Detroit's mayor tries to capitalize on voter disdain for both parties with independent run for governor

With well over a year until the 2026 midterm elections, Democrats and Republicans are already gearing up for expensive fights in House, Senate and governor’s races across the country

With well over a year until the 2026 midterm elections, Democrats and Republicans are already gearing up for expensive fights in House, Senate and governor’s races across the country.

Enter Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who is betting that there is a path to becoming Michigan’s next governor without embracing either of those party labels.

Duggan, a longtime Democrat who has served for over a decade as Detroit’s mayor, announced in December that he would run an independent campaign to succeed Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who cannot run for a third term next year. It’s an audacious bet, in one of the nation’s most tightly divided swing states, that voters who say they are fed up with both parties are ready to back another choice.

But while some of the political conditions seem ripe, recent independents running in three-way elections haven’t been able to push that sentiment to victory.

“Every place I go, the depth of anger at the two parties runs deep,” Duggan told NBC News in an interview.