Detroit mayoral candidate Mike Duggan has survived an opponent’s attempt to get him kicked off the ballot—for now.
The challenge from opponent Tom Barrow cited language in the new Detroit city charter—and questioned whether Duggan met residency criteria to run for mayor.
Duggan moved to Detroit from suburban Livonia and registered to vote in mid-April, 2012.
The revised city charter requires a candidate to have lived in the city for “at least one year at the time they file for office.”
Barrow says Duggan officially filed to run when he turned in his candidate petitions in early April, 2013—and that should make him ineligible.
But Duggan’s lawyers argued the charter language refers to the filing deadline, which was in mid-May--and that Duggan met that criteria.
Ultimately, that argument prevailed, and the Detroit election commission certified Duggan’s named on the August primary ballot by a 2-1 vote.
That means there are a total of 14 mayoral candidates on that primary ballot--even while the city has an emergency manager, Kevyn Orr.
Afterwards, Duggan—considered a front-runner--called the whole situation a distraction with obvious political motivations.
“There are some people in this race who don’t want to compete against me at the ballot box,” Duggan said.
However, might not be resolved quite yet. Barrow said he’ll consider taking the matter to Wayne County Circuit Court.
