The 2009 Detroit mayoral election took place on November 3, 2009, following a primary on August 12, 2009. Incumbent Mayor

Dave Bing David Bing (born November 24, 1943) is an American former professional basketball player, businessman and politician who served as the 74th mayor of Detroit, Michigan from 2009 to 2014. He is a member of the Democratic Party. After starring at ...

, who was elected Mayor in a May special election, ran for a full term. Bing placed first in the primary by a wide margin, winning 74 percent of the vote. Accoutnant Tom Barrow, a 1989 candidate for Mayor, narrowly beat out business consultant Jerroll Sanders for second place, 11–10 percent, and advanced to the general election against Bing. Despite Bing's landslide victory in the primary, he defeated Barrow in the general election by a considerably reduced margin, winning 56 percent of the vote to Barrow's 41 percent. Barrow subsequently filed a legal challenge to the results, but the claims were ultimately dismissed.

Primary election

Candidates

, incumbent Mayor * Tom Barrow, accountant, 1989 candidate for Mayor * Jerroll Sanders, business consultant,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

candidate for Mayor * Duane Montgomery, engineer,

candidate for Mayor * Dartagnan M. Collier, city water department employee * Bob Allman, entertainment consultant

Results

General election

Results

Aftermath

Despite originally conceding the race to Bing, Barrow sought a recount of the election and then formally contested the results, arguing that "there are too many things wrong here" in the administration of the election. Barrow's legal challenge was dismissed by the trial court in 2010, and he subsequently appealed to the

Michigan Court of Appeals The Michigan Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court of the state of Michigan. It was created by the Michigan Constitution of 1963, and commenced operations in 1965. Its opinions are reporter (law), reported both in an officia ...

. On November 9, 2010, the Court of Appeals unanimously dismissed the challenge, holding that Barrow's allegations were "conclusory" and his lawsuit lacked "specific, precise, definite or clear and positive factual allegations."

References

{{2009 United States elections

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

mayoral election