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Independent candidate for governor Mike Duggan said he will likely choose a running mate who doesn’t have a background in politics.
The former Detroit mayor told WKAR News after an event in Lansing that he has been meeting with people from across the state.
“I want somebody who has accomplished something in their life on their own, not necessarily a political person,” Duggan said. “But somebody who’s accomplished something in business, education, nonprofit world, starting a company. I’m looking for somebody who’s not a traditional politician.”
Duggan said he could take until the state deadline of September 1 to announce his pick for lieutenant governor.
His more immediate focus is on making the ballot, Duggan said.
As an independent, Duggan has more time than partisan candidates to file signatures, and has a lower threshold. He will have until July 16 to file at least 12,000 petitions.
But Duggan said he plans to submit thousands more signatures than currently required because he wants to comply with a state law that is still on the books despite being unenforceable due to a court order. Under that law, independent candidates would have to submit 30,000 signatures – twice as many as major party candidates.
Duggan said he expects his petitions to be challenged by Democratic and Republican candidates who could benefit from keeping him off the ballot.
He said his campaign has collected 8,000 signatures in the past week using a mix of paid circulators and volunteers, bringing the campaign to a total of more than 25,000 signatures.
Duggan said the state may need to overhaul its system for candidates to gain ballot access, arguing that the petition requirements have had the unintended consequence of having “built up quite a cottage industry.”
“The original petition goal was to make you show you had some semblance of support in order to get your name on the ballot,” Duggan said. “Now it’s basically a question of did you hire the right vendor.”
He said the reliance on paid petition circulators is “asking for trouble.”
Five Republican candidates for governor were disqualified from the ballot in 2022 after it was found that paid petition circulators had forged numerous signatures.
Duggan was a Democrat until late 2024. He said he will likely vote in Michigan’s primary elections this year, even as he runs for governor as an independent.
But he said he hasn’t yet considered which party’s primary he will vote in this August.
“You know, I’ll wait and see,” Duggan said. “I don’t know, I hadn’t given it any thought at all.”
Duggan said he votes in every election, including primaries.
Michigan has open primaries, meaning any registered voter can vote in either party’s primary. But voters must stay within the same party for all partisan races.
