LIVONIA, Mich. – The city of Livonia will have a female mayor for the first time.
Tuesday's primary narrowed the candidates to two women, Laura Toy and Maureen Miller Brosnan.
Both candidates are lifelong Livonia residents.
"I was born and raised in Livonia. My mom and dad live just a couple blocks from City Hall in the house they built," Miller Brosnan said.
"I've lived here forever. My dad was number six on the police department, my mother was a schooolteacher," Toy said.
Toy is the Livonia City Council president and also served in the Senate.
"We had a grassroots team. We continue to have a grassroots team. and people in Livonia have always been so good to me," Toy said.
Miller Brosnan is the former president of the Livonia City Council, where she was elected to serve for 17 years, and she's served in other leadership roles over the years.
"It is really an exciting election that we have coming up here, and one that I've spent my whole life building up for," Miller Brosnan said.
The main issues Toy wants to tackle are safety, affordability and small business support. Toy owns a flower shop in the city.
"I've owned a small business here for the last 41 years and I employ a lot of Livonia folks and a lot of folk in and around the areas," Toy said.
Miller Brosnan wants to tackle roads and infrastructure, public health, education and public safety.
"The number one problem that I'm going to have to come in here and fix day one is making sure that we're able to grow and build our public safety," she said.
There is a shortage of police officers and firefighters in Livonia. Both candidates have plans to fix the problem.
The women have both been the "first" already in many ways.
"I'm the firstborn in my family, the first person in my family to go to college. I am the youngest person to ever serve on the Livonia City Council," Miller Brosnan said.
"I was Livonia's first female senator," Toy said.
Both women describe themselves as problem solvers who can get the job done.
"I am really, really good at engaging people around a central idea and able to advance creative ideas," Miller Brosnan said.
"I enjoy inventing programs, seeing problems, helping them get solved, and that's why I enjoy this people business so much," Toy said.
Both women have similar plans to win the election in November.
"Work really hard, every day. We filed March 8 and we haven't stopped really since then," Toy said.
"Work really hard. We're going to touch base with an awful lot more voters than we've touched base with now," Miller Brosnan said.
Miller Brosnan has been endorsed by the Livonia Police Officers Association and the Livonia Lieutenants and Sergeant's Association.
Toy was the front-runner in the primary.