Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan visited Central Michigan University on Friday to talk with students on his campaign for Michigan Governor and other hot-button topics in today's political climate. Duggan is running as an independent, in a crowded field with five Republicans and three Democrats.
During his talk, he spoke on supporting civilians in Gaza, how he believes Michigan imports too much electricity, and how, in his view, the two parties don't get enough done due to infighting.
In an interview with WCMU while on campus, Duggan said Michigan's declining education scores would be one of his first focuses as Governor.
"The fact that 60% of third graders in Michigan do not read at their grade level is just appalling," Duggan said. "And it's been Republicans and Democrats fighting instead of solving it. That has got to get addressed. That's not Republican or Democrat, that's a lack of direction."
Duggan expressed relief that a state budget passed but said the long delay would hurt schools. "We had 4,000 schools go back the 1st of September without budgets," he said. "You had a lot of schools in the state: didn't add additional teachers because they didn't know what their budget was, didn't add paraprofessionals to help with teaching. Those schools are not going to recover from that.
And we can't have that happen again."
Duggan proposed a law that would halt lawmaker pay if the state budget was not passed on time.
His candidacy has been met with criticism from local Democrats, who worry his campaign will spoil the primary elections, and potentially win the race for a Republican. Duggan however, expressed confidence in his campaign
"We now have 10 different unions endorsing me. I've got more Democratic unions endorsing me than all the Democratic candidates put together," he said. "I'm really hoping that the Democratic candidate doesn't spoil it for me."
To the students, Duggan spoke about how both Republicans and Democrats benefit from their fighting, while residents do not.
"This is why I'm running Independent. We should be solving these things, not having eight-year fights that put the state at risk."
Duggan encouraged students to attend the events of his opponents to get to know and spend time with them as well.
The election for Michigan Governor will take place in November 2026, to replace incumbent Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
