Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh is thinking about running for mayor. He has announced that he will not seek a second term on the city council. He is not sure he will run for the mayor’s office, but he is thinking about it and listening to the people.
He, indeed, got the most votes of all the people running for council in the last election, but that had a thing or two to do with the people in the race. Their popularity and campaigning skills were indeed a part of why he received the most votes. It has more to do with the office you are running for and the people you are running against. We don’t know that it would have come out the same way with a different set of contestants or for a different office.
If he wants to take history as a prologue to the future, when presidents of the Detroit City Council have tried to move to the mayor’s office, they have failed on three different occasions. One even had God in the picture and had many strong women of God praying long and fasting, but, in the end, the old, cursing mayor went back in office. At least three times in the last 30 years I have seen council presidents misunderstand the call, but the last one held on to his council seat while running for mayor.
Pugh should look before he leaps.
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