The mayor of Portland, Oregon is the official head of the city of Portland, Oregon, United States. The officeholder is elected for a four-year term and has no term limits. By law, all elections in Portland are nonpartisan.[2] The current mayor is Ted Wheeler, who has served since 2017, and was first elected in the 2016 election.
Mayor of Portland, Oregon | |
---|---|
Style | Mayor |
Term length | Four years |
Inaugural holder | Hugh O'Bryant |
Formation | 1851 |
Salary | $143,666[1] |
Website | Office of the Mayor |
The current term for mayor of Portland is four years, having been increased from two years in 1913.[3] Mayoral elections were previously held in May of US presidential election years (years divisible by four), during the Oregon primary election, with a runoff between the top two vote-getters held in November of the same year should no candidate garner a majority vote in the May election, however a new system taking effect in 2024[4] holds a single general election in November of Presidential election years using the Instant Runoff ranked choice voting method. The mayor-elect takes office the following January.
Portland uses a city commission government, the only major city to do so. The mayor and commissioners are responsible for legislative policy and oversee the various bureaus that oversee the day-to-day operation of the city.[5] The mayor serves as chairman of the council, and is responsible for allocating department assignments to his fellow commissioners. His post is largely honorific; most powers exercised by mayors in cities of Portland's size are vested in the council as a whole. However, the mayor does have some powers, such as declaring an emergency and acting as police commissioner. Although, beginning with the 2025 mayoral term, Portland will switch to a Council-Mayor form of government.[4] The executive mayor will work with a professional city administrator to implement the laws enacted by council and administer the city’s bureaus, employees, facilities, and resources.[4] The executive mayor develops and proposes the city’s budget to council for review and approval, may introduce measures before the council, and breaks tie votes in the council.[4]
The mayor is elected in citywide election. Elections utilize the instant runoff ranked choice voting method, beginning with the 2024 general election. The city charter also allows for write-in candidates. The mayor is elected to a four-year term with no term limits. The office of mayor is officially nonpartisan by state law, although most mayoral candidates identify a party preference. Mayoral elections happen in conjunction with the United States presidential election. Elections followed a two-round system prior to 2024 where the first round of the elections was a primary election. If a candidate received a majority of the vote in the primary they were elected outright, however, If no candidate received a majority the top two candidates advance to a runoff election, called the general election.
The most recent election was in 2020, when incumbent Ted Wheeler was reelected in the November runoff.
# | Image | Name
(Birth–Death) |
Term start and end |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Hugh O'Bryant(1813–1883) | 1851–1852[6][7] | |
2 | A. C. Bonnell(1801–1875) | April 1852 – November 1852 | |
3 | Simon B. Marye(c. 1810–1868) | November 1852 – April 1853 | |
4 | Josiah Failing(1806–1877) | 1853–1854 | |
5 | William S. Ladd(1826–1893) | 1854–1855 | |
6 | George W. Vaughn(1809–1877) | 1855–1856 | |
7 | James O'Neill(1824–1901) | 1856–1857 | |
8 | William S. Ladd(1826–1893) | 1857–1858 | |
9 | A. M. Starr(c. 1820–1891) | 1858–1859 | |
10 | S. J. McCormick(1828–1891) | 1859–1860 | |
11 | G. Collier Robbins(1823–19??) | 1860–1861 | |
12 | John M. Breck(1828–1900) | 1861–1862 | |
13 | William H. Farrar(1826–1873) | 1862–1863 | |
14 | David Logan(1824–1874) | 1863–1864 | |
15 | Henry Failing(1834–1898) | 1864 – November 16, 1866[8] | |
16 | Thomas J. Holmes(1819–1867) | 1866–1867 | |
17 | J. A. Chapman(1821–1885) | 1867–1868 | |
18 | Hamilton Boyd | 1868–1869 | |
19 | Bernard Goldsmith(1832–1901) | 1869–1871 | |
20 | Philip Wasserman(1828–1895) | 1871–1873 | |
21 | Henry Failing(1834–1898) | 1873–1875 | |
22 | J. A. Chapman
(1821–1885) |
1875–1877 | |
23 | William Spencer Newbury(1834–1915) | 1877–1879 | |
24 | David P. Thompson(1834–1901) | 1879–1882 | |
25 | J. A. Chapman(1821–1885) | 1882–1885 | |
26 | John Gates(1827–1888) | 1885 – April 27, 1888
(died in office)[9] | |
27 | Van B. DeLashmutt(1842–1921) | May 2, 1888[10] – 1891 | |
28 | William S. Mason(1832–1899) | 1891–1894 | |
29 | George P. Frank(1852–1896) | 1894–1896 | |
30 | Sylvester Pennoyer(1831–1902) | 1896–1898 | |
31 | William S. Mason(1832–1899) | July 1, 1898[11] – March 27, 1899
(died in office)[12] | |
32 | W. A. Storey(1854–1917) | May 17, 1899[13] –1900 | |
33 | Henry S. Rowe(1851–1914) | 1900–1902 | |
34 | George Henry Williams(1823–1910) | 1902–1905 | |
35 | Harry Lane(1855–1917) | 1905–1909 | |
36 | Joseph Simon(1851–1935) | 1909–1911 | |
37 | Allen G. Rushlight(1874–1930) | 1911–1913 | |
38 | H. Russell Albee(1867–1950) | June 1913 – July 1917[14] | |
39 | George L. Baker(1868–1941) | July 1917 – July 1933[14] | |
40 | Joseph K. Carson(1891–1956) | July 1933 – December 1940[14] | |
41 | Earl Riley(1890–1965) | January 1941 – December 1948[14] | |
42 | Dorothy McCullough Lee(1901–1981) | January 1949 – December 1952[14] | |
43 | Fred L. Peterson(1896–1985) | January 1953 – December 1956 | |
44 | Terry Schrunk(1913–1975) | January 1957 – December 1972[14] | |
45 | Neil Goldschmidt(born 1940) | January 1973 – August 15, 1979[14][15] | |
46 | Connie McCready(1921–2000) | September 5, 1979[14][16] – November 23, 1980[14] | |
47 | Frank Ivancie(1924–2019) | November 24, 1980[14][17] – January 2, 1985[18] | |
48 | Bud Clark(1931–2022) | January 1985 – December 1992[14] | |
49 | Vera Katz(1933–2017) | January 1993 – January 3, 2005[14] | |
50 | Tom Potter(born 1940) | January 3, 2005 – December 31, 2008[14] | |
51 | Sam Adams(born 1963) | January 1, 2009 – December 31, 2012[14] | |
52 | Charlie Hales(born 1956) | January 1, 2013 – December 31, 2016 | |
53 | Ted Wheeler(born 1962) | January 1, 2017 – present |
Note: The color shown in the number (#) column denotes political party (red for Republican, blue for Democratic, teal for the People's Party (Populist), gray for Independent).
The City of Portland mayor's office, in the City Hall, contains a collection of mounted portraits of all the mayors to date. As of February 2024, only two mayors are missing from the collection; William H. Farrar (1862–1863), and Hamilton Boyd (1868–1869).