Ward 1 Candidate Forum: Candidates’ Views on Money in Local Politics

Editor’s Note: This article has been corrected. Council member Harrison doesn’t live in Arrowwood Co-op.

by P.D. Lesko

At the one-hour Ward 1 candidate forum sponsored by Arrowwood Cooperative, where candidate Rebecca Arends lives, the issue of money in politics came up. Arrowwood is a small, tight community of people who are socio-economically and racially diverse. To applause, challenger Arends told the standing room only crowd that she had spent (and planned to spend) less than $1,000 of her own money, primarily on printing simple information sheets she hands out at doors. Incumbent Cynthia Harrison told those present that as a Black woman she brings a “unique perspective” to City Council. Harrison acknowledged that in 2022 she’d raised over $39,000 and that she planned to fundraise for her current campaign. Supporters, Harrison told the audience, want her on Ann Arbor City Council.

Campaign finance disclosures show in 2022 the majority of Harrison’s money came from special interest donors. Special interest donors often represent a highly unrepresentative segment of the electorate, potentially skewing City policies toward wealthier interests rather than the general population.

Council member Harrison’s July 22, 2022 pre-election campaign finance form documents $39,451 in funds raised and $24,411 spent. Harrison’s Sept. 1, 2022 post-election campaign finance form documents $39,856 in receipts and $31,660 in expenditures.

At the Ward 1 candidate forum, Arends commented that she doesn’t believe a seat on City Council should cost $40,000. This, Arends said, discourages people from running for local office. Harrison didn’t spend $40,000 to campaign for the Ward 1 seat on City Council in 2022, but she raised very close to that amount.

Council member Harrison replied to Arends’s observation about how much the incumbent had spent to garner 2,435 votes in 2022 (12.3 percent of the 19,747 registered voters in her Ward). The Council member said that her supporters are willing to donate to her campaign.

Harrison’s 2022 campaign finance disclosures (pre- and post-election) show that of donors who gave $500 or more, one donation to Harrison’s campaign came from a Ward 1 resident, a U-M faculty member. Of the 276 donations listed in Harrison’s 2022 pre-election disclosure, fewer than 30 (10.8 percent) of the donations came from Ward 1 residents.

The people and entities who wanted Cynthia Harrison on Ann Arbor City Council, and who financed her 2022 campaign, included (primarily) PACs, out-of-state, out-of-Ward, and out-of-city donors, landlords, current and former Ann Arbor City Council members, political appointees of Mayor Taylor and non-Black donors who have been vocal about the need to densify Ann Arbor.

At the Ward 1 candidate forum, Cynthia Harrison was asked about her votes in support of the Community Land Use Plan (CLUP) that did away with single-family zoning in neighborhoods formerly zoned exclusively for single-family homes. Harrison defended her support of the CLUP by saying, “I am for more housing.” Some members of the audience clapped in support.

In the four years Cynthia Harrison has been on City Council, according to Mayor Taylor, Ann Arbor has added “300 units of affordable housing.” The City, again according to the Mayor, will add 1,500 more units of affordable housing over the next five years, should he remain in office.

A 2025 study by the Ann Arbor Community Foundation concluded, “Washtenaw County to be in need of 10,895 affordable rental units and 4,010 ownership units.” The majority of that need is Ann Arbor, according to December 2025 reporting by the Michigan Daily.

Out of the 69 resolutions sponsored by Council member Harrison during her four years in office, at the Arrowwood candidate forum she highlighted her June 2024 Resolution to Study a Reparations Program in Ann Arbor to Remediate Historical Injustices and Discrimination. Ann Arbor has no Reparations Program.

You can watch the Ward 1 City Council candidate forum on YouTube, here.