Taylor, Pontiac mayors both lose write-in effort in Michigan primaries

PONTIAC, Mich. (FOX 2) - The mayors of two of Metro Detroit's larger cities have both lost their bids for re-election via write-in efforts.

Pontiac Mayor Deirdre Waterman and Taylor Mayor Rick Sollars both lost their re-election efforts which were both being done through write-in campaigns.

Waterman says she has no regrets but probably would not have wanted to be a write-in candidate for reelection.

"I think we've taken out a good message what we've done for the city of Pontiac. I'm going to continue to press that agenda," Waterman said.

Voters in Tuesday's primary in Pontiac chose two other candidates to advance to November's general election with Waterman and other write-in candidates not doing so well.

The top vote-getter was former state representative Tim Greimel.

"Residents here in the city of Pontiac are tired of the status quo, they are sick of business as usual, and they're very eager for change. And I think that was going to be the case no matter what the situation was with her qualifying for the ballot," Greimel said.

He'll be going up against Alexandria Reilly, who said it's difficult to win as a write-in candidate- and that probably helped her campaign.

"What we saw here in Pontiac was a result of being removed from the ballot - we've seen in other races throughout the region, across the state, there are other issues that are preventing candidates being on the ballot," Reilly said.

Waterman had to run as a Write-in candidate because she failed to submit campaign finance reports on time. She could still run as a write-in candidate for the general election in November and said "nothing is off the table" in that regard.

As for Taylor's mayor, Sollars had to run as a write-in for failing to file on time. He didn't respond to our request for comment.

Sollars is also facing a January trial for multiple counts of federal bribery and wire fraud charges. He came in last place in his reelection effort.