Detroit mayor says next year will be his last in office; mum on his plans afterward

DETROIT -- Mike Duggan says the coming year will be his last as Detroit mayor, amid growing speculation he’s among the Democrats likely to launch a gubernatorial campaign to succeed term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Duggan declined to discuss his political future ahead of or during Wednesday’s public City Hall announcement on not seeking reelection to a fourth four-year term, telling The Associated Press that he's “going to talk about what's next later” and that this week he was "going to focus on the city and people in the city.”

He told the several hundred city employees packed inside an auditorium the same.

“Being your mayor has been the honor of a lifetime,” Duggan said. “I shall forever be grateful. Thank you.”

His current term ends in January 2026.

When Duggan stepped into Detroit City Hall as mayor about 11 years ago, he took on a city challenged by monumental blight, high crime and finances controlled by the state. Half the street lights didn't even come on at night. Since then, his administration routinely has balanced city budgets and surpluses. Violent crime is down and neighborhoods mostly are cleaner.

"I feel like I did what I set out to do,” Duggan told The AP on Tuesday. “I was born here. I grew up here. I watched the decline and I felt like I could help. Today, we’re in a very different place in the city. I think it’s time for the next mayor to take the recovery further and faster.”

“People in this city have just been enormously kind and supportive," he added. "That’s the part that I’m going to miss.”

Before becoming mayor, Duggan spent about eight years as chief executive of the Detroit Medical Center. He served three years as Wayne County prosecutor and 14 years as deputy county executive.

Some saw the color of his skin as the first hurdle to the mayor's office. Duggan would be the first white candidate to launch a serious run for Detroit's highest elected office since 1973. The legendary Coleman A. Young won that election and would lead Detroit for two decades as the city's first Black mayor.

Detroit in 2013 was more than 80% Black. Duggan said he attended 250 “house parties” and “sat in living rooms and basements and backyards night after night” to meet and speak with residents.

“The racial division in this country runs very deep,” he said. "The only way to overcome it was to sit and talk and get to know each other. It was really in the course of those house parties (that) my relationship with the community was formed. In this country, we can overcome any division if we sit down and can talk things through and get to know each other.”

The next hurdles were more like chasms.

Once elected in November 2013, Duggan had to find ways to start fixing a very badly broken city. Earlier that year, a state-appointed manager had taken Detroit into the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. Beset by $18 billion or more in debt and annual budget deficits, previous mayors couldn't solve massive urban blight that decimated scores of neighborhoods. Unemployment and poverty rates were among the nation's highest. So was crime.

Worse still, people fled the city by the thousands in search of safety, better schools and better opportunities.

Duggan took office in January 2014. He ran the city but initially had no control over spending. By that December, Detroit had emerged from bankruptcy with about $7 billion in debt erased or restructured.

“The bankruptcy fixed the balance sheet,” he said Tuesday. “The bankruptcy gave us a fresh start. We still had to get the streetlights fixed. We still had to rebuild the police department to get the violence down. We still had to get the grass cut in parks.”

“We had 47,000 abandoned houses when I started,” Duggan continued. "Today, we have 3,000. I want to get it (as) close to gone as I can over the next year.”

The U.S. Census reported earlier this year that the city's population rose to 633,218 in 2023 from 631,366 the year before. That staunched population losses of about 1.2 million people since the 1950s.

“I set out in the beginning to say my goal was to have Detroit growing in population," Duggan said. “You got more people moving in than moving out for the first time since 1957."

He said property values also have doubled and tripled in neighborhoods across Detroit.

“For most people in Detroit, their main source of wealth is their home,” he said. "I drive the city every Saturday and Sunday morning ... there are people out working on their houses in every corner of this city. It’s because the property values have come up, the neighborhoods have come back and people want to live there.”

When the city hosted the NFL draft earlier this year, Detroit was on display for the nation and the world. Duggan beamed as the city shone its brightest and more than 775,000 fans converged downtown over three days. The number set a new attendance record for the event.

“Thousands of Detroiters were down here. Thousands of people from the suburbs and hundreds of thousands from around the country,” Duggan said. “And for three days, Detroiters were very proud to show off their city to folks who were visiting, and everybody came away impressed.”

In an August interview with The AP, Mayor Andrew J. Ginther of Columbus, Ohio, called Duggan “one of the great mayors of America.” Both sit on the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

“Mike has a great track record — where Detroit was, where Detroit is and where Detroit is going,” Ginther said.

Duggan said he wanted to tell city workers, himself, that he would not seek reelection, drawing several hundred to hear his news. Many stood and applauded when Duggan walked in and after he told them of his decision.

Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield, who last year formed a committee to explore a run for mayor, described Duggan’s announcement as “powerful” and “bittersweet.”

“I came in at the same time the mayor came in ... and, without a doubt, we may not have always agreed and had the same approach to challenges and solutions, but he has left an indelible mark on this city,” Sheffield said. “His leadership will be missed.”

Former Council President Saunteel Jenkins also launched an exploratory committee for mayor.

Kim James, who lives in Detroit and works for the city as director of Cannabis Affairs, said that under Duggan Detroit is far different than in 2012-2013.

“Most would agree that the city looks better. Most would agree that property values have gone up,” James said immediately following Wednesday's announcement. “Not everything is perfect, obviously, but I would say that many people are in better places now.”

Duggan also worked well with city employees who had been taking pay cuts and worried about their pensions during and after the bankruptcy, she added.

“When Mayor Duggan came in there was a lot of trepidation about it, a lot of uncertainty, especially among city employees," James said. "It was very scary. He did a really great job of kind of right-sizing the ship and helping us to understand that sacrifice was necessary in order to move forward.”