DETROIT (WWJ) — Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan will not seek re-election next fall as his third term draws to a close.
Duggan made the announcement Wednesday afternoon at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center that he will not re-seek office. While there has been speculation Duggan could run for governor of Michigan in 2026, he said he will discuss his future “in the coming months.”
“The next mayor is coming in in a far better place,” Duggan said Wednesday after acknowledging city employees who helped him make sure that was the case.
Addressing city employees, residents, and his family at city hall, the mayor says he's worked the last decade-plus to build a Detroit that’s welcoming to everyone.
“We have to have a city where everybody is welcomed and values can’t matter if you’re black or brown or white or if you’re Christian or Jewish or Muslim or if you’re gay or straight, we have to build a city that’s welcoming to everybody. And if that’s not what you want, I said ‘don’t vote for me,” he said.
Duggan said Wednesday when he took office in January of 2014 he stood in the same building and said he wanted his time as mayor to be judged by one thing — is the city’s population going up or down?
“I wanted to change the direction of this city,” he said, noting this April’s NFL Draft when 750,000 poured into Downtown Detroit gave the city “the kind of national recognition it deserved.”
“And then one month later, the census bureau released a report and for the first time since 1957, the population of the city of Detroit is officially growing again,” Duggan said.
“As I thought about it, I realized I had done what I set out to do. This really was what I wanted to contribute,” he said.
Prior to being elected through a write-in campaign in 2013, Duggan had been the CEO of the Detroit Medical Center after stints as Wayne County Prosecutor and deputy Wayne County Executive.
He’ll leave office as the city’s second-longest serving mayor. Duggan said Wednesday “there is a huge amount of leadership talent” in the city among elected officials, business community, clergy, neighborhoods and beyond. He believes that talent will emerge to become the next mayor.
Duggan said he does not have a favorite candidate to be his replacement and will be happy to watch along with the rest of the city as candidates emerge.
A handful of candidates have already formed exploratory committees to become mayor, including City Council President Mary Sheffield, former Councilwoman and CEO of THAW Saunteel Jenkins, Councilman Fred Durhal and businessman Joel Haashiim.