FERNDALE, Mich.—Ferndale, a city of 22,000 in the Detroit suburbs, elected Michigan’s first openly gay mayor Nov. 6.

Craig Covey, 50, won 54 percent of the vote to move into the city’s top job after eight years as a city councilman.

Ferndale is home to a large gay community that’s helped revitalize its downtown area. Covey was founder of the city’s growing summer pub crawl, which raises funds for the charity he founded, the Michigan AIDS Prevention Project, and other groups.

“Ferndale has demonstrated how to be successful in these new times, using smart-growth policies, diversity, inclusion and a walkable downtown,” Covey told the Detroit Free Press Nov. 7. “We’ve shown the region how a struggling Rust Belt suburb can shine.”