History has been made in Detroit as City Council President Mary Sheffield has won the Detroit mayoral race, becoming the first-ever woman elected as the citys mayor.

Sheffield beat her opponent, political newcomer Solomon Kinloch, Jr., the head of Triumph Church.

Its a groundbreaking moment in Detroit politics, and I talked with some longtime Detroiters and community leaders for their perspective on Sheffields victory.

Hear the full speech from Mary Sheffield in the video below

Mary Sheffield speaks after projected win as Detroit's next mayor

Born and raised in the Motor City, Sheffield was the youngest person ever elected to Detroit City Council at the age of 26, and is now the first female mayor.

How significant is this victory? I asked former Detroit City Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel.

Its an inflection point, and its a huge opportunity, Cockrel said. Not only is she the first woman, first Black woman to be mayor of the city, she also represents a generational shift in political leadership.

Cockrel said this is an opportunity for women to control many of the levers of local government.

We have a mayor, a city clerk, and a city council that has - may not have a majority of women this time, but has many women on it and has in the past had a majority women. And you have a, an opportunity now to really shape and frame the next four years in the city's history, she said.

Sheffields maternal grandmother, Mary Coty, said even as a child, Sheffield was very sure of herself. Her late mother, Yvonne Lovett, was a nursing professor.

Her dad, the Rev. Horace Sheffield III, instilled the importance of serving others. Her grandfather, Horace Sheffield Jr., was a civil rights titan and labor advocate.

In the past 12 years at city hall, Sheffield has blazed her own path, focusing on revitalizing neighborhoods, inclusionary housing, property tax reform and more.

I believe shes qualified. I believe that she will make a fine first woman as mayor, Coty said.

Adolph Mongo, a prominent political voice in Detroit, did not support Sheffield, but does want her to succeed.

I hope that she surrounds herself with some smart people. Not people that she likes or people that gave her money -- [but rather] people that know city government, Mongo said.

What do you think will be the biggest challenges she will face once in office? I asked.

This new administration is going to have to monitor very, very carefully what this destabilized American economy overall means to our regional economy and to the city's economy, Cockrel said.

Yes, she's making history, but she's going to do, she's going to have to make some tough decisions, Mongo said.

Sheffield was endorsed by current Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who helped lead the city out of bankruptcy and into the future.

She garnered many other endorsements and raised more money than Kinloch.

When she comes into office, shell be dealing with concerns over potential cuts in social services and healthcare, the much-talked-about food desert in Detroit, the tariff war already impacting the city and the threat of President Donald Trump sending in the National Guard.

Shell be sworn into office on Jan. 1.

Related: Watch our interviews with political analyst Mario Morrow on Sheffield's win Live interview: Political analyst Mario Morrow on significance of Mary Sheffield's win

The Federal Reserve is expected to announce its second interest rate cut of the year today.

Watch Alicia's report in the video player below 'It's not goint to happen right away': Local financial expert explains potential recent interest rate cut

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell signaled in late August that rate cuts were likely this year. And then last month, the Fed lowered its key interest rate by a quarter-point (-0.25%) to help stimulate growth amid a weakening job market.

I talked with financial expert Rick Boom, who expects a quarter-percent cut announced today. I asked him how this could impact Americans, and specificially, how quickly it will that translate into lower mortgage and auto loan rates for consumers.

 

Unfortunately, when they raise rates, it happens almost immediately," Bloom said. "When it lowers rates, it takes time to reach the consumers. So, unfortunately, it's not going to happen right away. And a lot of consumers may find their rates don't go down. Now, if you have a charge card that's an adjustable rate charge card, you're going to see a pretty quick change in that. But another charge card is probably not. And I think you won't see it on auto loans right away. I think it'll be a little while for it to filter through the system."

Bloom also said Certificate of Deposit rates would go down a little, meaning a lower rate of return for people saving money in the bank.

The No. 1 concern, he said, is that if rates go down too much, we'll see higher inflation.

"Even right now, inflation is still higher than the Feds would like it to be. It's stubbornly around 3%, which is higher than 2% target. And so there is this fear that if rates go down too much, we're going to see inflation," Bloom explained.

He does anticipate another rate cut announced in December as well.

But he said there's always a chance these two cuts won't happen.

"One of the things that has happened because of the shutdown is they don't have the same economic data like the jobs report [from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics]. And they may decide to say, you know what, since we don't have the data that we need, we're just gonna push this off for another couple of months. And if they did that, I would expect short term for the market to have a negative reaction, but only short term."

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to hold a news conference today at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Rick Bloom is the President of Bloom Advisors in Farmington Hills, Michigan.