Duggan Seeks Third Term as Detroit’s Mayor

Mayor Mike Duggan is running for a third term in Detroit’s 2021 mayoral election.

The 62-year-old Democrat lists increased investment in the city’s downtown and neighborhoods among his accomplishments. As part of his campaign launch Wednesday, Duggan announced that he’s working to raise $50 million from corporations and charities to establish a “People’s Fund.”

“Whether it’s structural racism, whether it’s poverty, whether it’s a bad school system, whether it’s a health challenge, whatever you have had that has been put in your way, the City of Detroit is going to find ways to step in and help you get over those barriers and make your dreams,” Duggan says.

Duggan has the endorsement of local politicians including Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and other notable Michigan Democrats.

“Mayor Duggan is someone that I can rely on to get the job done even when I couldn’t rely on leaders in Washington,” says Gov. Whitmer on Duggan’s leadership through the COVID-19 crisis.  “I knew that we had a leader here in our biggest city ready to work with me to deliver for the people of Detroit.”

Duggan says he made the announcement to quell any doubts that he was leaving Detroit to work with President-elect Joe Biden in Washington. Civic leaders are citing his recent commitment to ending Detroit’s water shut off policy as part of their support.

“We have clear disagreements on the way we approach our politics,” says former Detroit public health director Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. “But Mayor Duggan from the day we began working together proved to me that public health is one of his primary concerns.”

Reverend Wendell Anthony of Detroit NAACP says Duggan’s post-bankruptcy leadership has steered the city right.

“It is a place where he has welcomed many to come live here,” Anthony says. “But has very clearly stated a great thanks for the people of Detroit who have never left here.”