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Mike Duggan (Campaign photo)
The battle between independent gubernatorial candidate Mike Duggan and the Democratic Party continues to play out.
The latest: The Detroit News reports that Democrats are claiming Duggan made up a comment on Thursday, saying members of his former party held up funding in Michigan for K–12 schools to pass legislation allowing transgender students to compete on high school girls' sports teams.
"I went up there where we were saying, put the money back in the schools. And we had people saying in the Democratic caucus, 'Well, I'm not going to put more money back into schools unless you pass my bill to guarantee that transgender athletes can play in girls' sports,'" Duggan said during a Q&A session at the Detroit Regional Chamber's Detroit Policy Conference.
"And the leadership said, 'Wait, those are two different issues. Let's take them up separately.' And the moderate Democrats said, 'I can't vote for that bill.' And you have people on the left saying, 'Well, then I'm not voting for you here.'"
Democrats, including Rep. Phil Skaggs of East Grand Rapids, pushed back on social media, according to The News:
"This NEVER HAPPENED. "Duggan’s just making things up," Skaggs posted on X. "A few months ago he said he left Democrats over cell phones in schools (but we passed it yesterday."
The News reports that Duggan's campaign wouldn't identify names of lawmakers who held up their votes on the education budget for a transgender athlete bill.
