The Michigan Democratic Party is led by a former state senator who is earning a reputation for battling one of his party’s biggest rivals heading into the November 2026 elections.
He’s made headlines for calling out Mike Duggan, the former Detroit mayor who left the party to run as an independent, for his attacks against the Democratic Party during his unconventional run for governor.
Hertel won the chair in an election among party members on Feb. 22, 2025, at a state convention in Detroit. He replaced Lavora Barnes, who led the party since 2019. Barnes, the first Black Michigan party chair, chose not to seek another term following the 2024 election.
Hertel said he doesn’t blame Americans for the state of the country under President Donald Trump’s return, instead criticizes Democrats for failing to clearly illustrate the stakes to voters in previous election.
“We have to have a better message,” Hertel said. “We have to run better campaigns. We got to not take people for granted. We have work to do.”
The Michigan Democratic Party launched a new digital ad campaign last week blaming ex-Detroit Mayor Duggan for mismanaging the ongoing demolition site dirt scandal health experts say pose risks to residents.
The party has taken aim at Duggan under Hertel with a flurry press statements and billboard campaign in Detroit that suggested, “Duggan (loves) MAGA Money.”
Politicos say Duggan’s candidacy poses a risk to the Democratic Party, whose voters are more likely to cast ballots for Duggan than voters on the Republican side.
Michigan Chronicle sat down with Hertel last week at the Democratic Party office building on Woodward Avenue, which he says is part of their ramped up focus on attracting quality Black candidates.
The Michigan Democratic Party has faced criticism from grassroots members for the lack of Black candidates party delegates have nominated to statewide offices in recent years. Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, after dropouts from Deputy Secretary Aghogho Edevbie and former state Sen. Adam Hollier, is be the only Black candidate of those running for attorney general, governor and secretary of state.
Former Secretary of State Richard Austin was the first Black person to hold that position in any U.S. state and is also the only elected to any statewide office in Michigan except for the Supreme Court.
With the rise of Black Republican U.S. House Rep. John James, who is running to be the Republican nominee for governor, the difficulty Black candidates face has been an issue within some Black Democratic circles and allied members of the party.
“We’re doing training and candidate programs. We’re trying to build people from the ground up so that we’re making investments early in people. And I think that’s what has to change. I think that for far too long, the people have a right to feel ignored. We showed up in Detroit a month before an election and asked people for their votes. To me, that wasn’t actually authentic. It wasn’t actually real. We weren’t part of their communities. And so we have a lot of work to do.”
Question: We’re here in Detroit, where you grew up and where your family entered politics… How did that shape you?
“I grew up on the east side of Detroit, and if you live in the right neighborhood on the east side of Detroit, my dad was your state rep, John was your state senator, my uncle Dennis was your congressman, my first memories are going door to door in a little red wagon. I do think that watching the way they served inspired me in the sense that my dad was a people person. He was a collector of people.
I still have constituents of his that will randomly call me and ask me for help on issues because he was so close to the people that he represented, and watching him be able to navigate politics would be difficult. I mean, he served in a really interesting time in Michigan, half Republicans and half Democrats, and you had to work together to get things done.
And really that’s the way politics should be. I think that I serve with some great people in the Legislature that were Republicans. I think that, unfortunately, the Republican Party has changed significantly, and that makes it harder to get to a place where where we can find compromise. But it’s that balance of trying to do the right thing while also believing that the Democratic Party is a force for good in the world, and that the things that we’re fighting for, the things that are sold, that we are party working people and making people’s lives better is also essential to who I am.”
Q: It’s interesting you say that given your resistance to Mayor Mike Duggan’s gubernatorial campaign…
Hertel: “What Mike’s trying to do is have a campaign that’s largely about nothing. I mean, when you really talk about issues and everything else, he talks a lot about grievances. You know, he’s upset about the things that we do, but on the big topics of the day, like the cuts to Medicaid that happens to people that are actually hurting, the Michiganders — Duggan said they’re not that bad, because he wants to get some Trump votes. And I just think that’s not the reality of the situation that we’re in.
I think that you look at what people are experiencing right now; the risk of hospital closures, the doubling of the Affordable Care Act rates, it’s not time to be cozying up to those that are willing to (support) that. If a Republican wants to work on workers rights and increase wages for people, and lower costs for people, and take on corporations, that are that’s fine. We can have that conversation. But I don’t think that Mike’s actually having that conversation in this race… He is only doing this because of his he felt like he couldn’t win a Democratic primary, and so far, he’s not acting. He’s tapping to the right because he realizes in order win he has to do that… He has refused to take Donald Trump on, you know, he has celebrated Elon Musk. He has refused to condemn Medicaid cuts.”
Q: We just saw Aghogho Edevbie and Adam Hollier drop out of the secretary of state race, to seemingly make room for Garlin Gilchrist. Why is it so hard for Black candidates seeking statewide office in Michigan?
Hertel: “When I look at our Michigan I think we have a lot of things changing. I mean, Sarah Anthony is the Democratic lead out appropriations, another appropriations chair, but I get one vote of convention like everybody else. Yeah. You know, Joe Tate was the first Black speaker of the house in the first speaker of the house. I was proud to call (Tate) Speaker, since my father is from the same neighborhood. So I do think things are changing. It doesn’t mean they change fast enough. And I do understand that frustration.
I would say that the secretary of state’s position is probably one of the best places to long term run for governor, and so I do think that’s that there’s a reality of that. Garlin made the decision on his own, Garlin wasn’t pushed to do anything. I think he realized this was the best option for him. But I, you know, I also think that you have to, we have to build something. It would be, it would be great just to snap our fingers and change what’s happening.
I came into this office in last February, and what I can tell you is that we bled everywhere. Last election. We bled in Dearborn, we bled in Detroit, but we also bled in 79 of 83 counties. And the most common thing that I heard as I traveled the state was that people felt abandoned.”
Q: Do you think the racial discrimination lawsuit against Jocelyn Benson’s office could hurt her with voters?
Hertel: “I think that Jocelyn Benson has a strong history of fighting for civil rights. And I think when you look at her and her soul, that people will see that. And I think the history of what Jocelyn has done for both voting rights and civil rights in this country will speak to voters, and at the end of the day, we have to have an economic message that actually speaks to everybody in the state and those that are falling behind, then that will be the thing that people will decide when they come to the election.”
Q: Do you get emotional watching the news or the state of the world? How do you handle it?
Hertel: “As somebody who has given my life to public service and who still believes in the promise of what America can be for people and the government can make people’s lives better, to watch our Open Government treat its citizens that way. It’s disgusting. And you talk about a VA nurse, you know, who was just trying to defend a woman who was being mace for just trying to stand up. We, as a country, I believe are better than this. Now, I am an optimistic person. I am. I have four kids. That makes you an optimist.
What I’m inspired by is the people that are willing to still go out, go out and protest, go out and fight, go out and knock doors, go out and make calls — in Iron County, Michigan, they haven’t been a Democratic Party more than a decade. We had 50 people on bar as we launched Iron County Democrats back… They have a Democratic Party again. So I get to see people that despite the loss, despite everything happening in this country, despite why many people would say, why would I keep working? I get to get around and see the actual blood, sweat and tears that people are going to put in to change this country.”
