Mike Duggan drops out of Michigan governor race

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]have some breaking news to bring you. We are just learning that Mike Dugen, former mayor of Detroit, is dropping his bid to become our state's next governor.

[00:00:08]>> I'm shocked by this.

[00:00:10]>> Shocked.

[00:00:11]>> Uh 6 months ahead of the election, give or take, right?

[00:00:14]>> November. Yeah.

[00:00:16]>> Um so now we don't know why. We know that uh Dugen is scheduled to speak in in Detroit, of course, about this topic.

[00:00:24]So, um I it' be only guesses now as to why he's dropping out at this point um so much ahead of the election. So, we're learning more saying this is a financial uh decision. You need money to uh run these campaigns and right now without the backing of the Republican party or the Democratic party when you are an independent. These are the challenges that come with running a political campaign. where is the money coming from to fund this and we'll learn more about this today but uh the decision on its own >> um is shocking uh that that uh he is dropping out but uh nonetheless uh you can't run a campaign without any money and the money is not there.

[00:01:13]>> Yeah. Shocking because it seems like he was a front runner if not the front runner in the top three for sure. I do have um I'm getting this from a website, a letter that he wrote. I'm disappointed to write you this letter. For the past 18 months, I've worked every day to try and change Michigan's toxic party politics. I've been supported by hundreds of volunteers who believe deeply that years of constant Democratic Republican conflict in Lancing have led to our schools declining, our housing costs rising, and our young people moving out of Michigan in record numbers. The indep We knew the independent route was filled with challenge. Even against those odds, the excitement for real change carried this campaign upward for more than a year.

[00:01:51]So, I won't read the whole letter, but um that is kind of the gist of what he's saying. Running as an independent, it it became too challenging. He's saying the mood of our country has shifted suddenly and dramatically.

[00:02:04]Um, so >> it's really sad in my opinion because I thought this was a real opportunity to kind of see where people in the middle were going to go on this because, you know, I've always said I think there are four different political parties in the country. I think there's a far right, a center right, a center left, and a far left. And I think the center right and center left have more in common with each other than maybe on the extremes of each of their own parties. And I was curious to see where Mike Dugen was going to land here with those two uh the center right and the center left. Uh as an independent, these challenges are so difficult to to to navigate through when you're going through party conventions and and advertisements and money and and everything like that. You know, where were the debates? Where was he going to land on on some of the debates? And um there was that um moment a couple of months ago where he stood on a stage in in Detroit, I believe, and he had over 200 people endorse him from all walks of life, uh from every political party in the country. And I thought that was that was pretty staggering to see the amount of different walks of life that were standing behind Mike Dougen for that.

[00:03:15]Pretty pretty incredible. Is it possible, and I don't know if we know the answer to this at this point, is it possible ahead of the August primary he switches and runs as a Democrat?

[00:03:25]>> I don't I don't think so. Uh I don't think so. But while you do talk about that, I think his endorsement now, Joselyn Benson and John James are if they're not on the phone with him already, >> um that's a mistake because his endorsement may even sway the balance of that election. Uh when it comes to now, they have primaries to run. There's no doubt about it.

[00:03:53]>> I I I have a question though. This is a man who won the mayorship of Detroit as a right-in candidate. If he didn't have the money, the backing of the Republican party or the Democratic party, why not not spend another dime and just coast to the election? You still have the name of Mike Dougen.

[00:04:12]>> The name recognition in uh the northern Michigan is not there. And that's all of the uh that's where all of the data points are. Uh name recognition here locally in the Metro Detroit area obviously is there. Um and I think it was growing. There's no question about it. But uh in Northern Michigan uh I'm not sure they >> so know exactly what let's just read his words instead of us uh guessing what he's thinking. It says being down 11 points in May. He the polling is showing that um the Democrats are being boosted in every office nationally. Gas prices, the war in Iraq. So, he's saying he's down 11 points, but that wouldn't discourage him. But governor's campaigns today are funded overwhelmingly from well-established networks of national party money, which is why I've been all across America meeting with national groups to try and build a competitive fundraising network with independence.

[00:05:06]There's been much interest, but we finally concluded the national fundraising for these groups is too much in its infancy to be of great help to our race in 2026. And as generous as our Michigan donors have been, we'll be strongly outspent by the national, Republican, and Democratic parties this