Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

The Howell Area Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday welcomed Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan to speak at its annual Good Morning Livingston breakfast at Chemung Hills.

The longtime Democrat is now running as an independent for governor of Michigan, citing what he sees as a toxic political environment in Lansing and across the nation.

“As long as you can get 51 percent of the people to hate the other guy more than you, you win. And it’s getting more and more toxic,” he said. “So, as I’m looking at this, I’m saying to myself if I run for governor as a Democrat, I’m walking into the same system.”

“All of the Republicans are going to be against me because I’m a Democrat, and the leftwing of my party doesn’t like me very much anyway. I’m going to be a governor that’s not going to get anything done. There’s nothing in my life that makes me want to go up and have the trappings of the office and not be able to accomplish anything.”

Duggan focused most of the discussion on his administration’s accomplishments spurring small business growth in Detroit, rehabbing neighborhoods, reducing crime and unemployment.

“I turned Detroit around with a $2 billion a year budget. You think it’s hopeless in this state? The state of Michigan’s budget is $85 billion a year. Can you imagine what we could do as a state, competing with Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, for businesses with people, for the economy of the future, for our classrooms, if we all pulled together? The potential is enormous.”

Duggan asked attendees who contributed to a political campaign last cycle, showing data that campaign spending in Michigan has doubled in recent years, only resulting in a GOP-controlled Michigan House, and Democrat-controlled Senate.

“State law requires them to pass the budget by June 30. I will guarantee you with 100 percent certainty, the Republicans and Democrats in Lansing will not meet that deadline. They will break the law and they will miss it this summer,” he predicted.

“This is the road we’re on. So, I had to make a decision. Life would have been a lot easier for me. I could’ve run as a Democrat and been nominated for governor. It would have been a whole lot easier to win if I ran as a Democrat. But I didn’t want to win. I want to change the direction of this state.”