Mike Duggan has announced he’s exiting the Michigan gubernatorial race.
Duggan announced this news in an open letter via his official website. In the letter, Duggan expresses his disappointment in dropping out. He also expressed his decision to exit the race is due, in part, to the ongoing war in Iran.
“For the last 18 months I’ve worked every day to try to change Michigan’s toxic party politics….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. But by April, the mood of the country had shifted suddenly and dramatically,” writes Duggan. “Democrats (and many Independents) were unified in anger as Trump’s war in Iran dragged on and gas prices rose above $5 a gallon. On May 5, the Democratic State Senate candidate in Saginaw won 60% of the vote in a seat Republicans thought would be very competitive.”
Another factor in Duggan’s decision to leave the race was due to challenges in fundraising. Duggan writes, ” … Governor’s campaigns are today 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 to build a competitive fundraising network for Independents.”
He continues, “There is much interest, but we’ve finally concluded the national fundraising for these groups is too much in its infancy to be of great help to our race in 2026. As generous as our Michigan donors have been, we will be strongly outspent by the national Republican and Democratic parties this fall.”
Duggan also noted how internal polling within his campaign showed a drop in support by 11 points. Duggan says, “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. 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.”
Duggan closed by stating he’s hopeful his campaign will have “a real long-term impact” when it comes to “reducing the toxic partisan politics.” He hopes the candidates currently in the race will keep the latter in mind as their campaigns continue.
Duggan will address the media today (5/21) at 1:30 p.m. from Room 353 at Huntington Place in downtown Detroit.
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