10 Things You Didn't Know About Mike Duggan
The city of Detroit is the largest in the state of Michigan and a major hub in the USA-Canada border. It is an important industrial center in the United States and boasts of diverse culture from music to the arts. At the helm of Detroit is Mike Duggan, who is the mayor of the populous city. According to Wikipedia, his election in 2013 garnered him national attention as he was the first white mayor of the majority-black city. The last time the city had a white mayor was in the 1970s. If are interested in knowing this mayor, stick on as we present you with ten things you probably did not know about him.
1. Growing Up
Mike Duggan was born on July 15th 1958 making him 61 years presently. He is a native Detroiter, having been born and raised in the city. He spent his first six years on the west side of Detroit, in Stansbury Street, before moving to Livonia, situated to the northwest of the city. Here, he spent much of his life including adulthood.
2. His Parents
Mike's parents were Patrick. J. Duggan and Joan Colosimo. His father was a senior United States district judge for the district court of Eastern Michigan. He served in office from 1986 to 2000 after his appointment by President Ronald Reagan. He died in March 18th 2020 at the age of 86. His mother worked as an assistant to Edward McNamara when he was mayor of Livonia. Later on, she ran for the mayoral seat in 1987, where she got the distinction of being the first woman to do so.
3. His Ethnicity
Duggan is of Irish ancestry from his father’s side. His paternal granddad emigrated from Kilkenny, Ireland and settled in Detroit when he was 18 years old. His paternal grandmother had German and Irish ancestry, which makes him more Irish when you look at his ethnicity.
4. Schooling
The present Detroit mayor attended schools around his neighborhood in Detroit. He schooled at the Detroit Catholic Central High School, a private all-male college preparatory school, located in Novi, Michigan. Among the school's alumni include Bryan Gruley, an author for the Wall Street Journal and Bernard White, a film director. After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Michigan, where graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1980. He followed up with a Juris Doctor degree from the university’s law school in 1983.
5. Entry Into The Professional World
After he graduated from law school, Mike Duggan went on to serve as an elected official in Wayne County in 1986. During this time he worked as the assistant corporation counsel, where he brought his legal expertise to play in handling several affairs of the county. A year later, he became deputy County Executive, working under the then-mayor of Livonia, Edward McNamara. He served in this position for fourteen years, until 2001, when he got elected as a prosecutor.
6. His Stint at the Helm of Detroit Medical Center
After serving for years in the legal sector, Mike made a turn and went on to serve as the CEO of Detroit Medical Center in 2004. It was initially a nonprofit organization, which was an alliance of several medical centers around the greater Michigan region. According to Crain’s Detroit, Mike took the steering wheel of the organization intending to rejuvenate it after a string of losses from 1998 to 2003. He turned the fortunes of the company and even oversaw its acquisition by Vanguard Health Systems Inc in 2010. It was a $1.5 billion deal, which cemented the reputation of the future Detroit mayor as one of the organizations standout CEOs.
7. Running for the Mayoral Seat
Mike Duggan resigned from the CEO position he held at Detroit Medical Center in 2012, with his eyes set on the mayoral seat. He moved from Livonia to the Detroit City, where he would concentrate his campaigns. He failed to make it to the ballot as his filings failed to amount to a year after establishing residency, which is a requirement. He opted for a write-in campaign, resulting in a 52% vote acquisition in the August 2012 primaries. Running with the slogan ‘Every neighborhood has a future’ he battled for the seat against Benny Napoleon. In the November election, he gained 55% of the vote, making him the first white mayor of the city in almost four decades. He got re-elected as mayor in the 2017 elections with a 72% landslide win.
8. Accusations Of Corruption
Despite Mike Duggan being a popular political leader, he is not immune to the challenges that come with holding a public office. He has come across a lot of problems, the recent being his corruption accusations. According to the Detroit Free Press, the mayor is facing allegations of giving preferential treatment to a local medical program. While the reports are unconfirmed at the moment, they will be a dark spot on his tenure as mayor.
9. His Family
Mike Duggan grew up along his four brothers, one of whom, Robert Duggan, passed away. His father was a famous judge and passed on in March 2020. He married Mary Loretto Maher and were in an over three-decade union until their divorce in 2019. The separation came amid claims of infidelity from Mike. The couple has four adult children.
10. Social Media Presence
The Detroit leader is present on major social media platforms, which are Twitter and Facebook. He joined Twitter in September 2012 and has 38.5k followers presently and is very active, tweeting on current matters happening in his city. He has over 27k followers on Facebook, a platform, which he uses to get in touch with his supporters.
Final Remark:
Mike Duggan is the Motor City mayor, a position which he took by surprise and got the recognition as the first white mayor in almost forty years. He is popular with his electorates and lets his track record speak on his behalf. Above are ten things you probably did not know about this democrat politician.
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Written by Allen Lee
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