Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s decision Wednesday to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent candidate for governor upends the 2026 cycle and sets up perhaps the most viable bid by a candidate without party affiliation for statewide office in Michigan history.
Duggan’s announcement that he would run for governor was expected.
What was – to put it mildly – unexpected was his decision not to seek the Democratic Party nomination and instead run as a candidate without party affiliation. Duggan has spent decades in Democratic politics, as the late Wayne County Executive Ed McNamara’s right-hand man for years, elected as a Democrat to serve as Wayne County prosecutor and one of the most important party operators of the past 40 years in this state.
“The political fighting and the nonsense that once held back Detroit is too often what we’re seeing across Michigan today. The current system forces people to choose sides, not find solutions,” Duggan said in his announcement video. “I want to see if I can change that – by starting a campaign for governor by having conversations about whether it’s time for a whole new approach: a governor who is an Independent. What would happen if we upended the system and gave Michigan voters a new choice – a governor who didn’t run as a candidate of either party? Who went to work every day with no goal except to get people to work together for all of Michigan?”
Duggan was not available for an interview, a spokesperson said.
However, he told the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News in interviews that following the November election, he senses voters are turned off by politics and the political parties.
Duggan said he intends to replicate the house parties that were so successful for him when he first ran for mayor in 2013, this time taking those efforts statewide.
“I’m looking forward to sitting in living rooms from Detroit to Alpena to Hillsdale to Ishpeming,” he said in his announcement video. “We face issues that touch the lives of every community. I believe Michigan’s biggest export is no longer our automobiles – it’s our young people. Our young people are moving out of Michigan at a rate faster than any state in America and it will take real change to build an economy with real opportunities.”
He said Michigan’s schools are not preparing children to succeed.
Duggan’s decision prompted a social media post from Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, widely expected to seek the Democratic nomination for governor.
“I’m proud to be a Democrat. We’re the party of fairness, freedom, of opportunity for all,” she wrote. “We’re the party that does the courageous thing because it’s the right thing. We are the party that recognizes we’re all in this together and we will only truly thrive and prosper when all thrive and prosper. We are the party that stands with the voters, and stands with democracy.”
While Benson did not name Duggan, the post came about an hour after his announcement. Benson spokesperson Dan Farough, when contacted to reach Benson for comment about Duggan’s decision, said her social media post was her response.
Another big-name Democrat considering the race, Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II, did not offer public comments about the decision. Efforts to obtain reaction from him and Governor Gretchen Whitmer were unsuccessful.
Immediately, calculations were run about how the decision would affect the race.
A not small number of Republicans celebrated the prospect of Duggan and the eventual Democratic nominee fighting for the same votes and putting the Republican nominee in a strong position to win the election.
“Best news for Michigan Republicans since Election Day,” John Yob said in a post on X.
Still others said Duggan is a savvy political operator who must have done his homework and seen this as the best path.
A Democratic primary against Benson loomed as a major, if still attainable, challenge. Benson would have youth, gender and ideology in her favor. Duggan is 66 and a business-friendly Democrat. Further, a man has not won a statewide Democratic primary for governor or U.S. Senate in Michigan with a woman also running since 1994 when Howard Wolpe and Bob Carr won the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate primaries.
Running as an independent means Duggan bypasses the August primary and goes straight to the November election. He will need to obtain at least 30,000 valid signatures from registered voters with at least 100 coming from each of at least seven U.S. House districts in the state. He can turn in up to 60,000 signatures.
An error on Duggan’s petition in the 2013 mayor’s race forced him to run as a write-in, though he successfully pulled off that effort.
Another potential impediment is straight ticket voting. A majority of voters statewide, especially Democrats in Detroit, use the straight ticket option to pick a party’s slate of candidates with a single mark on the ballot.
Voters choosing this option could still vote for Duggan in the governor’s race with that selection nullifying their straight ticket selection for that contest, but it’s a challenge for any non-major party candidate.
Duggan should have key funders on his side. Bill Ford Jr. swiftly endorsed him. But he will have to build a statewide organization from scratch and won’t have a statewide political party to help.
Democratic reaction ranged from muted to concerned.
“The Michigan Democratic Party has not only had huge victories over the last few cycles, Democrats have consistently delivered on an agenda that puts money in Michiganders’ pockets and protects our most fundamental freedoms,” Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes said in a statement. “The potential gubernatorial Democratic primary field is incredibly strong and we look forward to ensuring Democrats hold onto the governorship and continue building a brighter future for all Michiganders.”
A party spokesperson said Barnes was unavailable for an interview and did not respond to questions about how the Democratic nominee could overcome Duggan’s presence in the race.
Sen. Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit) said the announcement from Duggan was sort of shocking.
“Ideally, we would love for him to continue to run as a Democrat. He has supported the Democratic Party throughout the tenure of his career,” Santana said. “From a personal standpoint, I think that puts us in a pickle as far as Democrats go when it comes to the 2026 election.”
Santana said she understood Duggan’s comments around the reading of tea leaves on toxic politics and wanting to leave behind the false choices of polarized politics, however.
“People are not happy with either party, but I think people in general are just tired of politics in our country,” she said. “I think they just want to make sure that good people are in positions to do the right things for the citizens of Michigan, as well as this country.”
Gongwer asked if his move could shave off her support for the eventual Democratic Party nominee for governor, but Santana said it was still too early in the process to say.
“I want to see all the horses get into the gate first before I make a decision,” she said.
Sen. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) also said Duggan’s announcement came as a surprise. He said that it may “damage the opportunity that we’ll have a sensible governor next term.”
“If you separate the sensible people and split that camp into two parts, well then, the right wing is going to be unified, presumably, around someone,” Irwin said. “I think that is damaging for the direction of Michigan, if you care about education, or health care or clean water.”
Although his initial reaction is Duggan’s exit from the Democratic Party probably splits folks who are more or less reasonable in a way that only promotes the chances of Republican winning, Irwin said that’s just his hot take.
“What do I know?” he said. “There’s a lot of time before the election.”
Rep. Alabas Farhat (D-Dearborn) said he thought Duggan’s move was exciting as partisan politics can get in the way of progress.
“I think there’s a very clear message. If nothing else, there’s a governing middle in this state that want to get together and do things, whether it’s housing, whether it’s infrastructure, whether it’s the roads,” he said. “One thing he’s done really well in Detroit is broken the ‘us’ versus ‘them’ mentality. … He’s gotten the council to work together in a remarkable way. I think we need to get that same energy to the Capital.”
Farhat to say there was a lot of disillusionment with the Democratic party.
“We’ve seen election after election where we’ve had an electoral result come out, and we’re never figuring out how we can build a coalition that can win elections,” he said. “Mayor Duggan has been a Democrat his entire life. He’s been a strong supporter of Democratic principles, like unions, economic issues … Michigan voters are very smart. They want to look for leadership that’s going to address the pain they feel. That’s going to address the real kitchen table issues.”
Rep. Abraham Aiyash (D-Hamtramck) was much more reserved in his comments, saying that Duggan’s move to run as an independent wasn’t something he necessarily saw coming.
“It’s interesting,” he said. “But it’s not surprising.”
Aiyash declined to say more on Wednesday, noting that he was the majority floor leader for the House Democratic Caucus.
John Sellek, a communications strategist, said if anyone else tried this approach, it would not be taken seriously.
“But because it’s Mike Duggan, we’re saying, ‘hold on,'” he said.
Duggan must have seen a struggle coming in the Democratic primary, Sellek said. And Sellek noted Duggan’s announcement video touched on Democratic messages. The question will be when and how he begins reaching out to Republicans.
He will take fire from all sides, Sellek said, noting Benson’s swipe and a social media post from the Republican Governors Association citing his work for Democrats through the years.
What Duggan will need, Sellek said, is a bruising Democratic primary that leaves the Democratic nominee damaged and the Republicans to repeat what happened in 2022 when higher-profile candidates saw their campaigns fall apart and a newcomer, Tudor Dixon, won the nomination but lacked the name recognition, funding and political experience to keep the race close. She lost to Whitmer by double digits.
“He’s clearly taking a historical gamble,” he said.
– By Zach Gorchow; Ben Solis, Elena Durnbaugh contributed
