When It Comes To Fundraisers, Duggan Is The Life Of The Party

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 10/28/2025) Every candidate's approach to raising money is a little different, but for independent gubernatorial candidate Mike Duggan, fundraising parties are where it's at. 

The Detroit Mayor has held 48 fundraisers so far in his gubernatorial bid, every one of them in Michigan and all but six in Southeast Michigan, the most of any candidate running for Michigan governor in 2026. 

Duggan's campaign finance report filed Monday with the Bureau of Elections has him grossing $3,251,579 and netting $3,125,630 from those 48 events, which is more than 71 percent of what he's raised in the entire campaign. 

A combined 1,567 people attended the events. Eighteen of them were held in Detroit. Nineteen were held during the last July 21-Oct. 20 reporting period. The others were before July 21. Seven of the fundraisers grossed at least $100,000. His largest was April 24 at the Bonstelle Theater in Detroit, where 112 people attended and $482,110 was grossed. 

He prefers to hold his events at the Detroit Athletic Club, country clubs and other standing event venues as opposed to private residences, unlike the leading Democratic candidate, Jocelyn Benson. 

The sitting Secretary of State has held 33 fundraisers during the campaign, but many of them are at private residences and most of them have been held out of state. In all, 14 have taken place in Michigan. She's had seven in California, three in Colorado, two in Illinois and one each in Washington D.C., Massachusetts, New York, Texas, Missouri and Oregon. One was done over Zoom. 

The hosts included the Los Angeles home of Jonathan Glickman, the former MGM president-turned producer, and his wife, TV writer Christy Callahan; old rock ‘n’ roller “Boogie” Bob Baldori; Hollywood entertainment industry consultant Steven Campeas and NBCUniversal Media Senior Vice President Jennifer Dominitz and CBS Executive Producer David Grae. 

In all, 1,550 people have attended her gatherings, where she's grossed $896,594 and netted $771,338, about 16 percent of what she's raised during her campaign. 

On the Republican side, Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton) has had the most fundraisers with 19, with 12 being in the first reporting period. Nesbitt has been partial to golf courses for his venues, most of which were in Southwest and West Michigan. The Senate Majority Leader has been in Birmingham, Macomb County and Genesee County to raise money. 

All of his fundraisers, like every fundraiser held by a Republican gubernatorial candidate, have been in Michigan. Former Rep./now lobbyist Frank Foster held one for him in Lansing back in June. He's reported grossing $507,235 with 1,082 attendees. 

Former Attorney General Mike Cox is reporting the next most with 15 fundraisers, with all but three coming from Southeast Michigan. Many of his are in restaurants or larger venues like a country club. He's averaging 27 people at the events, which have grossed him $169,525. He's not reporting any expenses from the events.  

Cox has raised $4.59 million, with $3.5 million coming from his own pocket, so the amount raised accounts for about 15 percent of the money he's raised from other people. 

Next up, U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Township) is reporting 14 fundraisers, but three of them were post-dated on his campaign finance report as events that are occurring after the reporting deadline ended Oct. 21. By the time the report was filed, he had held 11 of the events and four of those events took place this month with no information on how much money was raised. 

James only reported information from seven fundraisers, the biggest being an 85-person gathering at Dan DeVos's residence in Bay Harbor, which brought in $195,934. He also held an event in May at the Amway Grand that brought in $87,060 from 38 people.  

In all, James reports 455 people gave $589,477 at his events, but (again) information is incomplete at this point.  

James, the presumed frontrunner, has relied on a heavy national email/mail campaign to raise his money. Having run two congressional campaigns and two U.S. Senate campaigns in the last four cycles, James has a strong national network he's been able to tap into that doesn't make traditional fundraisers as necessary to bring in dollars. 

For the last reporting cycle, MIRS reported that James not only raised more money from other individuals than any other campaign, but also received more donations from more individuals than anyone else. Even though only 38% of his donors were from Michigan, he still reported more Michigan donors than anyone else, as well. 

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II has done six fundraisers, four in Michigan, one in Washington D.C. and a small, 16-person event in New York. His best-attended gathering was one his mother, Yvonne Gilchrist, threw for him at her home earlier this month that brought in 110 people. He's raised $84,318 with 213 total people attending all six of his events. 

Former House Speaker Tom Leonard has held six fundraisers, all of them in Michigan. He held one at his DeWitt home prior to this reporting period, but the other five were in the third quarter report. He listed 207 people attending and contributing $40,126 in gross receipts. 

The other big-named candidate, Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson has held four fundraisers, but only one in the last three months. He's raised $124,915 from 166 attendees. Two of the four events have been in his home in Genesee County. A third was a 35-person affair in Dearborn where he netted $4,350 and another event at Bingham Farms where he reported $30,300 raised from 50 attendees. 

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