Three Billboards Outside Detroit, Michigan

The (short) story of an independent's campaign for Governor.

The billboards were everywhere – one approximately every 10 miles along a long stretch of I-75 North on the way from Detroit to Shepler’s Mackinac Island Ferry, where I’d ditch the car to get the boat that would take me to the horse that would take me to the hotel.

I was on my way to the famed Mackinac Policy Conference, where I would address the Detroit Regional Chamber at their annual convention. I’d been to the conference one other time before, and it was always a great opportunity to touch base with an important swing state’s business and political leaders.

But I’d also been to this very special island before. While briefly living in a Detroit suburb in my childhood, I went to Mackinac Island, where horse-and-buggy and bicycles are the only modes of transportation. The Grand Hotel, famous from the Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour movie, Somewhere in Time, stretches out atop the hill like an elegant lady relaxing on a chaise. Fudge shops line the quaint main street. And the brisk waters of Lake Michigan lick the island’s modest shoreline like it’s an ice cream cone. It’s simply charming.

But this year, on the drive up, I noticed something new. Billboards – a bunch of them – for a guy named Mike Duggan.

“Michigan Needs a Really Good Mayor.”

“Sick of Red? Tired of Blue?”

“November 3, 2026. Michigan Independent’s Day.”

If you note the spelling in the third billboard, you’ll catch on. Mike Duggan, the former popular mayor of Detroit, was running for governor, and he was running as an independent.

I shouldn’t have been surprised when, in the moments after I spoke at the Mackinac conference, Duggan appeared backstage, apparently going on after me.

He walked right up to me, with a big smile and an outstretched hand, and said, “Wow, would you be my campaign spokesperson?”

It was a good-natured joke – I’d just talked to the chamber about the disillusion among voters with both parties, extremism, and politicians that were out of touch with a majority of the electorate. But he liked it, and wanted me to know that.

I told him I’d seen all the billboards and was genuinely excited for his campaign, which was true. The decision to run as an independent was, I thought, a courageous one, and it reflected a political reality that I thought was important and practical. And, at a time when both the Democrat and Republican parties are under water with voters, I thought it was smart.

Duggan made all the right pitches down the middle – his Instagram bio says “Ending Us vs. Them Politics.” It was a message tailor-made for a voter like me, sick of the devolution in rhetoric, dismayed by the rise in extremist purity tests, and repulsed by politicians who preferred partisanship over problem solving.

But alas, it was not meant to be.

Duggan never polled ahead of his red or blue opponents – Democrat Jocelyn Benson is currently in the lead – and the last candidate for governor to win on a ticket that wasn’t Democratic or Republican in Michigan was William Woodbridge, a Whig who held office in 1840.

Duggan announced he was ending his campaign today, pointing to sagging poll numbers and fundraising numbers, releasing the following statement:

Dear Friends,

I am so disappointed to have to write you this letter.

For the last 18 months I’ve worked every day to try to change Michigan’s toxic party politics. I’ve been supported by hundreds of volunteers who believe deeply that years of constant Democratic-Republican conflict in Lansing have led to our schools declining, our housing costs rising, and our young people moving out of Michigan in record numbers.

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. In every one of the 5-10 town halls a week I was holding across Michigan, we hosted Democrat, Republican, and Independent neighbors all mixed together in lively and positive discussions. It was a remarkable experience.

But by April, the mood of the country had shifted suddenly and dramatically. 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.

Against the Democratic headwinds, we worked twice as hard. We continued to pile up huge numbers of union endorsements, once the unions learned that Michigan election law allowed voters to vote both straight ticket Democrat and also vote Duggan as an Independent.

But for the public in general, our internal polling showed the intense anger over gas prices and Iran was boosting Democrats in every office nationally. The Chamber poll last week showing we’d fallen 11 points behind the Democratic candidate reflects that reality.

Being down 11 points in May wouldn’t discourage me – I’ve been down worse than that in the past. But this time it’s compounded by our inability to build serious national fundraising support. Michigan donors have been extraordinarily generous in supporting this campaign – 94% of my donors come from Michigan. We raised more in-state than any other candidate.

But 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. 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.

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.

I got into this race to try to change our politics, not to be a spoiler. I’m still hopeful our campaign will prove to have a real long-term impact. 23% support in the last poll means more than 1.6 million Michigan voters are today looking for a Governor candidate serious about reducing the toxic partisan politics. 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.

I will never be able to express the gratitude I feel for all your support and encouragement. I wish I could have done better for you.

Mike Duggan

It’s a shame someone like Duggan – an executive who’d had tangible successes while turning Detroit around, and who wanted to be a part of the solution to our broken political system – couldn’t get the traction I wish he would have.

But it points to the bigger problem facing independent and third-party candidates. It’s really, really hard to run without major party infrastructure and support.

That’s obviously not true of every candidate. Zohran Mamdani did just fine in New York without the Democratic party establishment’s help at all. Graham Platner, in Maine, may enjoy similar success.

But generally speaking, it is nearly impossible to win without a D or an R next to your name.

That’s lamentable, but I still hope more people try. Because America deserves better than what we currently have.