DETROIT – Mike Duggan said he will fight a judge's decision to remove his name from the August primary ballot for the Detroit mayoral election.
At a press conference Wednesday, the ex-Detroit Medical Center chief said he's taking his case to the Court of Appeals.
"Mayoral campaigns have to go through a lot of struggles. That's just the nature of it," Duggan said. "Like many others before me, I'm just going to have to deal with another obstacle."
Mayoral candidate Tom Barrow sued to have Duggan's name pulled from the ballot. Barrow says Duggan wasn't registered long enough as a city voter when he filed petitions for the mayor's race.
"This is the nature of the business. If you're not willing to fight through adversity, you have no business running for mayor of Detroit," Duggan said.
READ: Tom Barrow's response to Duggan appeal
Duggan gave the example of Rahm Emanuel, who left President Barack Obama's staff to run for mayor in Chicago. Emanuel was taken off the ballot for a residency challenge.
"He fought it on appeal, got it reversed, got reinstated on the ballot and, as you know, won the election in Chicago in the 2011 election in a landslide," Duggan said.
The Court of Appeals received Duggan's appeal Wednesday afternoon, said Michigan Supreme Court spokeswoman Leslie Jenkins.
--Tom Barrow
Duggan is considered one of the leading candidates to succeed first-term Mayor Dave Bing, who announced he will not seek re-election.
Duggan said he has more than 4,000 volunteers for his campaign.
"We are just going to keep going," he said.