Former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan stunned observers throughout Michigan on Thursday morning when he abruptly abandoned his independent candidacy for governor of Michigan.
In a letter to supporters, Duggan — 67 and highly regarded for his stewardship of the Motor City during its darkest financial hours — said that rising voter anger over gas prices and the Iran war was “boosting Democrats in every office nationally.”
He specifically cited a just-completed poll by the Detroit Regional Chamber showing likely Democratic nominee and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson with 34% among likely voters, followed by front-running Republican hopeful and Rep. John James at 29% and Duggan 23%.
This was a sharp turn from the same poll in January, which showed Duggan at 30%, James 29% and Benson 28%.
“I was Mike Duggan’s pollster in 2013 when he first ran for mayor,” veteran Michigan pollster Steve Mitchell said. “He is a very poll-driven candidate who is going to follow what the polls tell him. In a survey I conducted May 1-7, Mike was only getting about 14 or 15% depending on which Republican candidate he was matched against.”
Recalling that his own polling this year showed that when voters found out Duggan, running as an independent, was a lifelong, strong Democrat, they realized he was going to benefit the Republican candidate — probably greatly.
“Therefore, this is a huge win for Jocelyn Benson,” Mitchell added. “This will clearly hurt the Republican chances of winning no matter who their nominee is.”
Mitchell’s findings came as others concluded Duggan — who tried to cultivate voters ranging from union members and business leaders to hardcore Trump supporters — was having difficulty spelling out just what the candidate stood for.
“There was no place for him to go,” former Macomb County GOP Chairman Stanley Grot said. “He wasn’t doing well at all.”
The sense that lifelong Democrat Duggan might take enough votes from Benson to elect James or another Republican also clearly upset potential supporters.
Susy Avery, a former Republican state chairman, said: “I have been told the amount of anti-Trump money coming into Democrat coffers is enormous and there is no room for anyone’s independent. His timing is based on not wanting to go to Mackinac Island [for the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce meeting next week] and ask for support when he sees no path to victory.”
