Duggan Says Size Of Michigan Biggest Challenge In Independent Campaign For Governor

Michigan Advance

June 26, 2025

Mike Duggan may be mayor of the Motor City, but he was one of the most popular attractions on the vehicle-free Mackinac Island during the Detroit Regional Chamber’s annual policy conference last month.

As mayor of Detroit, Duggan is one of two people, along with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, guaranteed a keynote speaking slot during the Mackinac Policy Conference.

He used this year’s address to roll out his plan to invest $4.5 billion in schools while promoting his independent campaign for governor, contrasting himself with Republican and Democratic attack ads alike.

The next day, he highlighted Detroit’s comeback during a panel with Rocket Mortgage founder and philanthropist Dan Gilbert.

April Ryan, Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent for Black Press USA, underscored Duggan’s arguments about partisan politics during a separate panel on the final day of the conference, saying Duggan’s polling – indicating that he pulls nearly equal amounts of support from Republicans and Democrats – shows “the system is broken.”

“Certain groups felt … like they weren’t heard. And the problem is we have to find a way to get everyone under the umbrella,” Ryan said. “That’s why independents are on the rise, and people are listening, because people don’t feel heard. People want to feel seen.”

The Michigan Advance caught up with Duggan about his campaign taking on both the Democratic and Republican candidates for governor as an independent.

The Democratic field to succeed term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer currently includes Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson and former Cape Coral, Fla., Mayor Marni Sawicki.

Republicans who have entered the race include former Attorney General Mike Cox, U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Twp.), former House Speaker Tom Leonard, Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, former congressional candidate Anthony Hudson and construction manager William Null.

The following are excerpts from the Advance’s interview with Duggan:

You mentioned during your keynote address that a bad system will always beat a good person. If we’re in a bad system now, what does that mean for your campaign?

“Well, I think people in Michigan are really internalizing now that with this divided state and the continual 50-50 Republican and Democrat split in the Legislature that we are going to keep swinging back and forth. And people are feeling the impact of that. They feel the impact in the schools. They feel the impact in the economic policies. I’m offering a different alternative, and I’m finding a lot of people receptive.”

You mentioned how policy goals will swing back and forth with Republican and Democratic governors and legislators. You’re running as an independent. How effective can you be at changing that as governor if you don’t have similarly independent legislators to work with?

“When you have a 56-54 margin, and you’re in the 56, your most extreme three or four people control your agenda. And that pulls the two parties to the extremes – what makes people so angry in these evenly divided systems – because you’re obsessed with having a majority and your majority passing a bill that your party gets credit for.

“I’m going to try a different approach: The approach I took at the city of Detroit and City Council, where I sat down with Council, people had their own opinions, and I said, we’re going to agree on principles that apply to all of us.

“I laid out a set of principles for the schools that said let’s put $4.5 billion in the schools without raising taxes, let’s have a clear reading curriculum, let’s build the CTE program, and let’s hold principals and superintendents accountable for performance.

“I think most people in the two parties can agree to that. Now, there’s people on one extreme that say you shouldn’t have to have accountability in schools, and people on the other extreme that says you ought to have vouchers. But I think most people in this state would say put money in the school system, teach the kids to read, give us CTE options that are real and hold them accountable.

“That’s what I believe. And I think I can forge a coalition in the middle of Republicans and Democrats who say this is the Michigan solution, it’s not a Democratic or a Republican solution.”

You’ve talked about the purpose of the campaign being to take on a broken system. Why run for governor rather than, say, a ballot proposal to literally change the system?

“Well, we had a ballot proposal, right? We eliminated gerrymandering, and now you have an evenly divided Legislature, which is the state, it actually reflects the state. It had an unintended consequence that you have almost complete gridlock in the Legislature.

“I think what has been done at the legislative level, or the ballot proposal level, has been done. I think you have to have a change in politics.

“If you watch what happened in Detroit when I ran in 2013, the definition of politics in Detroit was us versus them. It was Black versus white, city versus suburbs, city versus Lansing. And people thought that a white guy in an 83% Black city would never have a chance to be elected.

“But the people of Detroit have overwhelmingly supported me, because there were things more important to them in terms of common values and common strategies.

“I think with what’s happened in the city of Detroit, by people pulling together, not only have I done well, our City Council is at a 60% approval rating. You don’t see that in other cities. Our legislative branch found that a consistent plan that delivered results was good for them as well as good for the mayor.”

You’ve argued that people are tired of Democrats versus Republicans. Why is Democrats versus Republicans versus Mike Duggan preferable?

“We’re going to get a chance to see, but just look at the toxic ads that you have. The Gallup polls show we’re down to 27% of Americans who consider themselves Democrats, all time low, 27% Republicans, all time low, 43% independents, all time high.

“But the campaign managers know that you’re starting out with only a 27% base. The way they get from 27% to 51% isn’t to explain their affordable housing plan, it’s demonize the other person.

“I showed the ad calling people pedophile protectors and insane and the ads that people are running. They run the ads because all you have to do is demonize the other party to 51%.

“If I’m in the race, you can’t just demonize the Republicans or Democrats. You’re going to have to actually say what you’re for, and it is going to be a very different dynamic.

“I think there are a handful of congressional people who have already figured this out and are figuring out ‘okay, this guy’s going to get 30-40% of the vote as an independent, I’m going to need his independent voters to vote for me in a U.S. Senate race or in a Congressional race.’

“You’re going to start to see, I believe, other candidates modify their positions to talk about what they’re for in order to get elected. At least that’s what I’m hoping to do, because I’m running to change the system.”

Does running as an independent force you to spend more time convincing people that you are a viable candidate rather than being able to talk about those issues?

“For sure it does. But I lived this once already.

“If you had been in the living rooms with me when I ran for mayor, and people would show up and say, I like you, but there’s no way a white guy can win an 83% Black city, and then after a couple months, they saw me the second and third time, and some of their friends are saying, I’m looking at this guy, and they said, maybe he can. And by the time we were done, I carried 92% of the precincts.

“But what you’re saying is absolutely right. It wasn’t the first time, it wasn’t the second time, but I’m seeing the same thing here. People are showing up in large numbers, mainly out of curiosity to hear the independent guy.

“I was in Lexington last Tuesday, town of 1,000 people; 100 people showed up and spent an hour and a half with me. At some point, I said to them, how many of you would have showed up if I were running as a Democrat? Half the hands in the room went up, and then everybody started laughing.

“There is something about this independent candidacy that is getting people to come out and listen. But you’re right, I’ve got to convince them, once they hear, that an independent can win, and that’s what the campaign’s about.”

You’ve rejected a lot of the conventional wisdom about independent campaigns and have argued that the vast majority of people are ready for that independent change. If that’s not the challenge you face, what do you view as the biggest challenges to your campaign?

“The size of the state.

“In Detroit, I did 250 house parties. I was in every neighborhood, sitting in living rooms. Now I’m going to a farm in Saginaw County, I’m in a house in Ottawa, I’m up at a bar in New Baltimore. I’m enjoying it, but it’s a bigger state. I’m going to have to spend a lot of time going to every corner of it. The challenge is just the physical geography of the state.

“The folks in New Baltimore, a whole crowd of people, and after an hour, somebody raises their hand and asks, ‘why isn’t everybody in this state going to vote for you?’ And if I have time to talk to them, I would win the vast majority of the state. But I need the time to talk.”

You mentioned Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has found exactly the right approach to dealing with President Donald Trump. You appeared at a number of Democratic campaign events in 2024, where we heard very dramatic rhetoric about the threat that he poses. Is there a mismatch between the rhetoric we heard on the campaign trail last year and this strategy now?

“That rhetoric didn’t come from me. And you can see the rhetoric didn’t work. Calling Trump a fascist was not a good campaign strategy. People wanted to know ‘what are you going to do?’

“I was mayor the first Trump term, I didn’t have any issues. We worked fine with the administration. I stayed out of the crossfire. I wasn’t one of the people who engaged in Twitter wars with the president to boost my Democratic status. It’s just not who I am.

“Ben Carson was the HUD Secretary under Trump. I had him to the house for dinner. He came from Detroit originally. I got funding for lead programs to take lead out of houses in Detroit in the first Trump administration.

“I’m the kind of person that says I don’t work for the Republicans or Democrats, I work for my residents in Detroit. Ultimately, I work for the people of Michigan. And I think Gretchen Whitmer has shown enormous courage in the last month. She knew she was going to take grief from the Democrats. But to save 5,000 jobs at Selfridge that she couldn’t get done under a Democratic president, it was remarkable what she accomplished.”

If you’re elected governor, would you have a PowerPoint for your State of the State?

“I’m not going to stand and read a teleprompter, I know that. I don’t know how to use a teleprompter. So yeah, I think you can assume it will be a PowerPoint. You’re the first person to ask me that. That’s funny.”

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