Bliss marks first day as GR mayor-elect

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — History was made in Grand Rapids Tuesday night.

For the first time in over a decade, the city will have a new mayor. And for the first time in the city’s history, that office holder will be a woman.

Rosalynn Bliss was elected with 66 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s primary election.

Wednesday morning, after just a couple of hours of sleep, the mayor-elect Bliss was up and at it. At 6 a.m., she was on the set of 24 Hour News 8 Daybreak. Then it was off to WOOD Radio for their West Michigan Live program — all this before 10 a.m.

As the city’s first female mayor, she doesn’t see gender as a challenge.

“I feel like having served as a city commissioner for nine years, I feel like I’ve proven myself as credible, as reliable,” Bliss told 24 Hour News 8 after the radio interview.

As for policy, she’s not getting specific, saying that’s one of the things she’ll be working on over the months leading up to her swearing in.

“I have some time to be thoughtful about that,” said Bliss. “I want to get out and have some community conversations. I want to invite people to come out and meet me. I want to listen to them. I want to hear their concerns. I want to talk about what they want to see.”

There’s also a long shadow to contend with. It’s the one cast by the current mayor, George Heartwell. He was on his way to a record-setting fourth run for the office when his mayoral career was derailed by last fall’s successful term limit vote.

There have been comparisons to Bliss and Heartwell. She welcomes some of them.

“But then our styles are different. Everyone’s style of leadership is different. And I will bring my own personality and qualities and characters to the table,” said Bliss.

One of the things often lost amid the usual campaign rhetoric is the person behind the candidacy.

So who is the next mayor of Grand Rapids?

Bliss turned 40 the day before the election. She’s a native of the U.P. and one of 10 kids born to a brick layer and a grocery store clerk in Sault Ste. Marie.

“We had tough times. I started working at a young age and put myself through college and worked full time,” said Bliss.

She went to school down south, got her degree in social work and got a job in Grand Rapids.

“I always say that serving as a public servant is kind of an extension of social work. You’re just helping people in a different way,” said Bliss.

In the mid-2000s, she started her local political career with her election as a Second Ward City Commissioner.

Tuesday night, she won the city’s top elected positions, beating four primary opponents with 66 percent of the vote.

Right now, it’s the honeymoon phase for Bliss. But she knows honeymoons don’t last long in politics. Bliss has been at this a while and knows it’s going to come to an end.

“I do, I do. I’m going to savor it now,” she said.