DETROIT (WXYZ) — Detroit City Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero, who is seeking reelection, will be placed on the ballot after her disqualification was rescinded, she announced on Friday.
The decision was made pending a mutually agreed upon court order with her campaign and the Detroit City Clerk’s Office. The order is expected to be signed on Tuesday, the councilwoman said.
Watch our previous report when Gabriela Santiago-Romero was suing the city below:
Santiago-Romero, who represents District 6, and her team filed a lawsuit after Detroit's city clerk said she was disqualified due to a campaign filing discrepancy with the Wayne County Clerk’s Office. That discrepancy, which stemmed from a supposed late fee, caused Detroit’s city clerk to disqualify Santiago-Romero from the primary.
The election is on Aug. 5.
Santiago-Romero addressed a crowd of supporters last week in southwest Detroit after the lawsuit was filed.
“The reason being a fee that was owed stemming back to last October. We’re contending the fee should have never been owed," Widmaier told 7 News Detroit last week.
“We submitted a report on October 25th. We have confirmation right here if anyone would like to see it. This is from Wayne County confirming they got the report. They’re now contending the first time we filed the report was on November 8th, which is incorrect."
Widmaier said Santiago-Romero had called, emailed and went to the county clerk’s office with no resolve. So, her team filed a lawsuit against the city clerk to get back on the ballot.
“We have our receipts. We have documentation thankfully, but that’s what happened. There’s missing information from the county side, and we’re just hoping that they except our receipts,” Santiago-Romero told 7 News Detroit last week.
If Santiago-Romero had lost the lawsuit, she would have had to run as a write-in candidate, which she said she was prepared to do.
Before the decision to keep Santiago-Romero on the ballot, the Wayne County Clerk’s Office waived her $250 fee for good cause.
“I’m relieved that the facts have been cleared up, and I’m qualified to be on the ballot,” Santiago-Romero said in a statement. “Last week was truly a nightmare, and the hardest week I’ve ever had as a candidate. What kept me hopeful was the outpouring of support I received daily from our community – this fight was never about me, it was about us. I look forward to continuing to campaign to represent our district, and I’m grateful to both the Detroit City Clerk and the Wayne County Clerk for working with me to rectify this error.”
Santiago-Romero’s campaign said she turned in over 600 petition signatures and was certified.
Santiago-Romero and her campaign said the court decision is a “significant victory.”
“I knew how strong this community was already, and last week only reinforced to me that when we stand together, there’s nothing we cannot overcome,” Santiago-Romero said.
She is running for her second term in District 6. Her campaign said she won the seat with 74% of the vote in 2021.
To learn more about Santiago-Romero, visit her campaign website.
