Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, a longtime Democrat who is running for governor as an independent, is raking in Republican cash and outside dark money in his election bid, raising questions about his political shift.
Campaign finance records show Duggan raised $3.2 million in direct campaign donations for the year through July 20, outpacing Democratic frontrunner Jocelyn Benson and Republican candidates John James and Aric Nesbitt.
A Metro Times analysis of Duggan’s fundraising shows a sizable share comes from donors of President Donald Trump, GOP party leaders, and conservative power brokers with vested interests in state policy.
Among them are a billionaire megadonor to Trump, a charter school profiteer, former leaders of the Michigan Republican Party, and an aide to former Gov. Rick Snyder who was charged for his role in the Flint water crisis.
Many of the influential Republicans gave Duggan’s campaign the maximum donation allowed – $8,325. But some of their family members and employees also donated the maximum.
Chris Long, a grassroots vice chair of the Michigan Republican Party, warned earlier this month that Duggan’s ties to GOP powerbrokers could harm the party. He suggested conservative donors are more worried about access to Duggan.
One of Duggan’s top backers is Roger Penske, who donated $1.1 million to Make America Great Again Inc., a super PAC that supports Trump, in the past two years. He also personally contributed $5,600 to Trump’s 2020 campaign. Penske donated the maximum contribution to Duggan’s campaign, and other executives from Penske Corp. gave an additional $19,825.
Duggan also received the maximum donation from J.C. Huizenga, chair of the Huizenga Group and founder of National Heritage Academies, a for-profit charter school chain that has drawn scrutiny for exploiting public education dollars. A Detroit Free Press investigation in 2014 found that Huizenga’s company owned most of the buildings its schools occupied, profiting from public funds while avoiding oversight. Over the past 30 years, Huizenga has donated nearly $4 million to Republican candidates and causes, and he stands to benefit directly from state education policies supported by the next governor.
Ron Weiser, the former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and a major Trump fundraiser, also gave Duggan the maximum donation. His son Marc and daughter-in-law Mary each donated $8,325 as well. Weiser has helped bankroll Trump’s presidential campaigns and has long been a leader in GOP politics.
Duggan also received the maximum donation from Jeff Sakwa, a former state party co-chair and close ally of Ronna Romney McDaniel, who ran the Republican National Committee and was a zealous Trump supporter. Sakwa openly touted Duggan’s support among Republicans, saying recently, “There are a ton of Republicans behind him.”
Duggan also received $5,500 from Richard Baird, a top aide to former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and a ringleader in appointing an emergency manager in Detroit. Baird was charged in 2021 with felony extortion and perjury in connection to the Flint water crisis and had faced up to 20 years in prison, but the charges were later dismissed following a Michigan Supreme Court ruling.
Snyder’s former chief of staff during the Flint water crisis, Dennis Muchmore, donated $850.
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Compuware founder Peter Karmanos donated $8,300 to Duggan, as did his wife Danialle. In 2016, Peter Karmanos contributed $125,000 to Trump’s Victory Fund. He has also donated nearly $250,000 to the Michigan Republican Party and $90,000 to the Republican National Committee since 2013.
The Nicholson family, one of the top GOP donors in Michigan that operates Detroit-based PVS Chemicals, donated a total of $41,600 to Duggan. Four family members – Timothy, James, John, and David – each contributed the maximum to Duggan, and Ann Nicholson donated $8,300.
During the 2024 election cycle, the family raised a total of $230,000 for GOP state House candidates. PVS Chemicals also donated $30,000 to Duggan’s dark money fund, Detroit Progress Fund.
Other donors include:
- David Schostak, a major Republican donor and brother of former Michigan GOP chair Bobby Schostak, gave $5,000.
- Ron Boji, a wealthy GOP donor whose Wayne County contracts were investigated by the FBI and who was accused of hiding $1.8 million in unpaid back taxes, gave the maximum. Boji once received a $134 million contract from the Republican-led state government, prompting calls from Democrats to ban him from future state business.
- Salim Sessine, a vocal Trump supporter who once claimed Hillary Clinton was secretly a lesbian, donated $5,000.
- Kathleen Trott, a Trump supporter and wife of former Republican U.S. Rep. David Trott, donated the maximum.
Even Andrew Yang, the former Democratic candidate for U.S. President and founder of the Forward Party who is now aligned with billionaire Elon Musk’s proposed “America Party,” gave $2,500 to Duggan. While Yang is not a Republican, he has cozied up to Musk, who has peddled conspiracy theories, antisemitic social media posts, and misinformation. Soon after Trump took office, he appointed Musk to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which slashed more than 285,000 federal jobs, leaving many critical federal agencies without adequate staff, and eliminated lifesaving food and medical assistance to impoverished countries. Duggan has not said whether he would welcome an endorsement from Musk but tried to distance himself from the world’s wealthiest man.
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Asked about the donations from influential Republicans, Duggan’s son, Ed Duggan, who serves as campaign manager for his dad’s gubernatorial bid, declined to answer directly. He said the mayor is drawing support from across the political spectrum.
“We’re proud to have the support of both Republicans and Democrats who want to fix the system and break the two-party death grip on Lansing,” Ed Duggan said in a statement. “Mike Duggan is building a coalition unlike anything Michigan has seen before: Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and everyone somewhere in between. If you’re fed up with politics as usual, there’s a place for you in our campaign.”
Duggan’s campaign is also getting outside support from a dark money nonprofit, Put Progress First, which has placed billboards across the state praising him as “America’s most effective mayor.” The group can raise unlimited amounts from anonymous donors, shielding their identities from public scrutiny.
Duggan ran a similar dark money group, Detroit Progress Fund, when he first became mayor. In the last two years, the fund has raised nearly $1 million. After Duggan was criticized for using the fund, he pledged to make the donations public, and he kept that promise.
But Put Progress First does not disclose its donors. Metro Times asked Duggan’s campaign if the donations will eventually be disclosed, but we’re awaiting a response.
Meanwhile, Duggan has remained silent on Republican proposals to cut healthcare funding, which would strip coverage from nearly 500,000 Michiganders. He’s also drawn criticism from progressives for parroting conservative talking points, such as calling undocumented immigrants “illegal.”
In a recent tweet, Duggan suggested Democrats are driven by hate, though he added, “Republicans aren’t much better.”
According to Duggan, “The Democratic Party is united on only two points: They hate Republicans in general. And they hate Donald Trump in particular,” the tweet reads.
He added, “I’m running as an Independent because I don’t hate anybody. And I firmly believe that for Michigan to move forward, we have to leave this toxic, ‘us vs. them’ partisan politics behind.”
Duggan’s opponents have also raised a lot of money. The campaign for Benson, a Democrat and secretary of state of Michigan, received $3.5 million, but that includes more than $1 million that was transferred from her previous secretary of state campaign.
On the Republican side, James and Nesbitt each raised about $2.3 million.
Polls show Duggan gaining ground in the race. A new survey found Duggan widened his lead over Benson among Detroit voters in the 2026 race for governor. The Target Insyght poll, conducted by the Lansing-based firm, found support for Duggan in Detroit rose from 41% in February to 52%. Benson dropped from 36% to 33%. Republican candidate U.S. Rep. John James polled at 5%, and 10% of respondents said they were undecided.
A survey released by the Detroit Regional Chamber in late May found that Duggan’s name identification was 86% in metro Detroit, compared to just 31% outside of the area. His favorability rating in metro Detroit was 54%, significantly higher than Democratic frontrunner Jocelyn Benson (32.6%) and Republican frontrunner John James (32.3%). Statewide, however, Duggan’s name recognition and support are lagging. Among registered voters, Benson led with 34.5%, James followed closely with 34%, and Duggan garnered 21.5%, with 9.4% undecided.
It’s too early to say whether Duggan’s support from influential Republicans will impact his campaign. And with a dark money group pushing his candidacy, voters may never know who’s truly bankrolling his campaign.
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This article appears in Jul 23 – Aug 5, 2025.