DETROIT – Voters in Wayne County renewed their confidence in Democratic officials in Tuesday’s elections, alongside approving two proposals on the ballot: The renewal of the property tax (millage) dedicated to funding public parks and amendments to the county’s auditing provisions. Wayne County has a population of approximately 1.74 million people.

Voters re-elected County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who ran unopposed in the Democratic race, thus ensuring her continued tenure since 2004 due to the absence of any Republican contenders.

In the race for Wayne County sheriff, the current sheriff, Raphael Washington, led the Democratic race with more than 115,000 votes (64 percent), defeating his opponent, Joan Merriwether, who received about 63,000 votes, according to preliminary results. Washington will face Republican candidate T.P. Nykoriak in the general election in November. Nykoriak won the Republican nomination with 27,800 votes (58.8 percent), defeating Patricia Bomar, who received more than 19,000 votes.

Additionally, Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett will retain her position for another term after winning the Democratic primary with more than 157,000 votes (88 percent) against her Arab American opponent, Hadi Tarraf, who received around 20,000 votes. Garrett is expected to retain her position unopposed in the November election due to the absence of a Republican challenger.

Similarly, Wayne County Treasurer Eric Sabree will remain in office for another term after receiving overwhelming support from Democratic voters. He ran unopposed in the Democratic race, and no Republican candidate has filed to challenge him in November.

As for the Wayne County registrar of deeds, Bernard Youngblood received around 169,000 votes in the uncontested Democratic race, qualifying him for the November general election against Republican candidate Afaf Ahmed, who ran unopposed in the Republican primaries and garnered 33,000 votes.

Voters in all 43 cities and townships of the county renewed their confidence in their representatives on the County Commission, including Dearborn’s Commissioner Sam Baydoun.

In the general referendums, Wayne County voters said “Yes” to both “Proposal P”, which renews the property tax dedicated to public parks, and “Proposal A”, which amends the provisions related to selecting financial auditing firms for the largest county in Michigan.

More than 181,000 voters (74.4 percent) supported the renewal of the property tax dedicated to public parks for an additional five years, from 2026 to 2030. This tax was approved in 2020, and in 2023 a millage of 0.2442 mil (approximately $0.24 per $1,000 of property assessed value) was imposed.

Additionally, more than 120,000 voters (54.2 percent) approved a proposal to amend the procedures for selecting financial auditing firms by reducing the contract period to three years through a competitive bidding process.

In Macomb and Oakland Counties, Tuesday’s elections held no surprises, with all executive officials in both counties winning their primary races. This includes Oakland County’s Democratic Executive Dave Coulter, who will face Nik Gjonaj, a  Republican candidate of Albanian descent.