Pollster: Duggan's independent run for governor may spell doom for Democrats

FOX 2 - A Michigan pollster is confirming state Democratic fears that the independent candidacy of Mike Duggan for governor means the Republican will win the governorship.  

Many in Lansing are watching the gubernatorial run of the Detroit mayor closely.

Big picture view:

"I think it would be a mistake to write anyone off, especially someone who has been written off before," said Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Mayor Mike Duggan can't win according to conventional data, but he can take enough votes away from Democratic voters to hand the election to the GOP.

Michigan pollster Steve Mitchell has data that if it turns out to be true, could mean trouble for the Democrats.

"He will draw a third of the independents and he will draw from both Republicans and Democrats but I think he will draw more from Democrats than the Republicans," Mitchell said.

The popular wisdom in Lansing is that Duggan can play the spoiler and cost the Democrats the governor's race.

"I agree with that conventional wisdom," Mitchell said. "It is often wrong, but the reason it is conventional wisdom, is that it is conventional and it is wisdom."

Michigan Democrat Alabas Farhat was asked if he could imagine voting for Duggan.

"In all fairness, I haven't ruled that out," Farhat said.

Randy Richardville, a self-described independent Republican and former state senate leader, also praised Duggan as well.

"I'm going to look for somebody who can bring us together instead of continuing to separate us," he said. "And Mike might be that guy."

But Mitchell sees two problems for the mayor of Detroit. First, there is an anti-Detroit bias in the electorate and his opponents will remind everyone of his deep Democrat roots.

"Those Republicans who may want to flirt with him in the beginning, when they discover that his background has primarily been in Democratic politics, supporting candidates that they have not supported, I think that's when the support peels away."

Suffice it to say, the mayor is not deterred by any of this.