Michigan carpenters and millwrights on Monday served a huge blow to Democrats’ efforts to elect the state’s next governor with their union’s endorsement of Mayor Mike Duggan, who is running as an Independent.
“Pretty significant endorsement pickup for Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, the independent candidate in the Michigan’s governor’s race,” Detroit News reporter Craig Mauger posted to X, along with the announcement.
Pretty significant endorsement pickup for Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, the independent candidate in the Michigan governor's race: pic.twitter.com/Mm91Xvf3nL
— Craig Mauger (@CraigDMauger) June 2, 2025
“On the heels of Mike Duggan’s landmark speech at the Mackinac Policy Conference, the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights – the statewide union representing more than 14,000 carpenters floorlayers and millwrights – are announcing their endorsement of Mike Duggan for governor as an Independent,” the announcement read.
The union endorsed Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2018 and 2022.
Duggan, who announced in December he’s ditching the Democratic Party for an Independent run for governor, focused his keynote address at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s annual Mackinac Policy Conference last week on a sweeping $4.5 billion plan to overhaul Michigan’s K-12 education system.
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The plan includes a focus on early literacy rates that have plummeted since Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took office, as well as promoting career and technical education programs and increased accountability for leaders at schools that fail to improve, WDIV reports.
“To do a turnaround: you give people the resources, you give them a clear plan, and you hold them accountable,” Duggan told journalists after the address. “And I think this would do all of those things.”
Duggan’s other comments focused on political division that has fueled policy shifts he contends are hurting education.
“We designed a system that no one has fixed,” Duggan said. “A bad system beats a good person every time.”
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The early endorsement for 2026 comes as Democrats prepare for a brutal primary between Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson, and others.
Duggan is the only Independent candidate so far to announce a run for governor, which may allow him to avoid interparty squabbling.
“I think the brilliance of him announcing early and as an independent gives him a full two years to be a candidate and neither party benefits in their primary for attacking him because they’ve got their own internal party opponents,” GOP strategist Jason Cabel Roe told the Detroit Free Press.
A poll of 600 general election voters commissioned on the opening day of the Mackinac conference showed Duggan’s name recognition at 86% in Detroit, while only 31% of residents in the rest of the state have heard of the mayor.
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But Duggan was the only candidate to receive a favorable rating from voters across the political spectrum, with 30% of Democrats, 28% of independents, and 24% of Republicans viewing him favorably, Michigan Advance reports.
“The Glengariff group … called attention to Duggan’s polling numbers, noting that he regularly wins the Metro Detroit region, gathering between 35.8% to 40.4% support,” according to the news site. “However, he only gathers 9% to 13.9% support among out-state voters.”
Duggan’s union endorsement on Monday came at a difficult time for Benson, the Democratic frontrunner for 2026, as she faces intense scrutiny from Republicans and the public over an array of transparency issues.
Benson, who is running her own election for governor on a platform of transparency, spent the Mackinac Conference addressing a litany of issues that continue to plague the state’s campaign finance website following a $9 million revamp she promised last year would provide “a consolidated reporting system that will make personal financial disclosure, campaign finance, lobbying and legal defense fund information publicly available in one convenient, easy-to-use web portal.”
Those issues forced lawmakers to push back a deadline for disclosures required by law, and have drawn heated criticism from the media, campaign finance experts, and others.
“They only got one qualifying bid at millions of dollars more than it should have cost,” Neil Thanedar, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, told MLive. “This software had to do two things well – streamline the filing process and improve data accessibility. It made both so much worse that the system is practically unusable now.”
Media reports show Benson’s contractor for the website faced a slew of lawsuits over prior work well before inking a deal to rework Michigan’s campaign finance website, and its leaders have a history of donating to Democratic candidates running for offices in need of modernization.
It’s impossible to determine whether Benson received campaign contributions from the company, Texas-based Tyler Technologies, because her transparency website does not work months after its official launch.
The campaign finance transparency concerns are in addition to Benson’s refusal to share election training documents with the Michigan House Oversight Committee, which has sparked a legal battle and efforts to impeach the Secretary of State.
“It is my belief that we are dealing with the most lawless Secretary of State in Michigan history,” Rep. James DeSana, R-Carleton, said during a recent press conference at the Capitol. “We as a legislative body are the only ones now that can hold Secretary Benson accountable.”
DeSana’s House Resolution 118 outlines three articles of impeachment alleging that Benson overstepped her legal authority, undermined election procedures, and manipulated the administration of elections.
“These articles pertain to what has happened up to this point,” DeSana said. “Whether she’s in office going into 2026 or not is not for me to decide. This is about holding her accountable for her conduct as Secretary of State not about her political future.”