Mike Duggan receives early Chamber endorsement for MI governor. Why it matters.

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The influential Detroit Regional Chamber made a surprise/no surprise decision this week to throw its support behind Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s independent bid for governor. That’s without waiting for the results of Republican and Democratic gubernatorial primaries next summer, which would fit more neatly into its traditional endorsement schedule.

“We all knew this was going to happen anyway and our voice is most impactful right now,” a source close to the endorsement process told us. “We hope it’s creating a permission structure for other organizations like us to get on board, or at least have the conversation.”

It’s also an opportunity for the business group’s political action committee to express its frustration with both parties’ movement away from the pragmatic center.

Duggan, Detroit’s mayor for the past decade, was a Democratic Party power broker before bolting to run as a non-aligned candidate for the state’s highest office. It wasn’t a secret that he was going to run. It was, however, shocking that he decided to do it as an independent.

Duggan is already well known with the gravitas that comes with being a constant presence in southeast Michigan media and organizers and supporters see a lot of upward potential in western and northern Michigan.

Duggan was a clear favorite at this past spring’s Detroit Regional Chamber annual Mackinac Policy Conference, which draws political figures, hopefuls and funders for whom politics is as much an avocation as a business imperative.

Also, the chamber and its pragmatic political operation likes winners.

As we’ve pointed out before, 2026 will be a highly unusual year with Michigan’s party-switching voters deciding who will replace a Democrat in the governor’s office while there’s a Republican, and a controversial one at that, in the White House.

We’ll see who emerges from the crowded Republican field: former Attorney General Mike Cox, former Michigan House Speaker Tom Leonard, Michigan Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, U.S. Representative John James, and failed congressional candidate Anthony Hudson are all announced candidates. There’s also a full Democratic field: Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson are announced candidates.

Democrats are already lobbing darts in the mayor’s direction after Duggan posted a cheeky “now you’ve got my attention” social media response to former Trump Best-Pal-turned-bete-noir Elon Musk’s call for a third party alternative. In January, Duggan said Musk is the “first person” he’d visit if elected governor. (The statement, while literally true, was likely hyperbole and the stated purpose was to get Tesla to exhibit at the Detroit auto show.)

The Democrats’ concern seems less that Duggan will win than that he'll split the base Democratic vote and deliver the governor’s office to the Republicans with a less-than-50 percent majority.

But, when we talked with pollster Richard Czuba in May, he said Duggan was pulling votes from both Democrats and Republicans in vote-rich southeast Michigan. “Honestly,” Czuba told us,” I think in my 42, 43 years of polling in Michigan, Mike Duggan has the most fascinating numbers I’ve ever seen.”

It’s all leading to a gubernatorial election like we haven’t seen in modern Michigan history… with some 16 months to go.

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What we’re talking about at the dinner table

Mundy muddle: Governor Gretchen Whitmer banked heavily on winning a semiconductor chip factory in Genesee County, including a $250 million commitment to make the Mundy Township location site-ready for the hoped-for SanDisk high-tech manufacturing facility. But, it was not meant to be. Maybe it’s a small consolation that Michigan didn’t lose out to another manufacturing state so much as the state of confusion created by “tariffs and other other uncertainties,” according to Whitmer. “We have made some investments in a premiere site and I am confident we are going to find another opportunity for the State of Michigan and I called the President yesterday,” Whitmer told reporters at a Thursday event. “I spoke with him to share with him what this development was and how it was very disappointing. He said, ‘Tell the press we are going to work together and get an even better deal for the State of Michigan,’ and so that’s what I’m telling you.” Still, it’s a huge setback for a governor who has made economic development a top priority during her time in office.

MEDC appeal: The Michigan Economic Development Corporation is asking a judge to shield documents seized in a raid on its offices from an investigation by Attorney General Dana Nessel. As we explained in last week’s newsletter, the documents were gathered weeks ago when a search warrant was executed by state investigators in a sweep through the MEDC’s Lansing offices as well as on the Farmington Hills home of Fay Beydoun. Beydoun, a former MEDC board member and fundraiser for Governor Gretchen Whitmer, is a target of the investigation. The AG’s office is looking into a $20 million grant in the 2022 budget (approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Whitmer) that went to a “business accelerator” run by Beydoun. The grant caught the attention of authorities when it was revealed by The Detroit News that expenses included a $4,500 coffeemaker, an $11,000 first-class plane ticket and six-figure salaries for two “accelerator” employees. The MEDC says the documents are privileged and should be returned because the agency is not a specific target of the investigation. Nessel says the state will focus on other aspects of the investigation while the court case over the documents plays out.

Recission: More than a billion dollars in federal funding for public media has been rescinded after the U.S. House voted 216-213 to approve a Trump administration plan to claw-back already appropriated money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Two Republicans joined all “of the chamber’s Democrats against the cuts. The bill goes next to President Trump for his signature,” NPR reports. “A Harris Poll last week found that 66% of Americans support federal funding for public radio, with the same share calling it a good value.” Public radio and television stations across Michigan stand to lose millions of dollars in federal support. In an email to tens of thousands of Michigan Public supporters, General Manager Wendy Turner wrote: Sadly, this decision was not simply about the value of public broadcasting. It reflected broader political forces and a willingness to discard decades of bipartisan support for a public good that millions rely on. Still, we are fully committed to our mission. We will continue to serve. And we will continue to adapt, plan, and push forward with resolve. Because of the support of our community, Michigan Public can avoid a catastrophic outcome.

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Yours in political nerdiness,

Rick Pluta & Zoe Clark

Co-hosts, It’s Just Politics