, door-knocking strategy to win this campaign."

Stone, a third-term state lawmaker, defeated Green for a second time in the primary after beating him in the 2018 Democratic primary for the state House seat. If Stone wins, she'd vacate her seat in the House.

"That's the decision of the residents of Warren. They will decide where my talents are best used on their behalf," Stone said. "I'm not concerned. Things haven't changed. ... We know that this is a strong Dem seat."

Katrina Ciluffo, 45, has lived in Warren for over three decades. She voted for Dimas but she said she doesn't want the status quo from Fouts' favored candidate.

"I do want to make sure that our city's headed in the right direction, and I feel like what he is going for is the direction I want to go with," Ciluffo said of Dimas. "I just feel like there's a lot of ... tomfoolery, so I guess just making sure that people are sticking to what should be discussed and get over whatever feelings are out there and just move the city forward."

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Nancy Forsythe, 47, voted with her daughter Jae Forsythe, 23, in person Tuesday. Both voted for Green and said he was the best option out of all the mayoral candidates. 

"My biggest issue is getting anybody who is associated with Fouts out of here," Nancy Forsythe said. "City Council was the same thing. We were basically voting against anybody that Fouts supported."

"There's too many lawsuits, there's too much drama," she added.

Johnathon Ott, 41, voted for Green and said the council president's views were aligned with his own vision for the city.

"I think the south end of Warren needs to be cleaned up, and I think that Warren needs a downtown," Ott said. "The primary issue that stands out to me is that the fighting that's been going on, the infighting, needs to end. It's costing taxpayers thousands of, tens of thousands of dollars, between all the legal representation, all the legal fees going on, on both sides. When city governments tied up doing stuff like that they can't make progress on anything else."

The legal wrangling between Fouts and the Green-led council continued all the way up to Tuesday's primary.

In a federal lawsuit, Fouts and his attorney are arguing that his civil rights were violated when he was barred from running for a fifth term as mayor. They are asking the federal judge to decertify Tuesday's election and schedule a special election with Fouts' name on the ballot, in addition to the primary candidates.

Kim Ruffini, 54, said she voted for Dimas in hopes that conditions in the city would remain similar to how they were under Fouts.

“It really hasn’t been too bad in Warren so I’m a little leery about the change,” Ruffini said. “I don’t think (Fouts) did too bad. I think this one (Dimas) will keep it going.”

Fouts' lawyer filed an emergency motion Friday for an expedited review in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, but there has been no action so far.

The City Council responded Monday with a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, calling it a "frivolous" attempt to disrupt the election.

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Fouts' attorney, Nabih Ayad, said the lawsuit is not interfering with the election and Fouts' constitutional rights should be valued above the inconvenience of voting again in a special election.

Dimas said the lawsuit could have an impact on the general election but doesn't think it will be a major factor.

"I think that situation will be handled by the courts," Dimas said. "Everyone has a right to go to court if necessary."

hmackay@detroitnews.com

kberg@detroitnews.com

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