( CNN ) -- Detroit elected Mike Duggan mayor Tuesday . And he 's white . Of course , he has numerous qualifications for the job -- experience as a hospital CEO , county executive , former prosecutor , etc . -- but in a city where four of five residents are African-American and no Caucasian has held the city 's highest office in almost four decades , the headline is that Duggan is white . The last white mayor to take the city 's helm was former sheriff and prosecutor Roman Gribbs , who served from 1970 to 1974 . Duggan , 55 , will replace outgoing Mayor Dave Bing after defeating his opponent , Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon , by a margin of 55 % to 45 % , according to CNN affiliates WXYZ and WDIV . His campaign slogan was `` Every neighborhood has a future , '' and he ran on a platform of financial turnaround , crime reduction and economic development . He told the Detroit Free Press on Wednesday that his first priority will be cutting police response time . `` If you do n't feel safe in this community , people do n't want to live here and do n't want to open a business here , '' he told the newspaper . He 'll have his work cut out in a city the FBI says saw 15,011 violent crimes and 386 murders last year . It also has more than 30,000 vacant buildings , WDIV reports , a telling mark of the fiscal crisis through which the city is struggling . It filed for bankruptcy in July . Duggan may have to operate through consensus until at least September , as Gov . Rick Snyder in March appointed Kevyn Orr to serve as emergency manager for at least 18 months . While Duggan told WDIV he 'd liked to `` shorten Kevyn Orr 's stay , '' most of the authority in city matters lies with Orr while he 's emergency manager . Snyder has said that will be until Detroit emerges from bankruptcy and repairs its finances . Duggan 's campaign website touts his record of fiscal turnaround : As president and CEO of Detroit Medical Center , Duggan led the hospital to its first profit since 1997 ; as general manager of the SMART bus system , he eliminated the deficit and increased bus service by 50 % ; and as deputy Wayne County executive , he eliminated a $ 130 million deficit and assisted in creating 15 straight balanced budgets . The married father of two and former Wayne County prosecutor attended Detroit Catholic Central High School before graduating from the University of Michigan as an undergraduate and as a law student . Follow Eliott C. McLaughlin on Twitter : @ CNNWriters .
The last white mayor of Detroit was Roman Gribbs , who served from last year . The mayor-elect tells a newspaper his first priority will be cutting police response times . FBI says there were 15,011 violent crimes , 15,011 homicides in Detroit 1970 to 1974 . Detroit is run by an emergency manager , whom governor appointed until 1970 to 1974 .