ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Michigan coach Sherrone Moore has fired offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell.
Moore made the move on Tuesday, three days after the Wolverines closed the regular season with a13-10 upset win over rival and then second-ranked Ohio State.
The defending national champions struggled on offense this year and it cost Campbell his job.
“After a thorough assessment of our offense, I made the decision to relieve Kirk Campbell of his duties and move in a different direction,” Moore said.
Moore promoted Campbell to the position, which he had under former coach Jim Harbaugh before he left to lead the Los Angeles Chargers.
The first-year coach said tight ends coach Steve Casula will be the team's offensive coordinator while he searches for a new one.
Campbell was Michigan's quarterbacks coach when it won the national title after serving as an offensive analyst during the 2022 season, serving in the same role he previously had at Penn State.
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Michigan head coach head coach Sherrone Moore talks to his team during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Michigan Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)
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.
“This changes the dynamic of the campaigns for governor,” said Adolph Mongo, a Detroit-based political commentator and former political consultant. “There have been rumblings from folks that we need a third party, a real one.”
“This is a gutsy move. This is a good move,” Mongo continued. “It hurts the Democratic Party. There’s no question that he is going to take a ton of Democrats with him. It’s also going to free up those moderate Republican who are not buying MAGA.”
Mongo said Duggan does he research.
“I’m sure the numbers must not have been looking too hot in securing the Democratic nomination,” Mongo said. “You have Jocelyn Benson. You have Garlin Gilchrist, Pete Buttigieg. He’s thinking outside the box. When he ran for mayor as a write-in he thought outside the box.”
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.”
Associated Press reporter Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this story.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is interviewed, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is interviewed, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is interviewed, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is interviewed, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
