Tonight on The Detroit Evening Report, we cover Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s announcement that he will run for governor of Michigan in 2026; the highly anticipated reopening of the Belle Isle Conservatory in Detroit and more.

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Duggan to run for Michigan governor seat

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced today that he’s running to become the next governor of Michigan. The longtime Democrat released a video statement Wednesday morning stating his intentions to run as an independent. In the video, he shared his motivations behind the approach to his political decision. 

“…by starting a campaign for governor, by having a conversation about whether its time for a whole new approach.  A governor who’s an independent.  What would happen if we upended the system and gave Michigan voters a new choice?  A governor who didn’t run as a candidate of either party?” he said.

Duggan also touted his successes as Detroit’s mayor in the video, citing the lowest homicide rate in decades and the fact that the city’s population is growing for the first time in more than 60 years. 

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is term-limited and cannot run for another four years in office.  Political analysts say Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson could be a possible front runner for the Democratic nomination for governor. 2022 Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon may consider another run for the office. 

Belle Isle Conservatory reopens 

The Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory on Belle Isle officially reopened on Wednesday after two years of extensive renovations. The 120-year-old building, designed by famed Detroit architect Albert Kahn, underwent a $10 million repair project that included the replacement of more than 1,500 panes of glass.

Other upgrades included:

• Abatement of asbestos and lead paint, repair of steel trusses, installation of new upper and lower catwalks, upgrade of the irrigation system and restoration of exterior limestone panels in the dome
• New concrete floor and planter walls in the showroom
• New roof, ceiling, ceiling fans, glass and exterior limestone panels in the vestibule
• New glass in the cactus and tropical house from the gutters up
• Sidewalk repairs and new concrete for the Lake Tacoma overlook in the gardens

The conservatory showcases a wide variety of plants from around the world. Beginning today, the beloved Detroit landmark will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

Related: What is the history behind the Belle Isle Boathouse?

Mary Sheffield to announce political future

Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield issued a news release Wednesday saying she’ll make an announcement about her political future at an event planned for next Tuesday, Dec. 10.

Sheffield will be joined by supporters and community members at the IBEW Local 58 Union Hall in Detroit from 6-8 p.m. Highlights will include a performance by the Detroit Youth Choir and remarks from local stakeholders.

Community input sought on local flood remediation efforts

The Great Lakes Water Authority is holding a number of public meetings around the region to talk about flooding.  The sessions, held in conjunction with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will inform residents about projects to ease flooding and get their feedback about plans that are being developed. 

Wednesday’s meeting will take place from 3-7 p.m. in the atrium at the Dearborn Administrative Offices on Michigan Avenue in Dearborn. Other meetings will be held in Waterford, Sterling Heights and Grosse Pointe later this month. 

Lions to face Packers 

The Detroit Lions are preparing for a Thursday game against the Green Bay Packers.  The Lions are tied for the best record in the NFL with 11 wins and just one loss.  But the team can’t rest on its laurels.  Several others are vying for position in next month’s playoffs. Division rival Green Bay is one of those teams, with a record of nine wins and three losses. 

Kick off on Thursday is at 8:15 p.m. at Ford Field. The game will be televised on Amazon Prime and Fox 2 Detroit. And if you’re headed over to Ford Field to tailgate, bundle up. Temperatures will drop into the lower 20s for game time. 

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

DETROIT (AP) — Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, a longtime Democrat, says he will run for Michigan governor as an independent in 2026.

“It’s clear to me that there are a lot of people in this country who are tired of both parties and tired of the system,” Duggan said in an interview Tuesday. “And so I want to offer people a choice.”

Duggan, 66, is credited by many for leading Detroit after it emerged from bankruptcy to become a thriving, more vibrant city. He formally announced his intentions in a video released Wednesday morning but discussed his future before that with The Associated Press. He hopes to succeed popular Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is term-limited under Michigan law.

The mayor’s decision comes in the midst of a reckoning for Democrats in Michigan, one of a handful of swing states that helped propel former President Donald Trump to victory in November. The Democratic Party, which only two years previously had claimed a majority in both houses of the Legislature for the first time in decades, suffered setbacks at the ballot box that left state Democrats scrambling for explanations and a path forward.

Still, few would have anticipated the mayor of the state’s largest city and biggest Democratic stronghold abandoning his party altogether.

Duggan said he felt he could govern more effectively as an independent.

“You have a (state) legislature that’s almost evenly divided that makes the stakes of each issue become magnified,” he said. “It has gotten harder and harder to address things as the partisan climate has gotten more toxic.”

Duggan also could be looking to avoid what is shaping up as a crowded Democratic primary field. Among the potential contenders are Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist III and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who relocated to Michigan in 2022, has also sparked speculation about a potential Democratic gubernatorial bid. When asked by the AP on Nov. 3 about a potential candidacy, Buttigieg left the door open, stating, “Right now, it’s hard to see past Election Day. After that, I’ll figure out how to make myself useful. But what I know is I really care about what happens in this state.”

On the Republican side, prospective candidates include Michigan Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, former state Attorney General Mike Cox, former state Rep. Tom Leonard and U.S. Rep. John James. Tudor Dixon, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 2022, is also considering another run.

Duggan said he thinks he can appeal to both Democrats and Republicans.

“I expect to pull votes away from both allowing me to win,” he said. “That’s the only scenario that I’ve thought about.”

A Duggan run as an independent, while it further fractures a state Democratic Party still reeling from Trump’s win in November, could win over voters looking outside the party for answers.

There is precedent. Then-U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona made the move in 2022 to independent. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin did the same last spring.

Several states have elected independent governors since 1990, Duggan noted, including Angus King in Maine, now a U.S. senator.

“The pattern you’ve seen over and over is when the Democratic Party moved too far left or the Republican Party moved too far right you had a candidate step in and say I want to represent the whole state,” Duggan said. “This isn’t something that hasn’t happened before. We’ve studied all of those races.”

But an independent has never served as Michigan governor and third-party candidates typically don’t fare well in elections for the state’s top seat. Libertarian Party candidate Mary Buzuma received a scant 0.9% of the vote in 2022.

“If you think the two-party system is serving you well, you can vote for your Republican or Democratic candidate,” Duggan said. “But if you think the only way we can really change the quality of life in Michigan is a different way, I’m going to give people the alternative, an independent who is going to go to Lansing and work with responsible leadership in both parties.”

Last month, Duggan announced that the coming year would be his last as Detroit’s mayor. His current term ends in January 2026. Duggan said he then plans to ”go to communities across the state that have been forgotten and sit in neighborhood restaurants and farmhouses and city centers and listen to people.”

“And I’m going to start by doing that and not take the approach that some people are unimportant,” he added. “I’m not going to write anybody off.”

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.

He was the top vote-getter in Detroit’s 2013 mayoral primary despite running a write-in campaign due to a ballot challenge. Duggan, who is white, was elected in November 2013 to lead mostly Black Detroit which that summer was taken into the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history by a state-appointed manager.

Long-term debt of $18 billion or more and hundreds of millions of dollars in annual budget deficits left Detroit broke and nearly broken. Crime was high and neighborhood blight was rampant. Unemployment and poverty rates were among the nation’s highest.

Taking office in January 2014, Duggan 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.

Over the past decade, Detroit routinely has had balanced city budgets and surpluses. Violent crime is down and neighborhoods mostly are cleaner. Detroit’s population even increased slightly in 2023. It was the first uptick since the 1950s when 1.8 million people called the city home.

“I feel like I did what I set out to do,” Duggan told the AP last month. “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.”

Reporting by Corey Williams, Associated Press. Associated Press reporter Joey Cappelletti contributed to this story.