Time is just ticking away, and we are now only 574 days away from the 2026 midterm elections across the fruited plain of these United States of America, which also still includes the state of Michigan.
Can't you feel the excitement?
I surely can.
Being a Michigianian through and through, I feel it is imperative to cover what is going on here in the Great Lake State in the lead-up to the November 3rd, 2026 election. I have written about some of the candidates running and possibly running for statewide office in 2026.
Offices that will need to be filled include:
- Governor
- Secretary of State
- Attorney General
Also, a United States Senate seat for retiring Senator Gary Peters.
The soon-to-be former Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, has already announced she is running for her pal Gretchen Whitmer's job as Governor. Gretch's Current Lt. Gov. has also thrown his hat into the ring to replace her.
READ MORE: Democrat Jocelyn Benson Announces Run for Michigan Governor, and She Is the Favorite to Win So Far
On the GOP side, we HAVE...
Michigan Senate Republican Leader Aric Nesbitt.
Anthony Hudson.
Also, as I wrote about yesterday, current congressman John James announced he would be running to replace Gretchen.
As I opined in that article yesterday about the reaction to James' announcement:
The reaction so far on the GOP side has been a bit mixed, which is not surprising given that James ran for the United States Senate in the state twice and barely lost both times. However, if part of what I was told a couple of weeks back is true, that Donald Trump will get involved earlier here and endorse James to shorten the primary season so that the party can unify behind his candidate. Being that Michigan is a blue state and Trump will never be at the top of the ticket again to get a victory. Winning statewide, time is of the essence, and forming solid momentum to win is key to that.
My Lord, the social media chatter since yesterday, when that article was published, has only gotten more intense and more vicious.
There is a good reason why I have told people for years that Michigan is truly a blue state, and after an hour's reading of the reactions to Republican insiders or outsiders offering their theories on why James could win or not win, you get an excellent idea of why Republicans do not win in this state.
I will dive into that subject deeply at another time, but for right now, I'm going to mention something that I don't think most people inside the state of Michigan realize, which is that an independent candidate could help assist the GOP in November of 2026.
The current mayor of the city of Detroit is a gentleman by the name of Mike Duggan, and he announced late last year that he would not be running for another term as the city's mayor but would run an independent campaign for governor. Doug has been a Democrat for most of the time that he has been in public life, so this was, to say the least, a bit of an odd move.
In my conversations with people who are both highly and lowly paid campaign aficionados in the state, what they have heard varies and goes all over the board on why Duggan is doing this and possibly wasting his time running as an independent for Governor.
The mayor of the largest city in the state automatically gets attention thrown at him no matter what he does, and his movements are definitely of interest to the people in and around the city. That he would announce he's running as an independent when he's been a Democrat all or most of his public life leads me to believe he knew he could not win the nomination as a Democrat. So why take the time then to take on this campaign?
I don't believe it was too much of a secret that current Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson was planning on running for governor. In fact, there were rumors over a year ago. She came through earlier this year and officially announced that she was seeking Gretchen's seat because Gretch is term limited out.
I've asked around if there was some sort of beef with Duggan and Benson, and nobody could give me a solid answer or lead me to believe that such a problem existed. That would make sense to me if Duggan was just trying to sink her candidacy if he were going to run as a Democrat, but not running for the party's nomination means he would possibly be attempting to do that in the general election.
Wayne County, where the city of Detroit is located, is Duggan's home base, and he has been a fixture there for many years and theoretically could tip the balance during a general election and siphon off enough Democrats to give the win to a Republican, whoever that is.
The soon-to-be former mayor of the city of Detroit is supporting legislation that will help hire and train police officers, which I've read about right HERE.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said he expects the bills to pass.
"There were 27 Democrats who voted for the public safety trust fund last year, and I'm not anticipating a problem with the Senate," said Duggan, who announced he's running for Michigan governor as an independent in 2026.
A University of Michigan study of 1,800 Michigan communities last year found that 72% of Michigan's police agencies reported having difficulties hiring officers, while another 48% said they had problems retaining officers.
This is a solid move, of course, on Duggan's part, and to his credit, the city has avoided a lot of the nonsense that swept through the country in terms of riots a couple of years back. He was able to work with the police chief and community leaders to keep it mostly quiet in the city.
I'm sure he will use that to his benefit however his campaign is rolled out.
No matter who wins the Democratic nomination for governor and the GOP nomination for governor, the result in November of 2026 may very well depend on whether Mike Duggan, an independent, is still in the race and how much he pulls from what side.
Michigan politics is a glorious mess, but Lord, do I love it.
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