Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan decision Wednesday not to seek a fourth term is prompting speculation of a gubernatorial run, and a focus on a long list of problems plaguing the city.

Duggan, 66, announced his intent not to pursue re-election when his third term concludes on Jan. 1, 2026 during a press conference with city staff, family and other supporters at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, The Detroit News reports.

“I wanted to change the direction of this city,” Duggan said, pointing to 2022 Census data that showed a slight population increase for the first time in five decades. “I had done what I set out to do. This really was what I wanted to contribute.”

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Duggan discussed his 2013 write-in campaign for mayor, efforts to combat blight as the first White mayor since 1974, and his focus on stopping the city’s decades of population loss in the wake of the city’s Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy, among other highlights.

But what he didn’t discuss may have a much more significant impact on city residents and Michiganders across the state.

John Sellek, political consultant and CEO of Harbor Strategic, told The News “many signs point to a Duggan gubernatorial run.”

The mayor’s “brand is being very prepared and two steps ahead of everyone else,” Sellek said. “We cannot be surprised if this is at least the first step in an eventual run for governor.”

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Duggan himself joked about the speculation at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August, when he was introduced as a potentially “good governor.”

Duggan offered thanks for the introduction “teeing off my campaign a little earlier than expected.”

The mayor’s political allies have already created a nonprofit “dark money” group called Put Progress First to independently promote and fundraise for Duggan’s anticipated gubernatorial campaign, Bridge Michigan reports.

“Very strategic politicians like Mike Duggan who’ve had a lot of success do not wait until the last minute to start planning for these things,” Sellek, who advised Republican Bill Schuette’s 2018 gubernatorial campaign, told Bridge. “A lot of wheels are already in motion.”

Other Democrats potentially angling for the governor’s mansion include Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson.

While Duggan told the Detroit Free Press it will be a “matter of weeks” before he plans to discuss his political future, comments at the Wednesday press conference suggest he’s already made up his mind.

“The hatred and division is coming from the fact that we don’t take the time to get to know each other, to listen to each other,” Duggan said, one of several comments centered on his efforts to unify in Detroit. “That’s true in Lansing, that’s true in Washington.”

“I really believe Michigan’s greatest export is not cars right now, it’s our people,” he said. “And the city of Detroit is taking the lead in creating a community where the young talent wants to stay.”

Duggan’s efforts to frame the Motor City as a Phoenix rising from the ashes, unified by his leadership, conflicts with scores of recent reports that paint an entirely different picture.

A recent analysis of the “Safest Cities in America” that examined 182 U.S. cities across 41 key indicators of safety ranked Detroit nearly dead last, just ahead of last place Memphis.

Over the July 4 weekend, shootings at six separate illegal block parties left three dead and 24 others injured, including one where police recovered more than 100 shell casings at the scene. Crime data analyzed by the Detroit Free Press shows since 2013, there’s been at least 166 shootings involving four or more victims in Michigan, and nearly half took place in Detroit.

Another analysis released in June ranked Detroit 146^th out of 148 cities for the percent of the population living in poverty, just ahead of Flint and Gary, Ind. The same study found Detroit’s unemployment rate was the second worst in the nation, following Flint.

The issue is fueled in part by raging inflation, with Detroit ranked third in the nation among two dozen U.S. metropolitan areas in a study of “cities with the biggest inflation problems.”

Data from a 2024 United for ALICE report shows 171,907 of the city’s 249,518 households do not earn enough to afford a “survival budget” that includes basics like food, rent, child care, and transportation, despite most working full-time.

Those figures equate to 69% of the city’s residents, which includes about 30% living under the federal poverty level.

The crushing poverty is one of many reasons cited by experts for 65.8% of Motor City students missing 10 or more days of school per year. The chronic absenteeism rate, more than double Michigan’s depressing 29.5% rate, ties into embarrassingly low student achievement.

School officials are now working on a plan to pay students to attend after-school literacy classes, as more than half of 8^th graders in the Motor City are two or more years behind.

Beyond those issues, Detroit is also ranked the second worst city for veterans in America, the second worst city for renters, second dirtiest city, fifth worst city to drive, the eighth “rattiest” city, and one of the most expensive cities in the nation for car insurance for black motorists.