Mike Duggan hasn’t been mayor of Detroit for the last month, but that didn’t diminish the stage time he received at the annual policy conference.
Duggan was the lone Michigan gubernatorial hopeful invited by the Detroit Regional Chamber, which endorsed him through its political committee last July. He was given roughly 30 minutes to work through campaign talking points on data centers, defend the legacy of his demolition program and take some shots at Democrats who balked at his decision to leave the party.
Attendees who spoke with BridgeDetroit about Duggan’s candidacy throughout Thursday’s gathering of business, philanthropic and political players fell along two lines of thinking: Duggan will either thread an unprecedented needle in Michigan politics and become governor or divert more Democratic votes and hand the office to Republicans.
Duggan said he expects to draw 20% of voters from Republicans and Democrats and win with 40% of the vote. Duggan said he’s drawn the ire of “vote blue no matter who” Democrats and spent a portion of his remarks punching back at critics.
“Of course, the Democrats, they really only have one unifying principle, which is to attack their opponents,” Duggan said.
Duggan drew more fire from his former party members after an attempt to paint the Democratic era of state government as dysfunctional.
“We had people saying in the Democratic caucus, I’m not going to put more money back in the schools unless you pass my bill to guarantee that transgender athletes can play in girls sports,” Duggan said.
House Democratic Spokesperson Tracy Wimmer said that did not happen. Other Democratic lawmakers accused Duggan of lying on social media, saying the supposed bill doesn’t exist.
Duggan sent BridgeDetroit a statement that claimed disputes between “far left and moderate Democrats” on rent control, affordable housing and transgender athletes played out in legislation that was proposed but not drafted.
Duggan chafed at a digital ad launched by the Michigan Democratic Party that blamed the former mayor for contaminated dirt found at demolition sites across Detroit. Duggan said Proposal N funding will cover the cost of replacing toxic dirt and city contractors hired to backfill demolition sites are being investigated.
“I can promise you every single time it was contaminated dirt, we removed it, replaced it with clean dirt, and we made the developer pay for it,” Duggan said. He claimed that contractors illegally fabricated paperwork that hid where the backfill material came from.
The former mayor said he would require “air-tight” contracts with tech companies seeking to build data centers, setting a standard to protect residents from electricity cost increases and preserve water resources. Duggan said he would mandate a closed-loop cooling system, which can reduce freshwater use.
“These are the wealthiest companies in the world; there is no reason they can’t bear the full cost of the electrical rates,” Duggan said. “We are not going to jeopardize our water and lake system in order to get the data centers.”