Mayor Young Faces Tough Opponents : Lively Detroit Election Brings Out Voters

Mayor Coleman A. Young faced a dozen challengers Tuesday in a primary election that he hoped would be his first step to an unprecedented fifth term.

Early voter turnout was nearly twice as heavy as four years ago, apparently reflecting the lively campaigns waged by some of Young’s opponents. They included Rep. John Conyers and accountant Tom Barrow, who were considered the candidates most likely to advance to a head-to-head runoff with Young.

Election officials predicted that slightly more than 30% of registered voters would vote in the primary in the nation’s sixth-largest city.

Casts Absentee Vallot

Young, 71, did not vote Tuesday, having already cast an absentee ballot under an option available to senior citizens. Conyers and Barrow each had an entourage of supporters in tow when they cast ballots early in the day.

Young, Detroit’s first black mayor, largely steered clear of his opponents during the primary campaign. Barrow and Conyers said he had been in office too long and favored downtown development ahead of neighborhood services.

Young rarely returned fire. Instead, he used some of his estimated $5 million in campaign funds for television and radio commercials focusing on his 15 years in office. Actor James Earl Jones narrated several ads over a background of soft blues music.

Opposed by Newspapers

Neither of the city’s two major daily newspapers endorsed the mayor. The Detroit News endorsed Barrow and the Detroit Free Press supported Conyers. Each charged that Young had led a closed administration and said the mayor’s office needed a change.

Young seemingly anticipated the attacks. When he announced his bid for a fifth term in May, the mayor said his principal opponent was the news media, which he said had been out to get him for years.

His anger was especially piqued by front-page headlines about a paternity lawsuit filed against him by a former city employee. Young at first denied and then admitted that he was the father of the woman’s 6-year-old child.