DETROIT– Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is busy campaigning. But not his own.
The three-term mayor, who has been mentioned as a possible Democratic candidate for governor of Michigan, knows how valuable his and his predominantly black city’s support is to Vice President Kamala Harris in November’s presidential election.
Duggan, like other big-city mayors across the country, is using his political clout to mobilize voters in his city. Harris is visiting Monday as part of a series of Labor Day events by the Democrat and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Mayors are typically elected along party lines with policies that reflect the views of the majority of voters in their cities. 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 Andrew J. Ginther, Mayor of Columbus, Ohio, a Democrat who added that he is “all for the vice president.”
For Duggan, it’s all about electing Harris and Walz.
Michigan is among the key swing state prizes Harris and Republican nominee former President Donald Trump are battling over this fall. They know Trump won the state by fewer than 11,000 votes in 2016 before losing it to President Joe Biden by about 150,000 votes in 2020.
Detroit, Michigan’s largest city, is one of the nation’s leading Democratic strongholds, with turnout in the general election expected to exceed 50 percent of registered voters, according to the city clerk.
Shortly after Biden withdrew from this year’s presidential race, Duggan endorsed Harris. An August rally in the Detroit area attracted 15,000 peopleHarris’ campaign said. Trump would later falsely claim Using artificial intelligence, an image was created of thousands of people waiting at the airport for the meeting.
City Clerk Janice Winfrey said 55% or more of Detroit’s registered voters were able to cast ballots in November. About 51% of registered voters cast ballots for Barack Obama when he first ran for president, Winfrey said.
“Everybody wants to participate,” Winfrey said, adding that Duggan’s commitment to voter outreach extended to his support for a 40% increase in her budget.
But it’s more than popularity that drives mayors to flirt with current and future presidents. Communities depend on millions of federal dollars for everything from infrastructure projects to hiring more police officers.
“We’ve got to get things done,” said Ginther, who also chairs the U.S. Conference of Mayors. “There’s no Republican or Democratic way to clean up trash, clean the streets, keep people safe. One of the most important platforms is housing. It’s by far the most important issue that mayors in this country face, whether Donald Trump is elected or the vice president is elected president.”
Over the past five years, Detroit has invested about $1 billion to create more than 4,600 affordable housing units in the city. Federal, state and city funds helped pay for those projects.
“Every mayor makes their own decision,” Duggan said. “The cities have done tremendously well under Biden/Harris.”
Detroit was awarded about $706.5 million in federal grant funding under the Trump White House. The Biden administration has awarded and committed more than $2 billion to the city, according to Duggan’s office.
The American Rescue Plan, a 2021 federal coronavirus relief measure signed by Biden that included funds for state, city and tribal governments, “probably accelerated Detroit’s recovery by 10 years,” Duggan said.
The city, deep in debt and running annual budget deficits of millions of dollars, was shepherded in and out of the financial world. largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history by a manager appointed a decade ago by Michigan’s then-Republican governor. Under Duggan, the city’s finances have stabilized and budget surpluses are now the norm.
“What the American Rescue Plan did was give us the ability to rebuild our cities faster,” Duggan said. “When Donald Trump ran for president, he promised big infrastructure and never delivered.”
The country’s housing crisis should be the top concern of mayors, both Democratic and Republican, according to Analilia Mejia, co-director of the nonprofit Center for Popular Democracy.
“I think we’re going to see not only mayors doing the right and smart thing when it comes to engaging their constituents and educating them about what’s in their best interest,” Mejia said.
Mayor John Giles of Mesa, Arizona, is also urging voters to cast their ballots for Harris. Giles, a Republican fed up with Trump, was one of several GOP politicians who spoke in favor of Harris last month Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Giles said he has had more contact with the Biden administration than the Trump administration, a difference he attributes to Trump’s closer working with governors.
“Mayors seem to be more involved in party politics around election time than usual,” Giles said. “We want to have good relations with the new government. It’s in the best interests of our cities.”
But Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, a fellow Republican, sees things differently. The former Democrat, who focuses on the GOP’s tough-on-crime approach, told attendees at the July Republican National Convention in Milwaukee that he wants to help Trump get back into the White House.
Kwame Kilpatrick, who served five years in the Michigan House of Representatives and seven years as mayor of Detroit, said all mayors simply hope for access to the White House.
Kilpatrick also served more than seven years of a 28-year federal prison sentence for corruption during his time as mayor. Kilpatrick, whose sentence was converted by Trump in 2021now works as a political consultant. Kilpatrick, a lifelong Democrat, said he supports Trump’s reelection bid and will register as an independent.
“Mayors rarely have to pick up the phone and call Washington for anything, but when they do pick up the phone, they want to be able to contact the government in Washington when they need to,” 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 voters in his city this election cycle and that he is “100 percent, without a doubt” behind the Harris/Walz ticket.
“I’ve challenged people in our community who can vote, should vote and don’t vote,” Johnson said. “I talk to people on the ground about what’s at stake. Democracy is not a spectator sport. It’s a contact sport.”
