With growing worries over her ability to win in November as party leaders desperately search for an alternative, Michigan Democrat gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer continues to struggle with selling voters on her campaign. East Village Magazine reports that Whitmer tried to deflect rumors about Detroit Mayor and key party leader Mike Duggan’s concern for her candidacy, claiming that he is “is going to be on board in short order.”
But according to recent reports, Mayor Duggan has not only remained unsold on her candidacy, he’s been working with labor leaders on a “backdoor campaign” to find alternatives to her, trying to recruit Senator Gary Peters to run in her place. With their recruitment efforts failing thus far, many Michigan Democrats have resigned themselves to Whitmer, claiming they “just need to roll with” her as the nominee.
With Whitmer still failing to catch fire as doubts grow about her viability in the general election, her struggle to unify Democrats around her candidacy continues to burden her campaign with November fast approaching.
Asked by host Andy Watchorn her response to a recent report in Bridge Magazine that a group of Detroit Democrats led by Mayor Mike Duggan were looking for other people to run for governor, “because you’re out state and you’re not going to be able to mobilize Detroit,’ Whitmer responded quickly.
‘For anyone to say that there’s not enthusiasm, they’re not paying attention — Mayor Duggan is going to be on board in short order,’ she said…
‘This is earlier and bigger than anyone’s ever done before,’ she said. ‘This is not just about one mayor, but about the people of the state–we need leaders focused on fixing problems rather than demonizing everyone who doesn’t see the world the same way.’
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