The two-term west side alder and former YWCA chief says she'll decide in the coming days. Her entry would make it a three-way race with Alyssa Proffitt and Jim Schmitt, with Amaad Rivera-Wagner still deciding.
Green Bay Alder Kathy Hinkfuss is considering a run for mayor and expects to announce a decision in the coming days, she told WBAY Wednesday. If she files, she'd join Council President Alyssa Proffitt and former Mayor Jim Schmitt in the race for the seat Mayor Eric Genrich leaves in April, enough candidates to send voters to a February primary.
Hinkfuss said people across the political spectrum have urged her to run and that she'll talk it over with her family first. She pointed to her work in the nonprofit sector, her leadership at a Fortune 200 company and her time on the Common Council, and said she wants to continue the work Genrich started.
Hinkfuss represents District 12 on the city's far west side. She was first elected in 2024 to the seat Ald. Jesse Brunette gave up that year, and she held it this April, beating Dustin Roeser 1,291 votes to 962 in unofficial returns. Her résumé on BallotReady lists her as CEO of the YWCA Green Bay-De Pere from 2011 to 2015, with earlier executive jobs at Humana and UnitedHealthcare and an MBA from UW-Oshkosh.
Hinkfuss has run for partisan office before. As the Democratic nominee in 2020, she lost the 4th Assembly District to Republican Rep. David Steffen, 53% to 47%. The mayor's race is nonpartisan.
Running for council in 2024, Hinkfuss told the Press-Gazette that reassessments had pushed up property taxes for west side families, called a proposed transportation utility fee to replace the wheel tax a deal-breaker, and said cutting city services was off the table.
Hinkfuss and Proffitt landed on opposite sides of the council's biggest surveillance vote. In December 2025, the council approved a $1.3 million, five-year Flock Safety contract for two first-responder drones and continued license plate reader coverage. Hinkfuss seconded the motion, and it passed 10–2 after the council added a Law Department review of data security and outside access, according to the minutes. Proffitt and Ald. Joey Prestley voted no. Nearly a dozen residents raised privacy concerns at that meeting, NBC 26 reported.
In June, they split again. Hinkfuss voted to deny a proposal for a registry and escalating fees on long-vacant buildings, then voted against asking staff to draft it, the minutes show. It passed 6–5 with Proffitt in favor. Opponents argued existing rules already cover neglected properties and that the plan could hit owners facing medical or financial hardship, WBAY reported. Prestley, who requested it, said vacant properties push costs onto whole neighborhoods, according to WPR.
In July, she joined the 9–3 majority for a nonbinding economic and social bill of rights that lists a living wage, affordable housing, health care and collective bargaining as city commitments. Alds. Jennifer Grant, Melinda Eck and Bill Morgan voted no, per the minutes.
Last month, she sided with Grant, Morgan, Eck and Ald. Ben DeBaker in a failed 5–7 bid to delay a Comprehensive Plan amendment for land on Humboldt Road, then voted for the amendment when it passed 8–4, the September minutes show.
Jim Schmitt, mayor from 2003 to 2019, announced his comeback Aug. 17. He works at New Community Shelter and is running on homelessness, City Hall transparency, fewer regulations for developers, homeownership and schools.
Alyssa Proffitt, the District 7 alder and council president, launched her campaign Oct. 9 at Joannes Park. She works as an enterprise manager for a nonprofit health care organization and says she wants working families and small businesses to thrive. Fox Watershed covered her launch and Schmitt's campaign in our Oct. 10 report on the race.
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Amaad Rivera-Wagner, the Democratic state representative and Genrich's former chief of staff, told WTAQ he'll decide after the Nov. 3 election, when he faces Jessica Henderson in a rematch for his 90th Assembly District seat. He's said Schmitt's return would be a step backward.
Genrich, who announced Oct. 1 that he wouldn't seek a third term, isn't endorsing anyone for now but could before the election, WBAY reported. He told NBC 26 he's at peace with the decision and declined to say whether Schmitt fits his description of a future-focused leader.
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