INDEPENDENCE DAY?

Looking ahead to November, the polling shows former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, long a Democrat who is running as an independent, has been consistently rising in the polls. Glengariff Group, Detroit Regional Chamber, Mitchell Research and EPIC-MRA all position Duggan running against presumed Democratic primary winner Jocelyn Benson, and pose scenarios with the two against Republicans John James, Mike Cox and Aric Nesbitt – but not rising in the polls multi-millionaire Perry Johnson, which could change by the next time this column is written. In the latest poll by Detroit Regional Chamber, Duggan had risen from an also-ran to slightly leading Benson and James, currently the presumed nominee (but perhaps not for long). While the results were a statistical dead heat within the margin of error, Duggan lead his opponents, 30.1 percent to James at 28.9 percent and Benson at 28 percent. Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel accused the Detroit Regional Chamber of running the poll for Duggan. But Ed Duggan, Mike’s son and his campaign director, said in a statement the polling shows most Michigan voters are “sick of the politics as usual, with Democrats and Republicans obsessed with attacking each other.” Benson’s poll, by Impact Research, had her leading, 39 percent, with James at 36 percent and Duggan at 20 percent with five percent undecided. As for polling against Johnson, Duggan’s campaign conceded they would rather face Johnson than James in the long run, with one insider noting that President Trump is staying completely out of the race – at least at this point, noting that the prez does not like James, and while Johnson has been to see him, “he learned a lesson from the last (2024) time,” when he endorsed election deniers and others without a shot of winning the general election, an acknowledgement that while Johnson may buy his way onto the ballot, Republicans don’t see many but the most faithful voting for him.

Mike Duggan

Jocelyn Benson