(mellow dance music) - Mayor Mike Duggan, you've had some big announcements lately.

They seem to be coming one right after another.

First, you've announced you're not gonna run for reelection as as Detroit mayor after 12 years when your term ends next year.

Why did you decide to leave that job and make a run for governor?

- Well, there were two different decisions.

The first was that I really did what I came here to try to do, and the city was in bankruptcy, and you know, I was born here, and I've watched things be taken away from us for 60 years and I thought I could help turn it around.

But you know, we've gotten rid of nearly all of the abandoned houses down to our last 3,000, which we're working on.

We rebuilt the Riverfront, we're building the Joe Lewis Greenway, population is growing again, businesses growing are again.

And so we certainly have our challenges, but I feel like what I wanted to do and the tone of attacking the problems of working together, I felt like it had taken root and it was gonna be just fine.

- So you're gonna leave this job and try to move into the governor's office in Lansing.

What's appealing about that job to you after all these years as mayor?

- You know, it's back to the same thing.

I'm not somebody who wants to sit in an office and have a title.

But you look at what's happening in Michigan, and we gotta stop closing our eyes.

I mean, the economy, this country is being built on the East and the West Coast and somewhat in the South, and Michigan leads all of America in young people under 30 leaving the state.

And that's not just recent.

That's been going on for a long time.

Our children, 60% of 'em, don't read at the fourth grade level.

That's not new.

That's been declining for 20 years.

And for all of the every two year Republican-Democratic fights, nobody is talking about what we have to do to change the direction of the state.

And I thought, you know, maybe the kind of politics that we built in Detroit, of people working together, that maybe the state could benefit from it as well.

- So you've decided to run for governor, but not as a Democrat, the party that you belonged to for most of your career.

Why make the decision to run as an independent?

- You know, I really reached a conclusion that a partisan governor couldn't succeed.

And this last year in Lansing was the worst that I've ever seen.

But at this point, the partisan relationship in this country is toxic.

But in this state, it's so closely divided in the House and Senate, everything is about, are the Democrats gonna get control of the next cycle?

The Republicans are gonna get control of the next cycle?

Republicans spend a huge amount of money to get control of the House this last November, and the Democrats are gonna pour a ton of money in to try to get it two years from now.

And in the meantime, nobody is dealing with the long-term problems of the state.

And I just realized that if I ran as a Democrat, all of the Republicans would line up against me, 'cause you have to line up against a Democrat.

Of course, in the Democratic party, there is a left wing that has never supported me.

So it isn't even like I'm gonna have all the Democrats on my side.

It just didn't seem like there's a path, I don't think for any partisan governor, to make the kind of transformational change Michigan needs.

But I didn't see a way for me to do it.

- Is there a path for you as an independent to win the governor's race?

That's never happened in this state, at least in anybody's memory.

- Yeah, well, a white guy hadn't run for mayor of Detroit in anybody's memory.

And had never run- - That's true.

- As a write-in, in history.

So I don't worry too much about what's happened before, but I look at what is the path.

And you know, Gallup, since the 1980s, does a poll every year.

"Do you consider yourself a Democrat, or Republican, or Independent?"

And this year it is stunning.

We're down to 27% think they're Democrats, 27% think they're Republicans, and those numbers are dropping.

43% consider themselves independent, and the number is growing.

You just look at that, and any business person would say, "Do I wanna be at the declining market share or the growing market share?"

But people in Michigan, and really in this country, just have always been fed only two choices, a Democrat or a Republican.

And they assume those are the only two choices that are there.

When I see, and as we were talking, I just came back from New York, I just came through the airport.

All through the airport were stopping me.

"I'm with you, I'm voting for you.

And independent, I'm an independent too."

There is something about this that is already capturing the imagination of folks.

And I do think I'd rather be on the side of the 43% that are Independent than the 27% that are Republican or Democrat.

- But the mechanics are challenging.

I mean, you'd be running without a party structure, without all of the things a political party normally does for its candidate.

How do you replace that as an independent and how do you build an organization?

- The party structure is more myth than reality.

But think about this.

When you run as mayor, you're nonpartisan.

There's no party structure.

I built it myself.

When you run in a primary, there's no party structure.

The party doesn't kick in until after the primary elections.

You build that yourself.

But the infrastructure is people.

And if the people of this state say, "I'm fed up with the two parties and where they're going," I'll put together an organization much like I did when I ran for mayor that will be an active group that believes in change.

And if that happens, it'll be okay.

But for 13,000 signatures, I'm on the November ballot.

The Democrats and Republicans I'm sure are gonna go through a nasty primary where they all attack each other, and two of them will come out, and we're gonna have a debate.

And I feel like this is a conversation the state needs to have.

And my guess is from what I'm starting to hear, some other states in the country may start to see.

- So you've been a centrist in a party that has moved steadily to the left.

As a business-oriented politician and candidate, could you have won the Democratic Party primary?

- I don't consider myself a business-oriented politician, but I'm in the city of Detroit that is 94% Democratic.

And so people in the city realize that if we're gonna have good jobs for our residents, we've gotta have businesses who want to invest here.

It's gotta be a good climate.

And I say to the businesses, "I'm gonna help you land here, but you've gotta give Detroiters preference in getting in and support training and career path."

That's been a bargain that we have made that has dropped us the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years, but I don't consider that centrist.

I consider that results-oriented, and I think the great majority of Detroiters think so too.

- So you've got two years to convince Michigan that you're the guy who can fix this thing.

What is your message?

What is your plan over these next two years as a candidate for governor?

- So when I started running for mayor, I didn't start out going into people's living rooms saying, "I have all the answers, I'm here to help you."

I went into the living rooms and I sat and I listened carefully to their people's hopes and dreams and the obstacles they were running up against.

And a lot of what's developed in the city, the Department of Neighborhoods, Motor City Match, many of the strategies came outta those conversations.

And I am going to start now going to every corner of this state.

I'm not gonna go up and sit with farmers and tell 'em I have the answers, but I am gonna sit there until I know the answers.

I'm gonna sit with school teachers and say, "How is it that 42 states have figured out how to teach third graders to read better than us?"

I don't know what the answer is, but I know those teachers know the answer.

And I'll be in a position where I'm gonna listen, I'm gonna learn, and I'll present a plan that the public can judge for themselves whether it makes sense.

- Have you thought out the formula?

How many Republicans you're gonna have to win over, how many Democrats you're gonna have to keep?

- My goal is 20% from each side and win with 40% of the vote.

- Okay.

So you've got still a year left as mayor, so you're not gonna be spending all your time on the campaign trail.

- Right, right.

- What's left to do here over the next years?

What are your priorities?

- Yeah, so we're on a 10 straight balanced budget.

The finances are in good shape.

I'm really glad that Ralph Wilson Park's gonna be built out.

It'll be a big part of completing the Riverfront.

We're building out the Joe Lewis Greenway.

We're continuing to build three new rec centers in the city.

We're down to now 3,000 abandoned houses.

I'd like it to as close to zero by the time I leave as I can.

So right now it is basically a strategy of executing competently the plans we've laid forward the last 11 years.

- So we've already seen people starting to jump in the mayor's race.

How confident are you that when you leave, you'll be leaving it in the hands of competent leadership who can keep this momentum going?

- I think there is a lot of talent.

The biggest question, and I've said this for 11 years, Detroit was going down the tubes because the bickering and the us versus them politics as the problems sunk into the city.

But I just watched Mary Sheffield's kickoff, which was, "I'm gonna continue the progress and we're gonna work together."

I'm gonna predict, she had a very successful kickoff, she set the bar high.

I'm gonna predict you're gonna see a number of other candidates also come out with a strong message of unity and continuing progress.

And if that happens, this city's gonna be on a good path for a long time to come.

- And is that your legacy?

- I really do, I think I've changed politics in this city.

- Mayor Mike Duggan, thanks for joining us.

We appreciate you.

- Thanks for having me, Nolan.

- Thank you.