On December 4, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said he will run as an independent candidate for Governor Michigan in 2026. He has been a Democrat, but Detroit has non-partisan elections for city office. Michigan doesn’t have registration by party so there is no formal way to determine if he is now a Democrat or an independent, except by his public statements.

He will be hampered because Michigan has a straight-ticket device. Michigan is one of only 24 states that has never elected anyone Governor other than the Democratic or Republican nominee, in all the years since the Civil War. The others are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

The Kentucky Secretary of State has released the official vote tallies, including the write-ins for the declared write-in presidential candidates. For the candidates who were on the ballot in at least one state, Peter Sonski of the American Solidarity Party received 610; Claudia De la Cruz of the Party for Socialism & Liberation received 390; Cornel West received 174; Jay Bowman 31; Joseph Kishore of Socialist Equality had 8.

In 2020, the American Solidarity Party had received 408 presidential write-ins, and the Party for Socialism & Liberation had received 98. Thanks to Tony Roza for the link.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission has released the final tally of votes, including the write-ins for the declared write-in presidential candidates. The only declared write-in presidential candidate who was on the ballot in at least one state was Peter Sonski, of the American Solidarity Party. He received 561 votes. See the entire tally here.

Wisconsin has easy ballot access for presidential candidates in the general election, and it is rare for any write-in presidential candidate in Wisconsin to get many write-in votes, because all the candidates capable of polling a large number of write-ins are invariably on the ballot. A glaring exception was in 2020, when the Wisconsin Elections Commission kept Howie Hawkins, Green Party nominee, off the ballot because during his petition drive, his vice-presidential nominee had moved her residence, so that her address as listed on the petitions was incorrect. Hawkins got 1,089 write-ins in Wisconsin. That was the largest write-in total for a declared write-in presidential candidate in Wisconsin history. Thanks to Tony Roza for the link.

In 2020 the American Solidarity Party presidential nominee was on the ballot in Wisconsin. In 2016, it had write-in status in Wisconsin for president, and got 284 write-ins.