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Brett Brockschmidt
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Brett Brockschmidt ran for election for Mayor of Lansing in Michigan. He lost in the primary on August 5, 2025.
Brockschmidt completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Brett Brockschmidt was born in Michigan. He earned a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University in 1986. Brockschmidt's career experience includes working as a business administrator.[1]
Elections
2025
See also: Mayoral election in Lansing, Michigan (2025)
General election
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
General election for Mayor of Lansing
Incumbent Andy Schor and Kelsea Hector are running in the general election for Mayor of Lansing on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | ||
 | Andy Schor (Nonpartisan) | |
| Kelsea Hector (Nonpartisan) | ||
| ||||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of Lansing
Incumbent Andy Schor and Kelsea Hector defeated Jeffrey Brown, Brett Brockschmidt, and David Ellis in the primary for Mayor of Lansing on August 5, 2025.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Andy Schor (Nonpartisan) | 63.8 | 9,230 |
| ✔ | Kelsea Hector (Nonpartisan) | 16.0 | 2,312 | |
| Jeffrey Brown (Nonpartisan) | 8.5 | 1,228 | ||
| Brett Brockschmidt (Nonpartisan) | 7.6 | 1,105 | ||
| David Ellis (Nonpartisan) | 4.1 | 597 | ||
| Total votes: 14,472 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Maria Koutsoukos (Nonpartisan)
Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
Campaign themes
2025
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Brett Brockschmidt completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Brockschmidt's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I've been a poll worker for 20 years, 15 in San Francisco (5 years as Precinct Captain), & 5 years as a Poll Inspector here in Lansing. I've also worked for other people's campaigns, and normally prefer to be in the background, but felt so strongly about Schor's poor leadership, about how many people seemed to want change, and the lack of competent opponents, that I joined the race.
I've always championed underdogs, & those less fortunate than myself. I came from a lower middle class family, & had to work my way through college, luckily in a unionized meat-packing plant. I've worked hard for what I have, & know how hard life can be for those with lower incomes.
I was born & raised in Grand Rapids, MI. I hold a degree in Financial administration from MSU, also had enough credits for a degree in Economics, or Philosophy.
I worked for multiple large corporations in management positions, including Air Freight, Manufacturing, Securities Compliance & Project Management at BofA; then, tired of corporate politics, then spent 20 years in small business consulting, in San Francisco.
- Higher property taxes mean higher rents, AND, for those on fixed, &/or lower incomes, to neglected home maintenance & eventually being taxed out of their homes. This needs to stop.
It’s time to CUT Lansing budgets, focusing on FULLY staffing NECESSARY services. Far too many vacancies in CRUCIAL departments (fire, police, parks, sanitation, street cleaning/plowing), go unfilled, despite annual promises to fill them & the money budgeted for those jobs then frivolously spent elsewhere.
- For 8 years, Schor has promised to fill the $1.5 MILLION in budgeted LFD (3), LPD (25) + park & sanitation vacancies; instead using the money on his own bloated staff & pet projects. THIS (election) year, the council added 2 more LFD positions, (plus a financial analyst for their own staff), which will likely also not be filled, meaning another $250k will likely disappear into the budget, from what was supposed to be a “contingency fund” (storm clean-up?); AND robbed the “rainy day fund” of yet another &130k for a sustainability grant writer. I’m not opposed to sustainability, BUT, considering, we have yet to onboard the 3 positions from the Bloomberg Grant, this position is redundant.
- Lansing wastes $150,000 on each "off-year" election, AND, due to voter apathy, oft burdens us with mediocre city officials elected by only 15% of voters. Dollars are also wasted on: "planning & development" for things we can't afford, subsidizing failing businesses via "façade grants,” unnecessary new buildings, & other "feel good" projects; pandering to small constituencies & big donors. All this waste means the city can't afford to prevent homelessness, help those who are, & robs those with lower incomes of any hope of improvement in their quality of life.
1. Freezing property taxes. 2 Actually filling & thus fully staffing CRUCIAL departments, such as the LFD, LPD, Parks, Sanitation, Road maintenance/ plowing/cleaning. 3. Raising fees on those who can afford it, lowering fees for those who can't. 4. Revitalizing downtown, beginning by rolling back parking fees. 5. Housing for everyone, not just the middle class & above. 6. Lobbying the State to give municipalities more control over their own sales & income taxes, including, but not limited to instituting tax brackets that give relief to lower & middle class families.
Jimmy Carter was, almost singularly, the one national figure that professed to be a Christian, and actually exemplified the grace, compassion & empathy that all Christian's should strive for.
No single source could do it justice
Integrity, honesty, compassion & empathy, listening to & then advocating for constituents, forgoing my own opinions for theirs, being a champion for the underdog.
Lansing is a city under financial duress. Being a Businessman, rather than a professional politician, or lawyer. I feel I'm better suited to analyze the finances & management SOP to improve city efficacy, while holding down skyrocketing property taxes. . .
Fiscal responsibility, responsive management, being a lobbyist & ambassador for Lansing to the State & prospective businesses.
A safe, vibrant city where the infrastructure (roads, sidewalks, parks) is restored, people & property are safe, trust in government & it's transparency, where ALL people feel welcome & desire to live here.
I always lived in the shadow of the Viet Nam War, but specifically, Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination at age 7. Even as a child, I had high hopes for the success of the Civil Rights movement, and still do, despite recent setbacks.
Grand Rapids Press Paper Boy from age 10 thru 17
Mobility issues
The Mayor is responsible for collecting voter's concerns, prioritizing them, in the most efficient manner possible, while maintaining personal & professional integrity. The Mayor represents & forms policy & budgets for the benefit of ALL residents, NOT just donors, one political party, nor specific interest groups.
Though that is not now the case, should the Charter change; the Mayor would then be in charge of strategic planning, presenting relevant, transparent, & fiscally responsible budgets, lobbying the State on Lansing's benefit; and luring new businesses to the city, especially those that offer incentives for their employees to actually live in Lansing, as well as work here.
The same as if there was a city manager, while also supervising the managers of all departments & constant comparison of actual expenditures to budget.
The people: their perseverance, strength, compassion, and their love for Lansing.
Fiscal responsibility & increased financial transparency; increasing revenue, but not via property taxes that are already amongst highest in the state.
Symbiotic, we are dependent on each other for survival, & I'd like to create an environment in which state workers to WANT to return to work downtown.
Our city could both do a bretter job of supporting the police, by filling the 23 empty positions, while insuring that new officers are screened for deescalation skills & cultural sensitivity.
Paramount. All meetings should be either open to, or filmed for the public, all documents easily available. Lansing's website needs to be totally revamped to facilitate this.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2025 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 11, 2025
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