Craig Covey

Craig Covey (born 1957) is an American politician who served as mayor of Ferndale, Michigan. He was the first openly-gay mayor of any municipality in the state of Michigan. A Democrat, at noon on January 3, 2011 he resigned the office and took the open 25th district seat on the Oakland County Commission.

Born in Columbus, Ohio, Covey has lived in Michigan since 1985 and in Ferndale since buying a house there in 1989.

Elected mayor of Ferndale on November 6, 2007, he was sworn into office on January 14, 2008 for a two-year term, succeeding three-term mayor Robert Porter. He was re-elected unopposed in November 2009. In 2010, he ran for the Oakland County Commission in district 25, succeeding Dave Coulter (D-Ferndale). He won a three-way Democratic primary on August 3, 2010 and bested a Republican in the November general election in a reliably Democratic district. He was defeated for re-election on August 7, 2012 by Helaine Zack (D-Huntington Woods).

Prior to being elected mayor, Covey was a long-time member of the Ferndale city council, having served from 1999 to 2008. He served as mayor pro tem from 2003 to 2005.

Besides political activity, Covey was also CEO of the Midwest AIDS Prevention Project (MAPP) and Chief Operating Officer of the Michigan AIDS Coalition, the organization resulting from the merging of MAPP and the Michigan AIDS Fund in 2009. In 2011, he created Ferndale Pride, a gay pride street festival that grew out of Motor City Pride's move from Ferndale to Detroit that same year.