MI-GOV: Duggan (I) faces backlash for transgender athlete comment

Independent gubernatorial hopeful Mike Duggan is facing a backlash from Democrats for claiming, without any evidence, that members of his former party held up funding for K-12 schools to pass legislation allowing transgender students to compete on high school girls' sports teams.

The former Detroit mayor made the comments on Thursday before a friendly crowd at the Detroit Regional Chamber's Detroit Policy Conference, setting off fierce criticism from Democrats in the Legislature.

"I went up there where we were saying, put the money back in the schools. And we had people saying in the Democratic caucus, 'Well, I'm not going to put more money back into schools unless you pass my bill to guarantee that transgender athletes can play in girls' sports,'" Duggan said.

"And the leadership said, 'Wait, those are two different issues. Let's take them up separately.' And the moderate Democrats said, 'I can't vote for that bill.' And you have people on the left saying, 'Well, then I'm not voting for you here.'"



https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2026/01/31/detroit-mayor-mike-duggan-michigan-governor-faces-backlash-for-transgender-athlete-comment/88430918007/