Guest Editorial … We can’t trust Mike Duggan to stand with working families

By Branden Snyder
Mike Duggan gets an awful lot of credit for his performance as Detroit mayor — but there are ugly, complicated truths hiding underneath the glowing headlines; for working class families in Detroit he was simply just awful.
During his tenure, Duggan has been praised for leading the revitalization of downtown Detroit. However, while downtown has grown and developers have posted record profits, those gains have largely remained concentrated at the top, with little of that progress reaching many residents. As of last year, more than one out of every two Detroit children were still living in poverty. That’s not what a thriving city looks like.
Ongoing challenges such as rising utility costs, flooding, population decline, and housing instability point to the need for more inclusive growth, complicating the narrative of a “historic comeback,” especially as many families have faced water shutoffs, grid issues, and tax foreclosures.
Furthermore, amid growing national concern over federal law enforcement practices and their impact on immigrant communities and communities of color, Duggan has taken a different approach in Detroit. As mayor, he cooperated with ICE, and when federal actions in other cities last year led to widespread disruption and civil rights concerns, he suggested those situations stemmed from local leaders choosing to protect their constituents, rather than acknowledging the broader harm to families and communities who could be targeted.
He also increased the Detroit Police Department’s budget to hundreds of millions of dollars every year and partnered with faulty and racist surveillance technology, while basic needs such as housing, infrastructure, and support for small businesses received far less investments.
Mike Duggan wants voters to believe he’s different. He is counting on his “independent” label to persuade Michiganders into believing that he is a political outsider rejecting traditional power structures under the two-party system.
But Duggan embodies the traditional political establishment. His pattern of decisions raises serious doubts about whether he will put working families ahead of powerful interests.
Michiganders need a leader who will directly confront the state’s housing and economic challenges and prioritize the needs of working families. Duggan has shown that he is not that person, consistently showing preference for wealthy developers over working families.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what letter appears after his name during this election — D, I, or R — if the results are the same. Voters deserve new leadership that consistently stands up for working families, and many have the right to question whether Duggan will do so.

Branden Snyder is Michigan State Director for the Working Families Party and former executive director of Detroit Action. The Working Families Party is a national multiracial political party made up of community organizations and labor unions that aims to build a political home for working people, fighting for economic, racial, and climate justice by backing candidates and policies that prioritize workers over corporations.
Posted May 1, 2026