Just days after residents interested in running for mayor and city council could begin collecting signatures to get on the ballot, two current members of the Flint City Council announced their intentions.
Ladel Lewis, PhD, who represents Flint’s second ward, announced she’ll seek re-election this year, touting her efforts leading Flint’s fire safety initiative, championing youth wellness through literacy and jobs, implementing a blight plan in her ward with neighborhood partners, and hosting monthly meetings in the second ward through all four years of her current term that she says helped form deeper connections among neighbors and neighborhood groups she represents.
“I show up—and I deliver,” Lewis wrote in her statement on Facebook. “I’m running for re-election to keep Flint moving forward—block by block.”
Lewis has also served as City Council President on an often deeply divided council since 2023. One of the council members frequently at odds with Lewis, Dennis Pfeiffer, announced he will not seek re-election for his eighth ward seat.
“During my tenure, I have worked diligently to address the needs and concerns of our residents, advocate for transparency and accountability in city government, and push for real solutions to the challenges we face as a community,” Pfeiffer wrote in his statement on Facebook. “While there have been difficulties and disagreements along the way—as is often the case in public service—I remain deeply grateful for the trust the voters placed in me and for the opportunity to contribute to Flint’s progress.”
Both Lewis and Pfeiffer were elected to their positions in 2021 in an election in which six of the nine council seats went to newcomers. Both beat incumbents in that election, with many voters at the time hoping the new voices on council would create a healthier dynamic for meetings that were often marred by fighting and lack of action. Since that election, three other seats on the City Council have also changed. Allie Herkenroder (seventh ward) resigned in 2023, with Candice Mushatt replacing her. Eric Mays (first ward) and Quincy Murphy (third ward) both died in 2024. Leon El-Alamin and LaShawn Johnson are serving the remainder of those terms. In addition to that turnover over the past five years, the council has continued to struggle to work together consistently to get business done, although city business has moved forward more consistently since Johnson was sworn into office in August.
Two other candidates have also announced their intention to run this week. Community Activist Arthur Woodson plans to run in the first ward and Maurice Davis, who lost to Lewis in the second ward in 2021, announced his intention to seek that seat again.
Residents interested in running for City Council must be a registered voter in the city of Flint for at least one year prior to the April 21, 2026, filing deadline, and be a resident of that ward. They must collect at least 75 signatures from registered voters in the ward they’re running in. The map of Flint’s nine ward boundaries is available online. Petitions are available at the Flint City Clerk’s office, on the second floor of City Hall, 1101 S. Saginaw Street, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday-Friday, and turned in with valid signatures before April 21.
Candidates for each seat will compete in a primary election on August 4. If there are more than two candidates for each seat, the top two vote getters for each in the primary will move on to the general election on November 3. All of the seats are nonpartisan.
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