Jeff Schrag elected mayor

Last edited 9:59 p.m., April 8, 2025 [Editor's note: Quotes from Jeff Schrag and Mary Collette have been added.]

Businessperson Jeff Schrag has been elected as the next mayor of Springfield.

Schrag won with 61.5% of the vote, according to the unofficial election results from Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller's office that list all precincts reporting. Mayoral candidate Mary Collette, a businessperson noted as a champion of Commercial Street, received 38.5% of the vote.

"We raised the second most money in the last decade of any successful candidate for mayor of Springfield, but we spent the second least amount. That's because we watch every dime; I watch it like it's my own money and I'm going to watch your tax dollars the same way," Schrag said at an election watch party tonight at Mother's Brewing Co. "The thing that I'm proudest of is both I and Mary Collette ran positive campaigns, showing that you can do this in a very positive manner."

In an interview before the first results were reported, Collette said she was pleased with the grassroots race she ran.

“I did not raise a bunch of money – that’s not what my campaign was about,” she said. “My campaign was resting on my laurels a little bit and making sure people remembered the experience I have and the work that I’ve done, and that if they want me to continue that, they’re going to have to vote for me and put me in office.”

Voters also delivered decisions on two contested Springfield City Council seats and two positions on the Springfield Public Schools Board of Education.

For council’s Zone 4 seat, challenger Bruce Adib-Yazdi defeated incumbent Matthew Simpson, with voting tallies reported at 57% and 43%, respectively.

Incumbent Heather Hardinger won council's General Seat A race, with 60% of the vote. Challenger Eric Pauly received 40% of the vote.

Zone 1 incumbent Monica Horton and General Seat B incumbent Craig Hosmer were on today's ballot but ran unopposed and kept their seats.

For the SPS board, voters were asked to pick two of four candidates. The winning candidates are Sarah Hough and Gail Smart, who received 29% and 28% of the vote tally, respectively.

Candidates Kelly Byrne and David Myers received 23% and 20%, respectively.

Springfield’s next mayor
Schrag will be sworn in, along with other council members, at the April 21 meeting. He will serve a four-year term succeeding Ken McClure.

Ahead of the election, Schrag said the strengths he’d bring to the role as mayor is a diversified background in all areas of the city.

“I’ve lived or owned property in all four zones of the city; I’ve built and rehabbed buildings; I’ve built businesses and bought businesses,” he said. “The notion that I could be mayor for all of Springfield and that I come with an understanding of lots of different disciplines, I believe, is the greatest strength I bring to the table.”

Schrag is perhaps best known as founder of Mother’s Brewing Co., where he continues as minority owner.

He said a goal in the role will be listening to residents on the developments they want in neighborhoods and helping streamline communication and timelines for developers.

Asked what more the city could do to attract business and industry, Schrag said it must be made easier in the city of Springfield to get a building permit and a certificate of occupancy.

“If I can do something to affect those two things in a positive manner, I will consider myself a huge success as mayor,” he said.

When asked if the city should pursue any specific industries, Schrag said not necessarily.

“I’m a small businessperson, so I believe that chasing large businesses isn’t necessarily the best thing you can do,” he said. “Taking care of your homegrown businesses, that’s where the job growth is – that’s where the job creation is.”

Helping a business to stay and grow in Springfield is preferable to luring big companies from the outside with tax incentives, he said.

Schrag added that livable neighborhoods are also a crucial part of the economic development mix.

“Businesses are comprised of people, and people liking where they live, liking their neighborhood – that really helps, too,” he said.

He added one issue that is very important to him is the three-quarter-cent sales tax approved by voters in November and going into effect this month.

He said he would like to emulate the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area Projects capital improvement program to upgrade the city without incurring debt. That program gets vast resident input for the use of tax funds, he said.

Public safety is another big issue for Schrag, and a necessary one for the city to become an employer of choice.

“If people don’t feel safe, nothing else works,” he said.

Expanded Election Day coverage is planned in Springfield Business Journal’s April 9 Daily Update and April 14 print edition.