Meet the candidates for Galesburg mayor

It’s a rematch of sorts in the race for Galesburg mayor.

Incumbent Peter Schwartzman is seeking a second term in the April 1 consolidated election. He’s facing former mayor John Pritchard, who previously served two terms in the role.

Four years ago, Schwartzman won the mayoral election in a three-way race against then-incumbent Pritchard and fellow challenger Kristine Crow with 47% of the vote.

We asked Schwartzman and Pritchard why they’re running, why people should vote for them, what the most pressing issue is for Galesburg, and if the city is better or worse off than it was five years ago.

We also asked them about them about their backgrounds and community involvement.

Here’s what they had to say.

Age, as of April 1, 2025: 56

Campaign website and Facebook page:
www.mayorpeter.com/election2025
https://www.facebook.com/PeterSchwartzmanforMayor

Government experience: 14 years (10 years as Ward 5 Alderman, 4 years as Mayor)

Community involvement: current: KPCK president, Rotarian, Tree planter/Garden volunteer, College4Kids instructor (past: winner of 2019 Mike Kroll Community Service Award Winner, The Center)

Education: B.S. (Physics, Harvey Mudd), M.S. (Science & Technology Studies, Virginia Tech), Ph,D. (Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia)

Occupation: Professor of Environmental Studies, Knox College (27 years)

Age, as of April 1, 2025: 69

Campaign website and Facebook page:
www.johnforgalesburg.com
John Pritchard for Galesburg Mayor

Government experience: Mayor of Galesburg from 2013 to 2021

Community involvement:

• Serving as a Director of Western Illinois Works.
• Served as treasurer, vice president and president of the United Way of Knox County
• Served on the board of the Galesburg Business and Technology Center
• Serving on the board of the National Railroad Hall of Fame
• Serving as Chairman of the board of the Knox-Galesburg Economic Development Corporation
• Served as a Director and Vice-President of the Illinois Municipal League.
• Served on the Board of Directors of the National Stearman Fly-in.
• Served on the Board of Directors of Galesburg Hospital Ambulance Service (GHAS)
• Served as an Interim Executive Director of the Western Illinois Regional Council and the Western Illinois Regional Council Community Action Agency from January to June 2023.

Education: Studied Economics and Business Administration at Knox College

Occupation: Owner and manager of 11 radio stations in Illinois and Iowa.

Schwartzman: I have always run to serve my community. I believe Galesburg has great people and an amazing and proud history. With the right mix of optimism, common sense, empathy, and investment, there is almost no challenge we cannot meet and no dream we cannot achieve. Based on working with so many people across the community, I feel I bring a healthy mix of these attributes to this leadership position.

Over the past four years as Galesburg's Mayor, I have learned a lot about what makes certain projects and initiatives progress and others stagnate or flounder. Despite significant turnover in key government positions, we made a great deal of progress and now that things have settled down I see wonderful opportunities for continued growth and improvement. I believe I am primed to contribute to the success of such efforts.

Galesburg has been great to me and my two daughters that were born and raised here. There are so many programs and services for people, yet there are gaps in access to many, especially youth and seniors. There are also mental health needs that are not being met. I have begun efforts to address these important issues and look forward to tackling them head-on in the near future.

Schwartzman: Two strategic planning sessions (one by the City Council and one by KCAP) have clarified that housing is the key issue facing Galesburg right now. There aren't enough affordable options for single-family homes or apartments. Many older homes also need repair. To serve current residents' needs as well as attract new residents, the City must support renovations as well as new buildings. The City has just begun active conversations with developers and I am excited about the prospects of this effort.

Schwartzman: I have a very positive outlook for Galesburg. I bring this optimism to the job every day, when I speak to residents and investors. This attitude and outlook, by me and others, has resulted in many great outcomes for our City--including several multi-million dollar state and federal grant awards, significant business expansions, more than two dozen new local business creations, and very successful philanthropically-driven ventures.

I also genuinely care for all of the residents of Galesburg and work tirelessly to improve their lives and promote a positive future for Galesburg. I make myself available to all. My direct phone number (309-877-1988) is widely known and disseminated. I truly enjoy helping residents with challenges and ambitions of all sizes and scopes, from a pothole or a downed tree to a lifelong dream of a new business. It takes the contributions of many residents to create Galesburg and make it the great city that it is. Through my leadership, I hope to foster more ambitious and better coordinated endeavors. The more that thrive in Galesburg, the better Galesburg will be for all.

Schwartzman: Humbly, Galesburg is much, much better off now than five years ago. The City's surplus budgets of $5+ million a year have allowed the City to invest more dollars in improved safety (with more police and fire firefighters), in previously underfunded pensions, in road and sidewalk repairs, in beautification efforts, and in parks and expanded recreational opportunities. Increased visitors to Galesburg and new and improved amenities and attractions has benefited local businesses, hotels, and City finances. Several new $10+ million business investments (ex., Graham Hospital, Western Smokehouse, The Delong Co.) as well as the opening of popular establishments (ex., Chipotle, Jersey Mike's, Dunkin') provide lots of new jobs and indicate that there is a great deal of confidence in Galesburg's future! Most notably, for two huge projects (one at Logistics Park and the Railroad Hall of Fame) to come to fruition in just the past year testifies to a very prosperous Galesburg in the coming years.

Note: Pritchard responded with a single answer to the questions that TSPR asked, saying they were all intertwined. We asked candidates to keep answers to 400 words per question; Pritchard’s combined answer to the four questions is 1,007 words, which is under the limit.

Pritchard: I stepped up to run again to utilize my extensive financial and business skills for the people of Galesburg to help steady the state of Galesburg city government.

Our current mayor’s first two years when he had a majority of city council members was arrogant and chaotic. One example is that they rammed through a sales tax hike without seeking approval from voters in a referendum.

Peter Schwartzman and his fellow Aldermen were fixated on expanding city government in ways that were unsustainable. They wanted the former Churchill school to be made into a community center with a child day care center in the same building as a homeless shelter. Parents just weren’t going to go for that.

The utility and maintenance costs for Churchill while it was closed was nearly $10,000 per month. If opened as a multi-use community center with people coming and going all day long, the utility expenses alone would have been a financial money pit for Galesburg taxpayers.

Mayor Schwarzman was against holding a community center public hearing to gather public input on the location of the proposed community center before he and his Council majority decided upon the Churchill building.

Schwartzman nominated Alderman Jaclyn Smith-Esters to the City Council and she said in the Register-Mail, "When we put things on a ballot we really narrow who our audience is and when I say that I look at who is going out to vote and who is being affected by a community center. In my opinion your average voter is an older, white crowd. I think we're losing the voice of the poor."

I can’t stand by and allow that arrogance that is all about RULING the people of Galesburg as opposed to SERVING them.

It was widely known that Schwartzman made the city manager who was there when he became mayor so uncomfortable that he found another job and left Galesburg. When Schwartzman became mayor we went through a chaotic period with four interim city managers. Schwartzman then led the Council to hire Gerald Smith as city manager.

Schwartzman and Smith quickly developed a hyper political partisan relationship. So much so that City Manager Gerald Smith wrote a political plan to Mayor Schwartzman on official city email outlining plans to “build a future campaign war chest for your reelection.” The City Manager’s official email further went on about “you and your progressive leadership” and the need to “team up” with local political parties.

That was an outrageous abuse of taxpayer resources. City managers are not hired to also serve as political campaign managers. There always needs to be a firewall between what is official city business and political campaign matters.

While Schwartzman said City Manager Smith’s official email to him about campaign matters was unsolicited, somehow Schwartzman was able to make Smith comfortable in sending such an unethical and illegal email. After city resources were illegally used for a campaign plan by the city manager, Mayor Schwartzman did not put a reprimand letter of the city manager in his personnel file, and he tried to protect Smith when the new city council elected in 2023 sought Smith’s ouster for cause being that he was incompetent, unethical and doing illegal things.

Things stabilized under our new City Council majority and our new professional City Manager. We need to build on this progress.

Mayor Schwartzman has been able to coast on the one-time only luxury of millions of dollars in federal AARPA Covid relief funds sent to all cities. Those days are over and the tough choices have to be made to realign our city budget to one that isn’t awash in one-time only federal money.

I’ve seen Peter Schwartzman take credit for things others did just because he has presided as mayor for the past four years. This campaign will detail those false claims of credit.

For instance, Mayor Schwartzman takes credit for $2.5 million in street repairs. That was only possible when the new city council in 2023 ended consideration of making the former Churchill school into a community center and passed a motion to divert $2.5 million in tax revenue that had been slated for Churchill to fixing our streets. Had Schwartzman had his way with Churchill, that money for street repairs would not have been available.

I love this city and our people. I cannot stand by with my substantial success in banking, newspaper publishing, and owning and operating 11 radio stations. For instance, one newspaper was making $42,000 per year in operating income when I became publisher and manager and I brought that operating income to $980,000 in only one year. That’s the type of financial management Galesburg taxpayers deserve.

I want to return the focus of city government to getting the basics right and in the most cost efficient manner possible: clean water, police and fire protections, good roads, economic development and a healthy business climate so we can address our housing problem.

Most homes in Galesburg were built before 1930. As we attract new businesses, we need places for the workers to live. That can’t be done with a government program. It can be done with a lean city government that focuses on the basics and has competitive property taxes and sales taxes. We can’t begin to compete when our businesses are at a competitive disadvantage with higher taxes than nearby cities.

Our city council majority elected in 2023 brought back stability and common sense to Galesburg city government. We cannot go back to the divisive, chaotic, hyper ideological and financially unsustainable social experiments of Peter Schwartzman’s first two years in office when he had a Council majority.

I am convinced that if not for the new Council majority elected in 2023, we would have had more chaos and dysfunction.

In his illegal campaign plan email to Mayor Schwartzman, former City Manager Gerald Smith said the established political institution will describe Mayor Schwartzman this way —"An out of control ultra-liberal gadfly that needs to reigned (sic) in." Smith's own chosen words perfectly describe Mayor Schwartzman.

Tri States Public Radio produced this story.  TSPR relies on financial support from our readers and listeners in order to provide coverage of the issues that matter to west central Illinois, southeast Iowa, and northeast Missouri. As someone who values the content created by TSPR's news department please consider making a financial contribution.