Former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan ended his independent campaign for governor in Michigan, citing national headwinds that are boosting Democrats.
“If we were even in the polls and behind in fundraising, we have a path to winning. If we were behind in the polls and even in fundraising, we have a path. But we’re behind in both,” Duggan wrote on his campaign website.
“It’s just not right to ask our volunteers, faith leaders, unions, elected officials and donors to continue in a campaign that, in my heart, I no longer feel good about our chances to win,” he continued.
The former mayor served in Detroit as a Democrat, but in 2024 launched an independent bid for governor, promising to push back against “the political fighting and the nonsense that once held Detroit back.”
In the letter on his campaign website Thursday, Duggan told his supporters that he worked every day for 18 months “to try to change Michigan’s toxic party politics.”
But in April, amid a backdrop of rising prices and increasing disapproval nationally of President Donald Trump, “the mood of the country had shifted suddenly and dramatically,” Duggan wrote.
He added that in the spring, “our internal polling showed the intense anger over gas prices and Iran was boosting Democrats in every office nationally. The [Detroit Regional] Chamber poll last week showing we’d fallen 11 points behind the Democratic candidate reflects that reality.”
Duggan added that he lagged behind the leading Democrat in the race, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, in national fundraising.
The recent poll that Duggan cited was commissioned by the Detroit Regional Chamber, a business group that had endorsed his candidacy.
The poll, which surveyed 600 likely general election voters, found Benson leading a hypothetical November race at 34%, followed by Rep. John James, one of the Republican candidates, at 29% and Duggan at 23%.
