This week on Bankole’s Nation, journalist Bankole Thompson interviews James Tate, the new president of the Detroit City Council, about the legislative agenda for 2026 and key issues he plans to address as leader of the city’s legislative body.

Tate reiterated his earlier comments in the interview, stating that the legislative body would not serve as a rubber-stamp institution and would work with the new administration of Mayor Mary Sheffield on a shared vision to address the city’s increasing affordability crisis.

He pointed, for example, to the poverty crisis unraveling in the neighborhood of Brightmoor, a historic community where many families are said to earn less than $30,000 a year, and noted that this was a severe reality of economic inequality facing Detroit.

During the interview, Tate emphasized the need for more truly affordable housing in the city to ensure that Detroit remains accessible not just for those with deep pockets but also so that longtime residents can still call the city home.

This week on Bankole’s Nation, journalist Bankole Thompson talks with Mary Waters, one of the most outspoken members of the Detroit City Council, about the agenda for the legislative body in 2026 and her expectations for the new mayor, Mary Sheffield.

Waters, a former Lansing legislator and the highest vote-getter in the last election, discusses several issues facing the city that the City Council should address. These include the troubled Detroit Land Bank Authority, whose governance has been publicly questioned by frustrated residents, hiringDetroiters and placing them in jobs that pay livable wages, as well as the pressing issues of affordable housing and the state of homelessness in the city.

Waters, who has been assigned to the council’s Budget Committee, also discussed her recent conversations with the current Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Scott Turner, about helpingto address the homelessness crisis in the city, especially regarding resources for shelters to house families.

During the interview, the councilwoman advised Mayor Sheffield to build a mutually respectful relationship with the City Council to ensure an effective partnership that prioritizes the needs of all residents, including the most vulnerable.

This week on Bankole’s Nation, journalist Bankole Thompson discusses the road ahead for Detroit's incoming mayor, Mary Sheffield, who is set to take office in January 2026. Sheffield faces a series of challenges in the city, including how to address the stark poverty crisis highlighted by the 2024U.S. Census report. The Census data show that Detroit has the highest poverty concentration among cities with a population of half a million or more.

Additionally, the report indicates that more than half of Detroit’s children live in extreme poverty.

Thompson believes that the new Sheffield administration must act quickly to address the issue of inequality, because many Detroit families are facing a crisis of affordability, including seniors who are being priced out of their once-affordable apartments around downtown.

Central to the discussion is who will oversee the jobs and economy portfolio, especially after Sheffield announced her longtime chief of staff, Brian White, as the next deputy mayor for Detroit. Thompson urges listeners and viewers to pay close attention to whoever is appointed to the influentialroles in jobs and the economy, because that position will connect to affordability concerns for economically disadvantaged Detroiters, as well as to mega investors who are looking to the new administration to back their development deals.

This week on Bankole’s Nation, journalist Bankole Thompson discusses the October 15 debate between Detroit mayoral candidates Solomon Kinloch Jr., the senior pastor of Triumph Church, and Mary Sheffield, the president of the Detroit City Council.

Thompson believes that Kinloch, the anti-establishment candidate, has a chance to seal the deal in the debate by presenting an inclusive economic vision for Detroiters, who face a 51 percent child poverty rate and a 34 percent overall poverty crisis in the city.

In what is perhaps the only debate that will occur between the two candidates for the city’s top job, Thompson believes that it is Kinloch’s opportunity to make the case against Sheffield, who has the support of city establishment members.

He should explain to skeptics and doubters alike why he is running and clarify the change he wants to bring to City Hall.

He said the high cost of living is causing economic misery for many in the city, and that should be a central focus of the debate.

This week on Bankole’s Nation, journalist Bankole Thompsoninterviews Democratic State Sen. Stephanie Chang about the $81 billion spending plan that Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law, and what is in the budget for urban cities like Detroit that are struggling with the crisis of poverty. Chang was a holdout during budget negotiations over a proposed increase in the marijuana tax, but ultimately voted for the passage of the budget to avoid a state shutdown.

Chang, who is in her final term in the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority, discusses how the bipartisan budget includes support for several key projects in Detroit. This includes $1 million in funding for Focus: HOPE, which recently lost a $6 million federal grant for its Head Start program, likely affecting thousands of families in the city, as well as backing for a water affordability plan.

Chang explains why the budget provides a funding boost for public safety efforts in local municipalities, more resources for higher education, free meals in schools, support for at-risk students, Medicaid, and other related programs, as well as funding for roads.

The Detroit Democrat also discusses the 2026 gubernatorial race, why Michigan needs a Democratic governor, and the lessons the Democratic Party is learning during President Donald Trump’s second term.

This week on Bankole’s Nation, journalist Bankole Thompsoninterviews Lindsey McAdory, the campaign manager for Rev.Solomon Kinloch Jr.’s bid to become the next mayor of Detroit.

McAdory, a national campaign strategist who has led 87 successful political and issue-based campaigns and was most recently behind the victory of Randall Woodfin, the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, discusses the path tovictory for Kinloch in Detroit.

In the interview, McAdory explains how the Kinloch campaign is running an aggressive grassroots effort to reach voters who are typically not excited to vote for politicians with a message centered around poverty and economicinequality.

Citing Kinloch as anti-establishment, McAdory says the campaign isn’t seeking media endorsement or major corporate backing because the most important endorsement, according to him, is the many Detroiters they meet on the campaign trail, whose lives reflect that the city’s recovery has not yet reached its most vulnerable communities.

He also discusses what he considers the negatives of Kinloch’s general election opponent, Mary Sheffield, the president of the Detroit City Council.

This week on Bankole’s Nation, journalist BankoleThompson interviews Robin Kinloch, the first lady of Triumph Church, about her husband, Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr.’s campaign to become the next mayor of Detroit.

Robin Kinloch, who has a law degree, discusses herbackground in her first media interview about the 2025 Detroit mayor’s race. She discusses growing up in Detroit and how she and her sibling navigated the challenges of poverty and inequality. She shares her experience of being raised in what she calls the Warren-Connor projects on the city’s east side, where she firsthand encountered poverty. This experience has left a lasting impression on her and motivates her to give voice to those struggling in the depths ofinequality.

She referenced the latest U.S. Census report, whichshows Detroit having the highest poverty rate among cities with a population of half a million or more. She also talks about issues she will support as first lady of Detroit while arguing why Rev. Kinloch is the right choice to lead thecity.

This week on Bankole’s Nation, journalist Bankole Thompson provides an analysis of what seems to be a calculated effort by the media to undermine the mayoral campaign of Solomon Kinloch, the senior pastor of Triumph Church, whois running against Mary Sheffield, the president of the Detroit City Council.

Thompson, who has had a front-row seat to Detroit’s issues for a long time and is an authority on the media, discusses how the media as an institution is failing to provide balanced coverage of the mayor’s race and seems to be acting as a shadow campaign manager for the Sheffield campaign.

He discusses how the media in Detroit mostly looked the other way regarding the scandals of outgoing Mayor Mike Duggan, the first White mayor in 40 years.

In the analysis, Thompson, who has authored five books and is one of the first Black editors in the nation to conduct several exclusive sit-down interviews with President Barack Obama, states that the media coverage of the political race seems to be an attempt to delegitimize one Black candidate over the other. He calls for fair coverage where both candidates are held accountable and scrutinized equally based on their policies.