In a two-party system, campaigning as an independent will only serve as a spoiler for Democrats

Let’s be very clear about this. If Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan runs for governor as an “independent,” it will hand the Republicans the governorship. Period.

All you need is elementary school math to figure this out. At least 40% of the electorate will vote reflexively for any Republican. They could nominate a cardboard cut-out and 40% of voters would still pull the “R” lever. Then when Betsy DeVos weighs in with her billionaire money, count on at least a few more percent. Let’s say the absolute minimum for any Republican candidate is 45%.

The simple math here is that a strong Democratic candidate, running alone under a unified Democratic Party, has an excellent shot at beating any Republican in 2026… especially given the likely bad taste from so many in response to President Donald Trump. (In that scenario, the out-of-state big money Republicans would write off Michigan and not pour in their millions into the campaign.)

But if the “non-Republican” vote is split by having another Democrat-type person running as a third party independent, a Republican could easily win the election with 45% of the vote! (Particularly since Duggan would largely draw votes from the Democratic stronghold of Detroit.) Moreover, that scenario would open the floodgates of out-of-state Republican billionaires to pour money into the campaign. (In fact, you can already see that much of Duggan’s campaign is being funded by Republican interests… in hopes of creating that three-candidate scenario.)

https://www.metrotimes.com/news/politics-elections/opinion-duggan-please-dont-hand-michigans-governorship-to-republicans/