During the 2023 election, residents of had a mayoral ballot they hadnβt seen in a while. It was one without the name James R. Fouts. Three years earlier, in 2020, voters had approved a charter amendment that established a 12-year mayoral tenure limit, effectively making Mayor Fouts, who had served in the position since 2007, ineligible to run again. Fouts went to court to get around the term limits, but he was unsuccessful.
The names on the 2023 ballot were state Rep. Lori Stone and George Dimas, the cityβs human resources director. It was a close race, but Stone would win with 53% of the vote, becoming the cityβs first new mayor in 15 years and the first woman to serve in the position ever.
Stone, a lifelong Warren resident, attended Fitzgerald Public Schools and would return to the district as a teacher after earning a bachelorβs degree in political theory and constitutional democracy as well as a masterβs degree in science education, both from Michigan State University.
βWhen I was in college, I thought I was going to be young and ambitious β graduate from college and jump right into public service,β says Stone, who wanted to champion education, adding that her mom, aunt, and grandmother were all teachers.
Her older brother advised her to get experience in the area where she wanted to shape policy, and so she joined the and taught for 14 1β2 years before making the jump into politics when a seat in the Michigan House of Representatives opened in 2016.
She lost that Democratic primary to Patrick Green, but it inspired her to participate in some candidate development opportunities through and βs candidate training programs for Democratic women.
Just two years later, during the 2018 primaries, she defeated Green for the same seat and went on to win the general election, securing her seat in the House, which she held for five years before deciding to make her mayoral run, with a little encouragement from her fellow Warren residents.
βI had community members reach out to me and say, βThe mayoral position is coming available, and we donβt see candidates that reflect our values. We appreciate the hard work and integrity that youβve shown as an elected leader, and we really hope you consider running for mayor,ββ Stone says.
At first, she felt that local government wouldnβt be the right fit for her, but after careful consideration, she decided to run.
βAs I looked around my community, I felt like my community deserved better leadership and deserved someone who was going to work hard and be ethical and fight for them,β she explains. βIn the end, I said, βIf you donβt put your name on the ballot, then you have to be prepared for whatever direction it goes,β and so I put myself forward as a candidate, and Iβm truly honored my community supported me.β
In addition to electing its first female mayor β an honor, but also something that Stone quickly points out comes secondary to her qualifications β Warren has also elected in recent years several other women to a variety of government positions. In fact, when Stone took office, she joined City Council President Angela Rogensues, City Treasurer Lorie Barnwell, and City Clerk Sonja Djurovic Buffa, among others. Mai Xiong, the first Hmong woman to be elected county commissioner in Macomb, took Stoneβs place as District 13βs state House rep after winning the special election in April.
Stone says that this points to a shift in what the city is looking for out of its leaders. βI think it says that Warren is looking for new ideas; itβs looking for new perspectives. Women are a voice that have been missing in the conversation,β she says.
As a state representative, Stone fought for equity in education and served three terms on the stateβs House Education Committee. Sheβs proud of her advocacy for a 2023 bill (now law) that repealed the requirement for Michigan schools to hold back third graders who fail a reading proficiency test. She also helped to support those experiencing unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic, quickly becoming the intermediary between her constituents and the overwhelmed state departments.
As mayor, she plans to continue to bridge the gap between the community and its representatives, as well as build upon the legacy of responsiveness set by her predecessor.
And while education and unemployment are still of utmost importance to Stone, she also plans to add environmental issues to the list by investing more into the cityβs parks and recreation department and getting community input on what theyβd like to see from the cityβs 28 parks, many of which she says have been neglected. In addition, she plans to invest in city infrastructure, including roads and sewers, and lean into the cityβs automotive and manufacturing industries by investing in electric vehicles and alternative energy sources such as solar power.
βI say βWarren is the biggest small town in Michigan,β but we have to push forward, and we want to compete for population,β she says. βWe want to make people who grew up here want to stay here and raise families here and work here, and we also want to attract talent.
βI want to make Warren a better place to live, work, grow, and play,β she adds. βI think that speaks to what people want, which is a safe place, a clean place, a place where their basic needs are easily met, and so, if I can leave my community a better place than when I showed up here Nov. 20, then Iβve been successful.β
This story originally appeared in the June 2024 issue of ΒιΆΉ·¬ΊΕ Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of ΒιΆΉ·¬ΊΕ Detroit at a local retail outlet. Our digital edition will be available on June 6.
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