Former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has ended his independent bid for governor of Michigan, saying his campaign no longer had a clear path to victory after falling behind in polling and failing to build the national fundraising support needed to compete with the major parties.
Duggan announced the decision in a letter to supporters this week, writing that he no longer felt confident about the campaign’s path to victory. He said the campaign had been built around changing what he called Michigan’s “toxic party politics,” but that the political environment shifted sharply in the spring.
Duggan first launched his independent campaign in late 2024, becoming the first candidate to formally enter the race. A longtime Democrat, Duggan served three terms as mayor of Detroit after first winning the office as a write-in candidate in 2013. He left office earlier this year.
In his letter, Duggan pointed to several factors behind the decision, including internal polling showing Democrats gaining strength nationally from public anger over gas prices and the war in Iran. He also referenced a Detroit Regional Chamber poll showing him falling 11 points behind the Democratic candidate, a sharp reversal from earlier polling that had shown him leading in some three-way and head-to-head matchups.
“Being down 11 points in May wouldn’t discourage me – I’ve been down worse than that in the past,” Duggan wrote. “But this time it’s compounded by our inability to build serious national fundraising support.”
Duggan praised his supporters and donors, especially those in-state, who he said made up 94 percent of his financial backers and helped him raise more in Michigan than any other candidate. However, he lamented that modern campaigns are increasingly funded through national party networks, and that comparable support networks for independent candidates are still “too much in its infancy” to help a race like his in 2026.
“If we were even in the polls and behind in fundraising, we have a path to winning,” Duggan wrote. “If we were behind in the polls and even in fundraising, we have a path. But we’re behind in both.”
In addition to support from labor groups in the state, Duggan’s campaign had drawn interest from groups and figures outside the two major parties, including backing from the Reform Party and praise from Forward Party co-founder Andrew Yang. But Duggan said he did not want to continue a campaign he no longer believed could win, writing that he entered the race “to try to change our politics, not to be a spoiler.”
Despite choosing to withdraw, Duggan argued that his run still showed that a large bloc of Michigan voters remained open to an alternative choice. He pointed to his 23 percent support in the most recent poll, saying it represented more than 1.6 million voters who are seeking a gubernatorial option serious about addressing “toxic partisan politics.”
“I’m still hopeful our campaign will prove to have a real long-term impact,” Duggan wrote. “[…] If the candidates on the ballot this year take that message to heart and truly reach out to those voters, we will have accomplished something important.”
To qualify for the ballot as a candidate unaffiliated with any party, Duggan would have needed to submit at least 12,000 valid signatures, including at least 100 signatures from registered voters in at least half of Michigan’s congressional districts. He could have submitted no more than 60,000 signatures, with a filing deadline of July 16.
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