Duggan, Dems spar with competing ad campaigns during Mackinac Policy Conference
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan delivers a keynote address during the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
MACKINAC ISLAND – Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan says a new attack ad launched by the party he was a member of until last year is an example of the type of political system he's campaigning against in his independent bid for governor.
The Democratic Governors Association launched a digital ad Thursday accusing Duggan of a 'long, corruption-riddled history.'
A press release from the group points to federal agents saying in 2022 that they had linked Duggan to a chain of events that ultimately outed a confidential FBI informant, alerting a target of an ongoing investigation of bribery, extortion and fraud.
'As Mayor, Mike Duggan put himself and his corrupt insiders first, including apparently trying to undermine a federal investigation into one of his closest political allies who went to prison for accepting bribes,' said DGA Communications Director Sam Newton.
During his keynote address at the Mackinac Policy Conference on Wednesday, Duggan railed against attack ads used by both Democrats and Republicans.
He pointed to an ad the campaign of Curtis Hertel ran accusing Tom Barrett of writing a bill that put women and doctors in jail, and Barrett's campaign countering with an ad accusing Hertel of working for the Chinese Communist Party.
'How did we get here, to the point where fighting for our state is not as important as being angry with the other party,' Duggan said.
Duggan added that Republicans are already running attack ads against U.S. Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City) despite not having a candidate in the 2026 race yet.
'They have no idea who their candidate is. But they know if there's only two choices … if we just make the Democrat terrible, we can win,' Duggan said. 'We are not going to be living in a state where you only have these ads two or three months a year. We're heading to a state where 12 months a year, year in, year out, we're going to have toxic ads.'
The mayor said in an interview with the Michigan Advance on Thursday that the new DGA ad demonstrates his point.
'The Democrats are nothing if not predictable. They only know one thing: Tear down their opponents,' Duggan said. 'I said yesterday that Democrats only united on two principles: They hate Republicans in general, and they hate Donald Trump in particular. But today, I've gotten them to broaden their platform; now they hate me, too.'
Duggan, for his part, is also running ads, though they are focused on his own campaign: Billboards along I-75 in northern Michigan declares Nov. 3, 2026, 'Independent's Day.'
He told reporters Wednesday that the series of billboards were meant to welcome people back as they drove up for the Mackinac Policy Conference.
Other candidates in the race to succeed the term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer include Democrats; Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson and Republicans; U.S. Rep. John James, Michigan Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, former Attorney General Mike Cox and former congressional nominee Anthony Hudson.
Polling commissioned by the Detroit Regional Chamber and released on the first day of the conference shows Duggan's campaign could pull votes from both Democrats and Republicans.
Duggan said during the keynote that his inclusion in the race makes it more difficult for either party to win by simply attacking the other side.
'If I come along, and there's a third choice, you can't just kill one party and automatically win,' Duggan said. 'You have to actually say what you're for.'
He told the Michigan Advance that Democrats are 'making it really easy for people to make a choice.'
'But just once, wouldn't you like to see the Democrats put up a billboard that says, here's our housing policy? They don't have it in them,' Duggan said.
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