Richard Helppie's Common Bridge
The problems we have in the country are solvable, but not solvable the way we’re approaching them today, because of partisan politics. Richard Helppie, a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist seeks to find a place in the middle where common sense discussions can bridge the current great divide.
Richard Helppie's Common Bridge
Episode 274- Michigan Gubernatorial Candidate Series: Mike Duggan
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When half the streetlights in Detroit were dark and the city led America in homicide, poverty, and unemployment, Mike Duggan stepped up to lead its transformation. Now, after 12 years of progress as Detroit's mayor, he's taking aim at Michigan's partisan gridlock with an independent run for governor.
"Every time the Republicans and Democrats switch control in Lansing, they change the rules," Duggan explains, describing how Michigan's education system has suffered through constant policy whiplash. The result? A state that has plummeted from 19th to 44th nationally in fourth-grade reading proficiency. This pattern repeats across critical issues from infrastructure to economic development, with each party undoing the other's work rather than building sustainable solutions.
Duggan's approach stands apart from the typical campaign playbook. Rather than targeting the opposing party, he's drawing crowds of voters fed up with partisan battles. At his events, Republicans and Democrats find themselves in the same room, often surprised to discover common ground with neighbors they'd previously seen only through a political lens. "You've got the only political group in the country where there are smiles at the meetings," one reporter observed.
The Detroit mayor brings substantial credentials to his gubernatorial bid. Under his leadership, the city emerged from bankruptcy to become a model of urban renewal, with rejuvenated neighborhoods, reduced crime, and even population growth after decades of decline. His administration has invested $1.5 billion in affordable housing while attracting manufacturing and technology companies back to the city. Most importantly, he's achieved these results by building consensus rather than exploiting division.
Looking toward Michigan's future, Duggan envisions a government focused on practical solutions to shared challenges: rebuilding the energy grid, improving education, addressing the housing affordability crisis, and creating an economy that keeps young talent in Michigan. His campaign represents not just a bid for office, but a test of whether voters are ready for leadership that transcends partisan lines and delivers meaningful results.
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Introduction to The Common Bridge
Speaker 1Welcome to this episode of Season 6 of the Common Bridge, where policy and current events are discussed in a fiercely nonpartisan manner. The host, richard Helpe, is a philanthropist, entrepreneur and political analyst who has reached over 5 million listeners, viewers and readers around the world. With our surging growth in audience and subscriptions, the Common Bridge continues to expand its reach. The show is available on the Substack website and the Substack app Simply search for the Common Bridge continues to expand its reach. The show is available on the Substack website and the Substack app Simply search for the Common Bridge. You can also find us on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. The Common Bridge draws guests and audiences from around the political spectrum and we invite you to become a free or paid subscriber on your favorite medium.
Mayor Duggan's Vision for Michigan
Speaker 2Hello, welcome to the Common Bridge. We are continuing our series with candidates for the Office of Governor for the great state of Michigan. And look, I know, even if you're not in Michigan, you do have an interest in this, because Michigan is a vital industrial center in the United States. Michigan sits on an international border. There's been a lot of talk about trade. Michigan is also the home of organized labor, the birthplace of the United Auto Workers, and it is a state that I think is fairly reasonable, has voted for Republicans, has voted for Democrats, and today we have with us on the Common Bridge, running as an independent, the Honorable Mayor of the City of Detroit, mr Mike Duggan. Mike, welcome to the Common Bridge.
Speaker 3Richard, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2Glad to have you here and a lot of people know you. A lot of people don't. So, when you think about why you want to be governor of the state of Michigan and what kind of assets have we got here that get you excited, and what are two or three of the top things you wanted to concentrate on, and maybe within all that, why are you the best choice for governor when we go to the polls next year?
Speaker 3Well, the voters are going to have to decide that. But you know, I was born in Detroit. I've been in Michigan my whole life and when I saw the city sliding into bankruptcy in 2012, 2013, when half the streetlights were out and Detroit led America in homicide, poverty and unemployment, I thought that I could help and I ran for mayor. At the time there were a lot of people who were skeptical that a white guy could win in an 83% black city, but I campaigned house to house all year long and people of this city supported me and I feel like we've made a lot of progress in the last 12 years. But I look at what's happening in the state. I look at a state where, you know, 60 percent of our fourth graders can't read a grade level and we're near the bottom of the country. I look at a state that is in the bottom of the country and people under the age of 30 leaving and I think maybe I can do something to help there and we'll see what the voters think.
Detroit's Transformation Story
Speaker 2Well, detroit is certainly a much better place under your leadership you and former Governor Snyder getting the bankruptcy through cleaning up the finances. But you know, I always look at that as a small part of the story because it's what did you do with the money and tell the listeners and readers and viewers how you went to work and use those available funds to improve the city that you're responsible for?
Speaker 3Well, you know the city had lost you know $100 million a year for several years until it was no longer able to borrow anymore. But worse than that, 200,000 people moved out of the city of Detroit in the 10 years before I ran for office and they left behind 47,000 abandoned houses. It was really devastating to be in the city of Detroit. It's very hard to watch our children walk past those vacant houses to go to a park where the grass wasn't cut all summer and say this is just not right. So the bankruptcy was helpful.
Speaker 3It was started before I became the mayor, but we came out of bankruptcy in December of 2014, my first year as mayor. But we came out of bankruptcy with a city that hadn't had a new auto plant in 20 years, a city that still had. When you dialed 911, took longer for an ambulance to show up than any place else. We still had the highest homicide rate. So bankruptcy didn't solve the underlying problems, it just realigned the balance sheet. It really was great. Partners on Detroit City Council, we laid out a plan. We became very effective at bringing manufacturing back and jobs back by the thousand and eventually the city got going the right direction.
Speaker 2It's a markedly better place. I encourage everybody to visit the city of Detroit. I think it is the best city in the country today and, all right, a little hometowner in there. But the parks look great, the streetlights around the police cars are new, so much of the blight is removed and there's a sense of determination and hope. And I guess that hope kind of leads to the future. If we were going to say that, whomever becomes the governor next year, that a child born in that same year is going to come of age or graduate high school in 2044, what kind of state should they be graduating into and what can the governor that will be elected next year do about that child's future?
Speaker 3Well, you know I'm spending a lot of time. As I ran from here, I went to every neighborhood in the city every night. Now I'm going to small towns and places all around the state, but every time I go to a city I sit down with teenagers and 20-somethings and I ask them the question. I'm not a great believer in reading some report on why we're losing population. I say what is causing you to make these decisions? And it's really instructive to listen.
Building Michigan's Future Economy
Speaker 3Young people, they love the quality of life in Michigan, they love the beauty of Michigan, but for many they don't think the jobs of the future, their career interests, are going to be here and we are not doing a good job of building the economy of the future. And when you hear kids say, I'm going to school to study hard so I can move out of Michigan, that's a sad thing. I never could have imagined thinking that growing up, and so I spent a lot of time talking to them. We have to build the economy of the future. We have to bring in the tech jobs. We started doing that in the city of Detroit.
Speaker 3You, of course, Bill Ford, renovated the train station, which had been vacant for 40 years and is spectacular, but next to it was an abandoned Detroit Public School book depository that had caught fire in 1979. It's now called New Lab and it has 140 mobility startups Anything having to do with mobility, innovation from people around the country are all in that center. Young people are moving back to the city because we created the kind of job opportunities we wanted. We rebuilt the riverfront to what USA Today calls the finest river walk in America. It's the quality of life that kids want and we're building the kind of housing that's affordable but also has character to it. You put those things together and you saw. The Census Bureau just released a report. Detroit was one of the top 100 cities in America in population gain last year. That's something I never thought I'd see in my lifetime.
Speaker 2Congratulations to you and the city council for that dogged pursuit of creating a better life. And you know you mentioned education and where our fourth graders are. And then we mentioned the young people and at some point they're going to say you know, we're going to start a family. I hope they do. And when you think about education and we are both products of the great educational opportunities in the state of Michigan what's going on and what are your ideas about maybe turning that around?
Speaker 3So I'm spending a lot of time with superintendents and teachers and principals, and I talked about this. I did a speech at Mackinac that your viewers, I think, could find online, where I took people through what's happened in the last 10 years, and every time the Republicans and Democrats switch control in Lansing, they change the rules. Ten years ago, schools in this state were graded A, b, c, d, f. Then that got repealed and they graded them green, yellow, red.
Education Crisis and Political Chaos
Speaker 3Then that got repealed and they graded them top to bottom and they went to close the bottom ones and that got repealed. And they graded them A, b, c, d, f and last year they repealed the A, b, c, d, f. There's basically no measurement, no accountability. There is no teacher, no principal in this state who has any idea what they're being held to, and they keep changing the textbooks because they keep changing the curriculum. Every time the Republicans and Democrats swing back and forth and we've gone from 19th in the country in fourth grade reading under Engler to 44th today. We've gone down for 25 years and it hasn't been one party or the other, it has been this chaos of being in an evenly divided state where the two parties always try to use schools for partisan advantage of election time instead of sitting down with the educators and saying to the educators what's the curriculum we need, what kind of resources do you need? And we're going to hold you accountable for delivering.
Speaker 2And that's a great analysis. And, mike, you've been a Democrat and quite successful through Wayne County and now, as a mayor of the city of Detroit, you've elected to run as an independent. Can you share with the audience of the Common Bridge what led you to that conclusion and perhaps why will you be more effective as a governor, as an independent?
Speaker 3Yeah, there's no question. I really reached a point where I just felt like if I ran and got elected as a Democratic governor, I'd be dealing with the same things that Gretchen Whitmer is dealing with. The Republicans line up against you because they're in the other party and you're trying to take their jobs in the House and the Senate. Of course, the left wing of the Democratic Party has never been fans of mine. They aren't necessarily fans of Governor Whitmer's, which means that the governor goes up with very little ability to get things done.
Speaker 3You saw this last cycle, I think the governor vetoed 12 Democratic bills that came out of the lame duck session. It's gotten so out of control and I thought what would happen if everybody wasn't obsessed with the so-called trifecta. And that's what's happening is the donors are pouring huge amounts of money trying to win Democratic control the governorship, the House, the Senate or Republican control of all three so they could pass their agenda. And even once every 10 years you get a trifecta. When the other side gets their trifecta, they just repeal. It Works out fine for the politicians, ranks out really well for the campaign consultants, who are, you know, $100 million a year in a campaign.
Speaker 1They're making money.
Speaker 3But if you're a kid who wants to say, where's the economy of the future, if you're a tech company saying, where are the data warehouses? If you're a data warehouse company saying, why would I build in a state where, every time there's a windstorm, the power grid goes out? You don't have a reliable power supply. The things that we need to do to be competitive aren't being done, and most of these things ought not to be partisan issues. I still haven't figured out why teaching an eight-year-old to read should be a partisan fight. Mississippi's gone from 49th to 9th in the country. They put in a sound curriculum, they gave the kids support in small groups and they stuck with the program, and Idaho's done the same and Louisiana's done the same and Ohio's done the same. We need to have, as far as I'm concerned, partisan-free schools and partisan-free economic development strategies that you can build consensus on, and that's what we've done, certainly in Detroit. Our economic development strategy hasn't wavered in 12 years and it's the reason we've landed really 20 manufacturing plants and cut the unemployment rate.
Running as an Independent Governor
Speaker 2Indeed, and as you were landing those jobs too, you insisted that if there were going to be any kind of tax break, that those coming in had to hire Detroiters first. You were serving the citizens that elected you and trusted you with their future, and I think that's a great aspect of what you've been able to achieve as the mayor. And I have to say, I concur with you. If you've listened to my program, I think the Republicans are lost. The Democrats are maybe a little crazy from time to time, and you know they're tearing the country apart. And if you look at some of the single party states like California, we need immigrants in the country, no doubt. Ok, we need immigrants in Michigan. When you think about what the role of the next governor needs to be around immigration, what are your thoughts about that? And when you look at what's going on in California, how's California and Michigan different?
Speaker 3Well, we're different in a lot of ways, starting with, at least in the city of Detroit, control of our streets. But you know, we had 100 days of protests during the George Floyd aftermath and never had a store looted, never had a fire started one of the few cities in America. So we believe in free speech, but we don't let you damage property or injure people, and of course, we'll be probably facing those issues again in the coming days. But you know, my grandfather came here from Ireland and started a real estate office on Mack on the east side of Detroit. When President Obama was looking for a home for the Syrian refugees, detroit stepped up. When they were looking for homes for the Afghan refugees, detroit stepped up. If you come to this country lawfully, detroit is a welcoming city and the immigrants have contributed enormously to this city's history and to our vibrancy today. And I do think that we should be expanding legal immigration and Donald Trump has expressed support for the idea that if you get a college degree in the United States, you should be able to stay here.
Speaker 3When I worked at the Detroit Medical Center, it was just terrible. We would train doctors in their residency at the DMC. They'd complete their training on their student visa and then they'd have to go back to the country they came from, even when they wanted to be here, and I thought what kind of talent are we losing? On the other hand, the city of Detroit is not a sanctuary city. If we arrest you breaking into a house and you're an undocumented immigrant and ICE asks us to hold you, we honor the ICE detainee request, which is why we've never been crossways with the federal government. We've cooperated with ICE when they want to pick up somebody that we've arrested. We don't do enforcement for ICE, but when we arrest somebody for committing a crime, they're notified and if they want to come pick that individual up, they are. And I think we've got the right balance. But we are losing in this debate the focus on people who are undocumented, the value to this country of people who come here illegally.
Speaker 2Absolutely. What about some of the broader issues? You were at the Detroit Medical Center and did a nice job bringing that organization around. You know when you think about affordability and health care and can I afford the taxes. If you're speaking to the residents of the state of Michigan as you pursue the governorship, what type of things should they be hearing from you?
Speaker 3Well, the biggest issue I hear, no matter matter where I go, is the affordability of housing. When I go up to Traverse City and they're interesting conversations I'll sit with 60, 80 people at a time. We just have conversations. I'm not a guy who goes to a cocktail party and shakes hands. So I want to sit down and have a real conversation with you.
Speaker 3And I'm up in Traverse City. I said what's your biggest issue up here? And they say affordable housing. And I said well, let me tell you what we did in Detroit. We built up one and a half billion dollars in affordable housing in the last six years and let me show you how I've done it and we should be doing this statewide. And then they take me over and show me this tent city they call the Pines, with 200 tents of homeless people. And I say to them we have no tent cities in the city of Detroit and I couldn't believe they had that kind of homeless problem in Traverse City. They couldn't believe we had no people living in tents in Detroit.
Speaker 3But by the end you end up with common ground. But it's almost heartbreaking when they say to me you know, the people who have bought essentially the vacation homes up here have so priced the housing out of the market that they were showing me a new affordable housing complex they were building in Traverse City and it was for public school teachers and I said we've hit the point that you have to build special affordable housing for public school teachers. Something's wrong. But I will take the policies we brought in Detroit. We need to make home building simple. We've got to take costs out of it, but we also have to have the funding that funds the gap, because nobody's going to build an apartment that costs $1,400 a month to build and rent out and accept $800 a month in rent. Nobody's going to do that. You've got to have a funding source to cover that gap and we've mastered that in the city of Detroit and I think we can expand it statewide.
Speaker 2I had a guest on my program, greg Colburn, who's written extensively about housing and Detroit shows really well and part of it is in fact the central theme, not just part of it is that more units equals fewer homeless people.
Speaker 3Right.
Housing Affordability Crisis
Speaker 2That's true. It doesn't matter climate, location, whatever. Very interesting guy, by the way. He was a private equity guy very successful and then went back and got a PhD and now he teaches housing policy at the University of Washington. Very dry material, unless you need a roof over your head, then it's very important. Before we get into kind of other policy areas, just on the political landscape next year, 2026, when the gubernatorial race will be on, we're also going to have a race for the United States Senate. We're going to have Donald Trump's first midterm. What do you think? Those two national elections, what kind of effect might that have on the governor's race, if any?
Speaker 3I'm watching it right now and people are fed up with both parties. The more hostile it gets in Washington, the more hostile it gets in Lansing, the bigger my crowds get. And every day people are coming up to me emotionally saying I've always been in the middle, I've always been independent, I'm not just strictly Republican or Democrat and I've never had somebody speak to this and the the level of enthusiasm that somebody a reporter was covering one of my events said you've got the only group in the country politically where there's smiles at your meetings. And I was in Lexington, a little town of about a thousand people north of Port Huron.
Speaker 3A hundred people showed up at my event that night and went back and forth a lot. I learned a lot about their community. Finally, I said to them how many of you would have shown up here tonight if I were running as a Democratic candidate for governor? And about a third of the hands in the room went up and they looked at each other and they started laughing and they realized these folks would have never been in the same room politically, even though they were friends and neighbors, if it weren't for me as an independent candidate. And people end up leaving smiling, filling out volunteer cards saying I'm going to tell my friends, and back in December and January I said I'm running as an independent. People are like what's that all about? Now it's starting to resonate and it's really very enjoyable to go from city to city and have this conversation.
Speaker 2Just to punctuate that point. This is June 11th, we're recording this and I'm publishing a column today about the immigration and the calling out of the military in California. And this is the dilemma that the established parties have 93% of Republicans are approving Donald Trump's approach, 82% of Democrats are against it. But here's the kicker Independence. It's about even 51-49. And that, to me, is cause for hope that people do want to come together and that they have the sense they're not being served by the partisans. And you've cited some great cases too. I hadn't thought about that the whipsawing of policies depending on who's getting the trifecta. But, mr Mayor, while we're here, as we kind of move to our close, is there any other policy areas that you're particularly passionate about that the listeners, readers, viewers of the Common Bridge, many of whom are Michigan voters, should hear about?
Breaking Free from Partisan Battles
Speaker 3You know, I want to change politics in this state. And, richard, the numbers you just cited okay, the overwhelming number of Republicans approve the National Guard. Overwhelming number of Democrats in California disapprove them. And yet what happens? It's the people on the ground in Los Angeles having their stores looted, having the fires started, having their lives torn apart. So, while the two parties are righteously saying we're right, the average person is the one that suffers, and here in Michigan right now, we'll see how it plays out.
Speaker 3But our police department is sitting down every day with the federal authorities strategizing how we work together to deal with potential issues. We're not attacking each other in public and, of course, the Detroit Police Department has a great deal of credibility in managing protests. We believe in protests and we encourage protests, but we don't allow property to be damaged and people to be hurt, and this is the kind of thing that I think you should be able to do. And so when these elections come along in 2026, I'm not going to pick sides in the state House races, republican or Democrat. I'm not going to pick sides in the state Senate races Republican, democrat. You can vote straight ticket Democratic and vote for Mike for Independent or straight ticket Republican vote, mike, for Independent.
Speaker 3All your votes count, and so when the legislators get to Lansing, I'm going to sit down and say let's talk about things that aren't partisan rebuilding the energy grid, getting the tech jobs of the future here, teaching our young kids how to read, rebuilding the career technical education, which has been devastated in the high schools. I can't believe how angry people are, particularly in rural areas, over the lack of vocational training programs in their high schools. These are things that we can rebuild and, because you know I'm not trying to knock you out of your state house seat two years from now because I'm in the other party, let's sit down and work together. That's what I did with city council and that's what I think I can do with the legislature.
Speaker 2That would be a breath of fresh air, I think, not only for our state, but potentially some good tailwinds into the rest of the country, because we are stuck right now in this partisan battle, which is the whole reason we started the Common Bridge. We're still stuck with issues around firearms and climate and environment and trade, and it's all about which party's winning. Mr Mayor, very impressive work that you've done. You and I could probably talk the next three or four hours about this, but I know you have limited time, so is there anything that we haven't talked about or any closing comments you've got for our audience today?
Speaker 3Nope, you're doing a heck of a job, richard. I never thought you were going to become a podcaster in your next career. You've done great Thanks.
Speaker 2It's a lot of fun. It's the same thing listening to people trying to solve problems, trying to find a common ground, and that's what we're here. I'm not sure how good we're doing as far as bringing people together, but we're giving it a shot anyway.
Speaker 3Never know where life's going to take us. Huh Indeed.
Speaker 2We've been talking today with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. He is a candidate for the governorship of the state of Michigan. He's running as an independent, he's bringing some new ideas and, with our guest, mike Duggan, this is your host, rich, helpe signing off on the Common Bridge.
Speaker 1Thanks for joining us on the Common Bridge. Subscribe to the Common Bridge on Substackcom or use their Substack app, where you can find more interviews, columns, videos and nonpartisan discussions of the day. Just search for the Common Bridge. You can also find the Common Bridge on Mission Control Radio on your RadioGarden app.