Skip to main content

Detroit Mayor Duggan will run for Michigan governor in 2026 as independent

Mayor-elect Mike Duggan speaks at his election night celebration in Detroit Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) Mayor-elect Mike Duggan speaks at his election night celebration in Detroit Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Share

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, a longtime Democrat, says he will run for Michigan governor as an independent in 2026.

“It’s clear to me that there are a lot of people in this country who are tired of both parties and tired of the system,” Duggan said in an interview Tuesday. “And so I want to offer people a choice.”

Duggan, 66, is credited by many for leading Detroit after it emerged from bankruptcy to become a thriving, more vibrant city. He formally announced his intentions in a video released Wednesday morning but discussed his future before that with The Associated Press. He hopes to succeed popular Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is term-limited under Michigan law.

The mayor’s decision comes in the midst of a reckoning for Democrats in Michigan, one of a handful of swing states that helped propel former President Donald Trump to victory in November. The Democratic Party, which only two years previously had claimed a majority in both houses of the Legislature for the first time in decades, suffered setbacks at the ballot box that left state Democrats scrambling for explanations and a path forward.

Still, few would have anticipated the mayor of the state’s largest city and biggest Democratic stronghold abandoning his party altogether.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

French government toppled in historic no-confidence vote

French opposition lawmakers brought the government down on Wednesday, throwing the European Union's second-biggest economic power deeper into a political crisis that threatens its capacity to legislate and rein in a massive budget deficit.

Stay Connected