Freman Hendrix (born October 12, 1950) is an American politician from the state of Michigan. A Democrat, Hendrix served as deputy mayor for former Detroit mayor Dennis Archer from 1997 to 2001. He ran twice, unsuccessfully, as a mayoral candidate in the city of Detroit: in 2005 against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, and for the 2009 special election called to replace the ousted Kilpatrick.
History
The son of a black Army veteran, Emmanuel Freman Hendrix, and an Austrian-born woman, Rudolfine Ernegger, Hendrix was born in Inkster, Michigan, graduated from Inkster High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Eastern Michigan University in 1982, became a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, and was initiated into the Delta Nu chapter at EMU; Hendrix served in the U.S. Navy for four years.
Hendrix was named chief operating officer of Strategic Staffing Solutions and joined EMU in August 2006 as chief government relations officer, focusing on strengthening relationships with legislators in Lansing and Washington, D.C.
2009 campaign
Hendrix officially announced a second formal campaign for mayor of Detroit at the EMU Student Government meeting on October 7, 2008. After an inquiry by Student Body Vice-President Robert Philip Kull about his plans, Hendrix revealed his plans as a way of pushing for "honesty, transparency, and accountability".<sup>2</sup> Others who announced their candidacy were interim Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr., Sharon McPhail, Coleman Young II, Nicholas Hood III, and Dave Bing; Hendrix ultimately came in third in the February 24, 2009, primary behind Cockrel and Bing (who was elected mayor).
Hendrix was the top vote getter in the August 4, 2009 primary for a post in the Charter Revision Commission, receiving 11% of the vote. He resigned, however, from the commission on September 14, 2010, to join the Greektown Casino Hotel Board of Directors.