2026 Election, City of Flint, Government

Meet the Candidates: Eighth Ward Flint City Council

Published in partnership with East Village Magazine

Voters in Flint’s Eighth Ward will have a new city council representative next year, as current Councilman Dennis Pfeiffer announced in January that he would not seek re-election. Pfeiffer, voted into office in 2021, will have served one term when he leaves office later this year.

Ezekiel Harris and Casey Lester emerged from a three-person primary in August to advance to the November 3 general election. Harris, who is running for office for the first time, was the top vote-getter with 752 of 1,297 votes cast in the ward. Lester, who formerly served on Flint’s Board of Education, finished with 406 votes and Brandan Jamison finished third with 139.

Both candidates filed campaign finance statements, showing donations received and money spent during the August primary. Harris’ pre-primary statement reports contributions of just over $7,000 while Lester’s reports contributions of just over $3,000.

The Eighth Ward encompasses parts of the city’s west and south sides, including anchor institutions like Bishop International Airport, GM Flint Assembly, Broome Park, Flint Southwestern High School, and Powers Catholic High School. The ward’s boundaries are visible on the city’s interactive map.

The designated boundaries of the Eighth Ward in the City of Flint. (Image via the city of Flint)

Harris and Lester both responded to our questionnaire prior to the primary election in August. Their responses are below.

All candidates in Flint elections, including certified write-ins, have been contacted at their publicly-available email address and phone number, as listed in their filing forms. More background about the questionnaire, our methodology, and the partnership between East Village Magazine and Flint. Daily. publications is available in our story announcing the collaboration.

We will continue adding links to candidate responses to our questionnaires to the list below and update it in future stories over the next week.

Age:

Ezekiel Harris: 34

Casey Lester: 41, will be 42 in November.

Occupation/relevant professional experience:

Harris: Social entrepreneur and executive director of Co.act, a center for nonprofit support and innovation. Taught community and economic development at University of Detroit Mercy, led $250K–$2.5M community projects including a $2M, 12,000 sq. ft. mixed-use hub, Board Chair of Good Laundry, and social impact fellow with Harvard Business School.

Lester: I used to manage restaurants a while ago. I moved from that into banking, worked for Chase Bank, Huntington Bank, and now I’m at Oxford Bank. I am a treasury management manager, I manage a team of people who work with technology and banking, so fraud prevention, working with business owners trying to optimize cash flow, things of that nature.

Education:

Harris: University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Bachelor’s in Political Science, Captain of the men’s soccer team.

Lester: I am two classes away from having a master’s degree from the University of Michigan-Flint. I’ve done my undergrad through UM-Flint, and now my postgraduate degree is going to be through UM-Flint, which is super exciting. 

How long have you lived in Flint?

Harris: 26 years.

Lester: Since 2008.

How long have you lived in your ward?

Harris: Six years.

Lester: We moved into a house in 2008 that was right on the border of the eighth ward. In 2013, we moved into our current house in Woodcroft Estates.

What neighborhood or area of your ward do you live in?

Harris: Woodcroft Estates.

Lester: Woodcroft Estates.

Do you own or rent/lease a residence outside of your ward? If so, how often do you stay there?

Harris: No. I do not own, rent, or lease a second residence outside of my ward where I live. I am part owner of a house in the 8th Ward where my dad lives.

Editor’s note: An LLC registered to Harris does own other rental properties in Flint, but those are not his residence.

Lester: No.

Do you promise voters that you will file your campaign finance statements by all required pre- and post-election deadlines for the primary and general election? If not, have you filed a Reporting Waiver and promise voters that your campaign will not receive or expend more than $1,000 in your election bid, per that waiver’s requirement?

Harris: Yes.

Lester: I promise that I will, yes. 

What things do you enjoy doing in the city for fun or in your spare time?

Harris: I enjoy riding through the neighborhood with my kids, kayaking on Thread Lake, and going to the library. As a former college soccer player, I love taking my kids to Flint Style Soccer and to the growing tennis programs at the Flint Tennis Club.

Lester: My wife likes to golf a lot, so we go to Swartz Creek Golf Course, right off of Hammerberg Road. Flint Golf Club, we spend a lot of time swimming there at the pool with our kids. Sloan Museum, anything to do with the Cultural Center, we’re big fans of FIA, FIM. We eat downtown. We spend a lot of time at the Farmers’ Market. Spend a lot of time at Tenacity Brewing. Flint City Bucks games, we’re season ticket holders and have been for some time. Flint Style Soccer, which is an incredible program put on for the kids of Flint and it’s free and fun and effective. We do more in the city than we do out of the city, that’s for sure.

What boards or community organizations have you been involved with?

Harris: I’m the Board Chair of Good Laundry, Member of the Flint & Genesee Chamber, Flint Tennis Club, and volunteer with the Fairfield Neighborhood Association.

Lester: I started doing civic stuff in 2015 during the water crisis, volunteering with an organization of people that were giving out water on Saginaw Street. I was on the Citizens Advisory Council for the Land Bank. I was appointed to the Flint School Board in 2019 and I became president in 2020. I joined the Neighborhood Engagement Hub and was president of that board for a while. I joined the Downtown Development Authority, and I’ve been on that since 2023. I currently do work with Latinx Technology Center, I’ve helped out at FIM, FIA, Sloan.

What made you decide to run for City Council?

Harris: I decided to run for City Council because families in Flint deserve reliable services, safe neighborhoods, and real economic opportunity. As a husband and father raising three children here with more than a decade of community and economic development experience, I see both our potential and the gaps holding us back, and I’m ready to help close that gap.

Lester: One of the hardest things for me is every time someone asks, ‘Where do you live?’ And I say, ‘”‘I live in the city of Flint,’ they say, ‘How’s the water?’ Or, ‘Oh, this is the city with all the crazy council meetings.’ I am so proud and happy of my city, and so thankful for all the opportunity it’s provided. Flint has provided so much for my children, for my family, that when people have that immediate reaction, it is so upsetting. So if you identify an issue and don’t offer a solution, you’re just complaining, right? I wanna try to do what I can to get in there and help out. If I can make a difference, great. I want to make our politics boring. I don’t want it to be a source of entertainment for people outside of our city to just watch and make fun of us. I want that to come to an end.

What separates you from other candidates in your election?

Harris: I’m the only candidate who combines being born and raised in Flint, sending my children to Flint Community Schools, and bringing more than a decade of hands-on community and economic development experience. I’ve led real multimillion-dollar projects that improved neighborhoods, supported small businesses, and brought new resources into communities. I know how to navigate complex systems, build partnerships, and deliver visible results for the 8th Ward.

Lester: Brandan (Jamison, the primary opponent of Harris and Lester) and Ezekiel are wonderful humans. They’re strong, kind people. I’m fortunate to be competing with people of stout character. Those are our similarities. People of faith, family men, we need that across the city. The difference for me, it’s my experience. I’ve been in and around the city a long time. I’ve been doing the work at events, volunteer engagements, doing all of the things I can to consistently give back. I’ve been working in and around government on the school board and on the DDA. I have experience fighting for our city at the state level. Myself and other school board members had to go to Lansing to work with the State Superintendent, Michael Rice at the time. I don’t know that the other gentlemen have that same experience within the city. Not to say that they haven’t done nice things in other places. But Flint is a unique city. If you don’t have a lot of that past knowledge, the historic trauma that’s come with what we’ve seen, it doesn’t always translate that well.

The City Council has long been plagued by difficult working relationships among council members and with the mayor’s office. How would you create a healthier environment on council and with the mayor to move city business forward?

Harris: I will help create a healthier environment by listening first, treating differences as valuable, and refusing to engage in personal attacks or drama. By showing up prepared, communicating clearly, and following through on commitments, I’ll build trust with colleagues and the mayor’s office so we can focus on solving problems and moving city business forward for residents.

Lester: I don’t attend every argument I’m invited to. One of the things that we’ve been plagued with is this concept of TikTok politics, where we’re not fighting for our constituents, we’re fighting for followers on our social media pages. I have no desire for that. I’m not trying to go viral. My goal is to move the city forward. When I was on the school board, we always said, ‘Is this decision moving our children in the right direction?’ If the answer to that isn’t a clear yes, we shouldn’t be having that conversation. Arguing on camera is not moving our city forward, so that’s something that we would need to stop. I am generally not an argumentative person. I’m not a hardliner on anything. There’s going to be good and bad on both sides. There’s going to be points that make sense for everybody, and I don’t exist in a world where I think I’m the only one who’s right. I operate from a perspective of, ‘Here’s my idea. Please tell me where I’m wrong, and let’s work to figure it out together.’

What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the city?

Harris: Flint’s challenges are real, but so is our resilience. We face negative perceptions, unreliable basic services, and aging infrastructure in too many neighborhoods, yet I see a city that has survived the worst and is ready to rebuild systems, restore trust, and create new opportunities that honor our history and our people.

Lester: Crime, gun violence specifically. We just had another shooting, and that is a result of systemic issues that have happened historically. It’s not a ‘today people wake up and decide to commit a crime’ thing. Things have led to that. Understanding where those issues came from historically would help. The other issue is blight. We have neighborhoods that are falling into disrepair because people aren’t taking care of their property. We have a lot of abandoned homes. We have a lot of things that just haven’t been kept up, whether it’s from the city, from the Land Bank, from the county, any of those things. And then we need a better community space. We need people who are 18-35 to have an environment they can go be a part of,  meet people, have good access to entertainment, and not have to do everything at a bar. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but they need other environments to engage with each other, and I don’t think that we have a ton of that opportunity right now. 

What do you see as Flint’s greatest assets or opportunities for the future?

Harris: Flint’s greatest asset is its people: resilient neighbors, creative young professionals, and community leaders who keep showing up. We also have strong community anchors like our colleges, hospitals, and cultural institutions, historic neighborhoods with great housing, and a strategic location between major job centers. If we invest in residents, fix core systems, and support small businesses, these strengths can become safer neighborhoods, good jobs, and a more vibrant city for the next generation.

Lester: Flint’s greatest assets 100% are its people. I think we have some of the most incredible people you will ever meet. We have passion, we have intelligence, we have power, we have pride, we have all of the things within our city that we would need to make it just the best city ever. Our young people, we have such a diverse collection of youth within our city that is looking to do better things. They wanna be involved, they wanna be together, they wanna be engaged. All of those things combined will create a power that’s unstoppable. What holds us back is the ability to do it without going through nonsense at a government level. Without getting into hurdles and logistics and all of that. We have people, we have economic development that can happen. We have some incredible resources here in the city that just need to be utilized a little better.

What would be your three top priorities should you be elected?

Harris: My three top priorities would be reliable basic services, safer neighborhoods, and more economic opportunity. First, I would focus on fixing the basics people feel every day: streets, lighting, blight, and responsiveness when residents call for help. Second, I would work with neighbors, schools, and law enforcement on practical safety improvements, especially for kids and seniors. Third, I would push to bring investment, support small businesses, and create pathways to good jobs so families can afford to stay and thrive in Flint.

Lester: We’ve been talking to residents and asking them what they want to see. Number one, they want a more visible police presence. Atherton Road, Fenton Road, Miller Road, for example, have become an absolute racetrack where people are flying down the road, passing in the turning lane. A lot of residents have asked to have more police to help create a safer space for kids to play, ride bikes, things like that. Two is blight. There are so many homes that people aren’t mowing, they’re not taking care of stuff. They’re parking cars on the lawn. They have garbage stacked up on the side. Nobody’s enforcing that. There’s no people able to go take care of that. Then the last thing that everybody has said specifically for my ward is, “I want to be able to get in contact with my council person. I wanna be able to just reach out and say, ‘Hey, this is what’s going on.'” Whether it’s a phone call, a text, email, people want to be able to get in contact with their council person and not feel overlooked.

The Flint City Council recently passed a 1-year moratorium on data center developments in the city. Do you agree with that resolution? Why or why not?

Harris: I support the 1-year moratorium on data center developments as a necessary pause to protect Flint’s long-term interests. In this year, we should set clear standards for community benefits, jobs for local residents, environmental protections, and fair use of our water, power, and land so that any future large-scale development actually strengthen neighborhoods instead of draining resources or locking us into bad deals.

Lester: I don’t disagree and I don’t agree. I don’t know that we have enough accurate data right now to put a complete stop on it for a year. I would like to see more things come through committee properly. I would like to see the process work. A moratorium is an immediate stop. I think as a city, we do need better economic development. I think we need more access to jobs, and we need a viable tax base that helps build us up. I don’t know for sure that that’s a data center. What I do know is that when we stop the conversation in the very beginning, we eliminate the possibility. We don’t know yet. I don’t know that I agree or disagree with data centers currently. My gut instinct says that it’s not what we want. But I also think that hard stop is also not what we need. We need to be able to have a constructive conversation. Even if we disagree along the way, let’s flesh out the entirety of it and figure out exactly does this make sense, and then have informed conversations with residents.

The Flint City Council recently passed a permanent resolution recognizing June as Pride Month in honor of Flint’s LGBTQIA+ residents. Do you support that resolution? Why or why not?

Harris: I support the resolution recognizing June as Pride Month because City Council’s job is to serve all residents. As a Christian, I believe every neighbor deserves safety, dignity, and to see their lives reflected in the place they call home, and this resolution honors Flint’s LGBTQIA+ residents and their contributions to our city.

Lester: Yeah, I support it. I think that we have gotten into a habit of aligning ourselves with political parties instead of looking at an actual situation. I think there are certain things on a political spectrum that people say, ‘I have to do this because this is how I vote,’ and so they have to do that. With June being Pride Month, I have no issues with that whatsoever. I think people wanna celebrate how they wanna celebrate, and I think that’s great. 

Have you ever been charged with or convicted of a violent or financial crime, and if so, how was it resolved?

[EDITOR’s NOTE: This question is not intended as a judgement on a candidate’s criminal history. We do not believe that a criminal history should be a barrier to anyone holding elected office. Rather, this is an opportunity for a candidate to directly respond to voters regarding any public criminal or financial records or accusations that do exist in the public domain and address them in their own words.]

Harris: No.

Lester: No. Had I been convicted of a financial crime or a violent crime, I wouldn’t be able to work in banking. My background check is clear.

Do you have a campaign website or social media pages for voters to learn more about you?

Harris: Website, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Lester: Facebook page.

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Patrick Hayes

Writer. Trailer park alum.