The race for governor is heating up as two candidates from Detroit announced endorsements from Teamsters this week.
Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and independent Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan both announced endorsements from Michigan Teamsters on Tuesday.
While the Michigan Teamsters Joint Council 43 endorsed Duggan for governor, an initial release from Duggan’s campaign Tuesday incorrectly indicated that the endorsement was on behalf of its 10 local affiliate unions. The campaign issued a correction shortly afterward.
Benson announced early Wednesday morning she had been endorsed by five of ten affiliated locals that represent a majority of Michigan Teamsters, including Teamster Locals 406, 243, 283, 1038 and 247.
Her campaign says the five Teamsters unions represent a majority of Teamsters members across the state.
Teamsters represent nurses, truck drivers, package deliverers and other public employees.
“Teamsters aren’t messing around with the anti-worker, corporate-owned Mayor of Detroit,” Teamsters Local 1038 president Greg Nowak said in a statement. “We’re standing with Jocelyn Benson. She’s not backed by billionaires or dark money lobbyists like those who are backing her opponents, she’s backed by truck drivers, nurses, mechanics, teachers, warehouse workers, and first responders — the people who clock in every day and hold this state together. We’re the engine behind Michigan’s economy, and it’s about damn time we had someone in the governor’s office who understands that.”
Benson has picked up labor support from the Michigan Laborers Council, UFCW Local 951 and 876, West Michigan Plumbers, PipeFitters, and HVAC Service UA Local 174, and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA.
The Michigan Teamsters Joint Council 43 said its endorsement of Duggan was the first time in the organization’s history it is backing an independent for governor. The Detroit based union endorsed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, in 2018 and 2022.
Its president says Duggan would change the dynamics of the state’s politics as governor.
“Mike Duggan will work with any party or no party to get work done,” Michigan Teamsters Joint Council 43 president Kevin Moore said. “He wants to work for every single person in Michigan – and you can count on it. He has values and trust in his word. Mike Duggan has an honor code, and he will work great with labor and business.”
“I’ve known you 35 years, I’ve watched your whole career. We’re not only partners, we’re friends,” Moore said in a video posted to Duggan’s Instagram.
Also running for governor as a Democrat is Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, who is also from Detroit.
Swanson was also endorsed by a Teamsters union, Teamsters Local 332.
Republican gubernatorial candidates include U.S. Rep. John James, former House Speaker Tom Leonard, State Sen. Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt and former Attorney General Mike Cox.
“I’m incredibly grateful to have so many of the Teamsters locals and a majority of the Michigan members standing with me in my campaign to be Michigan’s next governor,” Benson said in a statement. “This campaign is, and always has been, about the people. It’s about making sure the people who power our state’s economy and have built their families here, can afford to live in Michigan and thrive. Where you have access to high-paying jobs, can afford to raise your family, buy a home, and retire with dignity. And where you always have a seat at the table in a Benson administration. Teamsters are always ready to fight for workplace safety and fair wages and as Governor, I’ll always be ready to fight with them. Let’s go. ”
These five Michigan Teamsters locals join a growing coalition of labor unions in support of Jocelyn Benson for Governor, including Michigan Laborers Council, UFCW Local 951 and 876, West Michigan Plumbers, PipeFitters, and HVAC Service UA Local 174, and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA.
Duggan’s opponents used his campaign’s incorrect announcement as an opportunity to criticize him.
“Duggan is a liar and his narcissism is boundless,” state Rep. Joey Andrews, D-St. Joseph, said on social media. “He thought he could just say he had the support of the Teamsters statewide when he didn’t have it.”
Quenneville, who lives in Sterling Heights, says locals were blindsided by the Duggan announcement.
“No one knew anything — I never received word from the Joint Council. Never received a call to find out who we were endorsing,” Scott Quenneville of Teamsters Local 243 told Michigan Chronicle. “It was completely hidden on purpose because they knew we were with Benson all along. I don’t know what the reason is for Kevin, but my people were asking me why we would vote for a person who battled against the Teamsters as the CEO of the hospital?”
As a mayoral candidate in 2013, Duggan’s campaign denied that he was resistant to DMC nurses’ efforts to organize as the CEO of the Detroit hospital.
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