Detroit Mayor Duggan put the political pull behind Vice President Harris’ presidential bid

DETROIT (AP) — Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is deep in campaign mode. But not his.

The three-term mayor, whose name is being floated as a possible Democratic candidate for Michigan governor, knows the value of backing him and his majority Black City Vice President Kamala Harris in November’s presidential election.

Duggan, like some other big-city mayors across the country, is using his political clout to help mobilize voters in his city when Harris visits Labor Day events Monday for Democrats and his running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim. Waltz.

Mayors are usually elected on a partisan basis, and policies reflect the views of the majority of voters in their city. Of the 20 largest cities in the United States by population, only Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, have Republican mayors.

Mayors “know what’s at stake,” said Columbus, Ohio, Mayor Andrew J. Ginther, a Democrat who adds that he is “all vice president.”

For Duggan, it’s all about the choice between Harris and Walz.

Michigan is one of the top state prizes Harris and Republican nominee former President Donald Trump will compete for this fall, knowing Trump won the state by less than 11,000 votes in 2016 before losing it to President Joe Biden in 2020 by about 150,000 votes.

Detroit, Michigan’s largest city, is one of the nation’s biggest Democratic strongholds, and its city clerk said turnout is expected to exceed 50 percent of registered voters in the general election.

Shortly after Biden withdrew from this year’s presidential race, Duggan endorsed Harris. According to the Harris campaign, an August rally in the Detroit area drew 15,000 people. Trump later falsely claimed that the image of thousands of people waiting at the airport for a protest was produced with the help of artificial intelligence.

City Clerk Janice Winfrey said at least 55% of Detroit’s registered voters could vote in November. About 51 percent of registered voters voted for Barack Obama when he ran for president, Winfrey said.

“Everybody wants to be involved,” said Winfrey, adding that Duggan’s involvement in reaching out to voters extended to his support for a 40 percent increase in his budget.

But it’s more than popularity that makes mayors cozy up to current and future presidents. Communities rely on millions of federal dollars for everything from infrastructure projects to hiring police officers.

“We have to get things done,” said Ginther, who also serves as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. “There’s no way for Republicans or Democrats to pick up trash, plow streets, or keep people safe. One of the most important platforms is housing. That’s by far the most important thing for the mayors of this country, whether Donald Trump is elected or the vice president is president.

Over the past five years, Detroit has invested approximately $1 billion to build more than 4,600 affordable housing units in the city. Federal, state and city funds helped pay for these projects.

“Each mayor makes his own decision,” Duggan said. “Cities have done very well under Biden/Harris.”

Detroit was awarded about $706.5 million in federal grant funding under the Trump White House. The Biden administration has granted and committed more than $2 billion to the city, according to Duggan’s office.

The American Rescue Plan, Biden’s signature 2021 federal coronavirus relief measure that included funds for state, city and tribal governments, “probably accelerated Detroit’s recovery by 10 years,” Duggan said.

Appointed a decade ago by Michigan’s then-Republican governor, the leader steered a city deeply in debt and running multimillion-dollar annual budget deficits. Under Duggan, the city’s finances have stabilized and budget surpluses are now the norm.

“The American Rescue Plan allowed us to rebuild our cities faster,” Duggan said. “When Donald Trump ran for president, he promised big infrastructure but never delivered anything.

The nation’s housing crisis should be foremost on the minds of mayors, both Democrats and Republicans, said Analilia Mejia, director of the nonprofit Center for People’s Democracy.

“I think we’re going to see that it’s not just mayors who are doing what’s right and smart when they’re engaging their constituents and telling them what’s in their best interest,” Mejia said.

Mesa, Arizona, Mayor John Giles is also urging voters to vote for Harris. Giles, a Republican who has defected from Trump, was among several GOP politicians who spoke on behalf of Harris at last month’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Giles said he has had more contact with the Biden administration than the Trump administration, which he attributes to Trump working more closely with governors.

“It seems around election time that mayors become more engaged in partisan politics than usual,” Giles said. “We want to establish good relations with the future administration. It is in the interests of our cities.”

But Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, a fellow Republican, sees things differently. The former Democrat, who focused on the GOP’s tough-on-crime approach, told attendees at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July that he wants to help get Trump back in the White House.

Kwame Kilpatrick, who spent five years in the Michigan State House and seven years as mayor of Detroit, said all mayors just hope to get to the White House.

Kilpatrick also served more than seven years of a 28-year federal prison sentence for corruption while mayor. Kilpatrick, whose sentence was commuted by Trump in 2021, now works as a political consultant. Kilpatrick, a lifelong Democrat, said he supports Trump’s re-election bid and is registering as an independent.

“Mayors rarely have to pick up the phone and call Washington, but when they pick up the phone, they want access to the Washington board if necessary,” said Kilpatrick, who resigned as Detroit mayor in 2008 after a text-message sex scandal.

For his part, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, a Democrat, said he is working to engage his city’s voters this election cycle and is “100%, without question” behind the Harris/Walz ticket.

“I’ve challenged the people in our community who can vote, vote and don’t vote,” Johnson said. “I talk to the people on the ground about the stakes. Democracy is not a spectator sport. It is a contact sport.”