Green Bay's council president is running for the open mayor's office, setting up an April 2027 contest with former four-term Mayor Jim Schmitt after Eric Genrich chose not to seek a third term.
Green Bay Common Council President Alyssa Proffitt formally launched a campaign for mayor Friday, setting up a contest with former Mayor Jim Schmitt for the office Eric Genrich will leave in April.1,2 Proffitt, who represents District 7, made the announcement at Joannes Park, the neighborhood where she lives with her husband and their two children.2,3 She and Schmitt are the only declared candidates for the nonpartisan seat, which voters will fill April 6, 2027.1,4
Proffitt told WBAY she wants more affordable housing options in Green Bay and more help from the state and Brown County to pay for repairs to city roads.1 In a written statement, she credited Genrich with setting a direction for the city and said there's more to do to keep Green Bay a place "where working people and their families can thrive" and small businesses can grow.1,2
Proffitt won her council seat in 2024 and is now in her second two-year term.2,3 She became council president in 2026 after the previous president, Brian Johnson, chose not to seek reelection to his District 9 seat.3,9 Johnson, president and CEO of On Broadway Inc., had been viewed as a possible 2027 mayoral candidate before he stepped away.9 Vice President Bill Galvin also left the council, and newcomers Ben DeBaker and Jon Shelton won the two open seats in April.10
Asked what she offers that Schmitt doesn't, Proffitt pointed to her career outside government. She said she doesn't have a political history but has held "high-level executive leadership positions" in her professional life, which she described as a fresh perspective on an office she hasn't held before.1 She said she was born and raised in the Green Bay area and called the city her home.2
Schmitt was mayor from 2003 to 2019, four terms that make him the longest-serving mayor in the city's history.4,6 He announced his comeback Aug. 17 at the CityDeck, about six weeks before Genrich made his own plans public.6,7 Schmitt has been working at New Community Shelter, and he built much of his launch around homelessness, along with transparency at City Hall, cutting red tape for development, making home ownership easier and improving education.6 The city's biography of Schmitt credits his tenure with downtown development, budgets below state limits and an expansion of the KI Convention Center.7
Earlier this month, Schmitt told WTAQ he wants to hold homeless-service agencies accountable for staying open all year, something the city doesn't control as there is no government-run homeless shelters in Green Bay. He named economic development as another top priority.8 On Friday he said he wished Proffitt well and respected anyone willing to take on a demanding job. He said he'd spend the months before April arguing that he has "the experience and plans to lead this city from day one."1
Schmitt's candidacy runs through a rule he helped create. While he was mayor, Green Bay adopted term limits that bar anyone from serving as mayor or on the council for more than 12 consecutive years, and Schmitt has said a former officeholder can return after the mandatory break.4,6 His record also includes a 2016 guilty plea to misdemeanor charges involving election fraud and unlawful political contributions. WPR reported that he accepted contributions over the legal limits, wrongly attributed some donations and failed to accurately record campaign finance data.5
Genrich, a Democrat who served three terms in the state Assembly before winning the mayor's office in 2019, was reelected in 2023.4,5 He announced Oct. 1 that he wouldn't seek a third term and gave no reason.4 His statement pointed to new housing built "at a clip not seen in decades" and a faster pace of infrastructure repair.4,11 Genrich declined a FOX 11 interview request Tuesday and said he'd comment later.3 Schmitt told FOX 11 he believed it was a family decision.4
The last open race, in 2019, drew eight candidates to the primary, Genrich among them.4 This one could grow too. State Rep. Rivera-Wagner, who was Genrich's chief of staff, told WTAQ he's committed to his own reelection campaign and will announce a decision on the mayor's race after the Nov. 3 election.8 He said another Schmitt term would be a step backward for Green Bay and that the city needs "new voices in the conversation."8 Rivera-Wagner is in a rematch for Assembly District 90 this fall.
Ethan Rouse
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