List of mayors of New York City

The Mayor of New York City is the chief executive of the government of New York City, as stipulated by the Charter of the City of New York. The current Mayor of New York City, (and 109th in the sequence of regular mayors), is Bill de Blasio, a Democrat.

Although being Mayor of New York City has been described as the "second toughest job in America" after the presidency,^[1] and although several mayors – most recently John Lindsay and Rudolph Giuliani – have sought the Presidency, no one person has yet held both positions. Indeed, no sitting or former mayor has been elected to a subsequent public office since Ardolph Loges Kline, acting mayor in late 1913, chose to run for alderman instead of mayor and was re-elected in 1913, and later elected in 1920 to a single term in Congress. Neither has any mayor so far (out of more than a hundred) been female, nor has any except David Dinkins been non-white.

During the Dutch colonial period from 1624 to 1664, New Amsterdam was governed by a Director-General. For the year prior to the establishment of the office of Mayor of New York in 1665, New York was run by Richard Nicolls, who was the British military governor of the Province of New York. Thomas Willett was the first person to be specifically appointed mayor. Mayors were appointed by provincial governors until 1777 when a Council of Appointment was formed by New York State. In 1821 the New York City Council – then known as the Common Council – began appointing mayors. Since 1834, mayors have been elected by direct popular vote.

The longest-serving mayors so far have been Fiorello H. La Guardia (1934–1945), Robert F. Wagner, Jr. (1954–1965), Edward I. Koch (1978–1989), and Michael Bloomberg (2002–2013) each of whom was in office for twelve years (three successive 4-year terms). The shortest terms in office since 1834 have been those of acting mayors Thomas Coman (five weeks from Monday, November 30, 1868, to Monday, January 4, 1869) and Samuel B. H. Vance (one month from November 30 to December 31, 1874).

This list includes mayors who governed the city of New York at times when its territory was smaller than it is today. Before 1874, the city covered little or no land beyond the island of Manhattan, but later annexed territory in the area that formed the Borough of the Bronx in 1898. The city's consolidation in 1898 defined the current boundaries of the five boroughs: Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. See History of New York City.

Mayors of the unconsolidated city

Appointed mayors

Before 1680, mayors served one-year terms. As of 1680, they served two-year terms. Exceptions are noted thus (*). A dagger (†) indicates mayoralties cut short by death in office. [When the same man served more than one continuous term, his name is lightly shaded purely for clarity, but the tints have no other significance.]

After 1820, the mayor was appointed by the city's Common Council. Peter Delanoy (1689–1691) was the only mayor elected by popular vote before 1834. (See Note 1 directly below this table.)

No.[2]	Name	Starting year of Office	Ending year of Office	Political Party
1	Thomas Willett (1st term)	1665	1666
2	Thomas Delavall (1st term)	1666	1667
3	Thomas Willett (2nd term)	1667	1668
4	Cornelius Van Steenwyk (1st term)	1668	1671
5	Thomas Delavall (2nd term)	1671	1672
6	Matthias Nicoll	1672	1673
7	John Lawrence (1st term)	1673	1675
8	William Dervall	1675 October 17	1676 October 14
9	Nicholas De Mayer	1676 October 14	1677
10	Stephanus Van Cortlandt (1st term)	1677	1678
11	Thomas Delavall (3rd term)	1678	1679
12	Francis Rombouts	1679	1680
13	William Dyre	1680 October 30	1682
14	Cornelius Van Steenwyk (2nd term)	1682	1684
15	Gabriel Minvielle (*)	1684	1685
16	Nicholas Bayard (*)	1685	1686
17	Stephanus Van Cortlandt (2nd term)	1686	1688
18	Peter Delanoy ^1	1689	1691
19	John Lawrence (2nd term *)	1691 May	1691 October
20	Abraham de Peyster	1691 October	1694
21	Charles Lodwik	1694	1695
22	William Merritt	1695	1698
23	Johannes de Peyster	1698	1699
24	David Provost	1699	1700
25	Isaac De Reimer	1700	1701
26	Thomas Noell	1701	1702
27	Phillip French	1702	1703
28	William Peartree	1703	1707
29	Ebenezer Wilson	1707	1710
30	Jacobus Van Cortlandt (1st term)	1710	1711
31	Caleb Heathcote	1711	1714
32	John Johnstone	1714	1719
33	Jacobus Van Cortlandt (2nd term)	1719	1720
34	Robert Walters	1720	1725
35	Johannes Jansen	1725	1726
36	Robert Lurting †	1726	1735 †
37	Paul Richard	1735	1739
38	John Cruger †	1739	1744 August 13 †
39	Stephen Bayard	1744	1747
40	Edward Holland †	1747	1757 †
41	John Cruger, Jr.	1757	1766
42	Whitehead Hicks	1766	1776
43	David Matthews	1776	1783
44	James Duane	1784	1789
45	Richard Varick	1789	1801
46	Edward Livingston	1801	1803	Democratic-Republican
47	DeWitt Clinton (1st term)	1803	1807
48	Marinus Willett	1807	1808
49	DeWitt Clinton (2nd term)	1808	1810	Democratic-Republican
50	Jacob Radcliff (1st term)	1810	1811
51	DeWitt Clinton (3rd term)	1811	1815	Democratic-Republican
52	John Ferguson	1815	1815
53	Jacob Radcliff (2nd term)	1815	1818
54	Cadwallader D. Colden	1818	1821	Federalist
55	Stephen Allen	1821	1824
56	William Paulding, Jr. (1st term)	1825	1826	Democratic
57	Philip Hone	1826	1827	Whig
58	William Paulding Jr. (2nd term)	1827	1829	Democratic
59	Walter Bowne	1829	1832
60	Gideon Lee	1833	1834

† (died in office)

Note

1. Peter Delanoy was the first and only directly-elected mayor of New York^[3] until 1834. Appointed mayors resumed in the wake of Leisler's Rebellion.

Popularly-elected mayors of the unconsolidated city

Under the Charter of 1834, mayors were elected annually. After 1849, they served two-year terms.

no.[2]	Name	Starting year of Office	Ending year of Office	Political Party
61	Cornelius Van Wyck Lawrence	1834	1837	Democratic
62	Aaron Clark	1837	1839	Whig
63	Isaac Varian	1839	1841	Democratic
64	Robert Morris	1841	1844
65	James Harper	1844	1845	American Republican / Know-Nothing
66	William F. Havemeyer (1st term)	1845	1846	Democratic
67	Andrew H. Mickle	1846	1847
68	William Brady	1847	1848	Whig
69	William F. Havemeyer (2nd term)	1848	1849	Democratic
70	Caleb Smith Woodhull	1849	1851	Whig
71	Ambrose Kingsland	1851	1853
72	Jacob Aaron Westervelt	1853	1855	Democratic
73	Fernando Wood (1st term)	1855	1858
74	Daniel F. Tiemann	1858	1860	Coalition (People's Union / American / Democratic)
75	Fernando Wood (2nd term)	1860	1862	Democratic
76	George Opdyke	1862	1864	Republican
77	Charles Godfrey Gunther	1864	1866	Democratic
78	John T. Hoffman ^1	1866	1868
Acting	Thomas Coman ^1	1868 November 30	1869 January 4
79	Abraham Oakey Hall	1869	1872	Republican
80	William F. Havemeyer ^2 (3rd term) †	1873	1874 November 30 †
Acting	Samuel B. H. Vance ^2	1874 November 30	1874 December 31
81	William H. Wickham	1875	1876	Democratic
82	Smith Ely, Jr.	1877	1878
83	Edward Cooper	1879	1880
84	William Russell Grace (1st term)	1881	1882	Democratic (anti-Tammany)
85	Franklin Edson	1883	1884	Democratic
86	William Russell Grace (2nd term)	1885	1886	Independent
87	Abram S. Hewitt	1887	1888	Democratic
88	Hugh J. Grant	1889	1892
89	Thomas F. Gilroy	1893	1894
90	William L. Strong ^3	1895	1897	Fusion

† died in office

Notes

1. John T. Hoffman resigned after his election as Governor of New York state but before the end of his mayoral term. Thomas Coman, President of the Board of Aldermen, completed Hoffman's term as acting mayor until his elected successor, A. Oakey Hall, took office.
2. William F. Havemeyer died during his last term of office. Samuel B. H. Vance, President of the Board of Aldermen, completed Havemeyer's term as acting mayor until his elected successor, William H. Wickham, took office.
3. William L. Strong served an additional year in office because New York City mayoral elections were changed to be held in odd-numbered years due to the impending consolidation of New York City.

Mayors since the 1898 consolidation

The 1898–1901 term was for four years. The City Charter was changed to make the mayor's term a two-year one beginning in 1902, but after two such terms was changed back to resume four-year terms in 1906. George B. McClellan, Jr. thus served one two-year term from 1904 to 1905, during which he was elected to a four-year term from 1906 to 1909. See New York City mayoral elections#Terms and term limits (since 1834).

The party of the mayor reflects party registration, as opposed to the party lines run under during the general election.

† died in office

#[2]	Mayor	First Elected	In office	Length of Service	Political Party
91	Robert Van Wyck	1897	January 1, 1898 – December 31, 1901	4 years	Democratic
92	Seth Low	1901	January 1, 1902^1 – December 31, 1903	2 years	Republican / Anti-Tammany Democrats
93	George B. McClellan, Jr.	1903	January 1, 1904 – December 31, 1909	6 years	Democratic
94	William J. Gaynor	1909	January 1, 1910 – September 10, 1913^2	3 years, 253 days	Democratic
Acting^3	Ardolph L. Kline	Acting	September 10, 1913 – December 31, 1913	113 days	Republican
95	John P. Mitchel	1913	January 1, 1914 – December 31, 1917	4 years	Republican / Anti-Tammany Democrats
96	John F. Hylan	1917	January 1, 1918 – December 31, 1925	8 years	Democratic
97	Jimmy Walker	1925	January 1, 1926 – September 1, 1932^4	6 years, 244 days	Democratic
Acting^5	Joseph V. McKee	Acting	September 1, 1932 – December 31, 1932	121 days	Democratic
98	John P. O'Brien	1932 special	January 1, 1933 – December 31, 1933	1 year	Democratic
99	Fiorello H. La Guardia	1933	January 1, 1934 – December 31, 1945	12 years	Republican
100	William O'Dwyer	1945	January 1, 1946 – August 31, 1950^6	4 years, 243 days	Democratic
Acting^7	Vincent R. Impellitteri	Acting	August 31, 1950 – November 14, 1950	75 days	Democratic (as acting mayor)
101		1950 special	November 14, 1950 – December 31, 1953	3 years, 48 days	Independent (as elected mayor)
102	Robert F. Wagner, Jr.	1953	January 1, 1954 – December 31, 1965	12 years	Democratic
103	John Lindsay	1965	January 1, 1966 – December 31, 1973	8 years	Republican / Liberal
					Democratic / Liberal
104	Abraham Beame	1973	January 1, 1974 – December 31, 1977	4 years	Democratic
105	Ed Koch	1977	January 1, 1978 – December 31, 1989	12 years	Democratic
106	David Dinkins	1989	January 1, 1990 – December 31, 1993	4 years	Democratic
107	Rudy Giuliani	1993	January 1, 1994 – December 31, 2001	8 years	Republican
108	Michael Bloomberg	2001	January 1, 2002 – December 31, 2013	12 years	Republican (until 2007)^8
					Independent (from 2007)
109	Bill de Blasio	2013	January 1, 2014 – Present	28 months so far	Democratic
#	Mayor	First Elected	Years in office	Length of Service	Political Party

† died in office

Notes:

1. Seth Low previously served as Mayor of the City of Brooklyn from 1882 to 1885.
2. William Jay Gaynor died September 10, 1913.
3. Ardolph L. Kline, the unelected President of the Board of Aldermen, succeeded as acting mayor upon William Gaynor's death, but then sought re-election as an alderman (successfully) rather than election as mayor. Kline has thus been the only mayor since 1834 never to win a city-wide election (having been appointed Vice President of the Board of Aldermen by his colleagues and then succeeding to the presidency mid-term, rather than winning it by popular election at large).
4. James J. "Jimmy" Walker resigned September 1, 1932 and went to Europe, amid allegations of corruption in his administration.
5. Joseph V. McKee, as President of the Board of Aldermen, became acting mayor in Walker's place, but was then defeated in a special election by John P. O'Brien.
6. William O'Dwyer resigned August 31, 1950, during a police corruption scandal, after which he was appointed Ambassador to Mexico by President Harry S. Truman.
7. Vincent R. Impellitteri, President of the New York City Council, became acting mayor when O'Dwyer resigned on August 31, 1950, and was then elected to the office in a special election held on November 7, 1950. He was inaugurated on November 14.
8. Michael R. Bloomberg was a Democrat before running for mayor.

See also

• Election results for Mayor of New York
• History of New York City
• Mayors of the City of Brooklyn (1834–98)

References

1. Popik, Barry. ""'Second toughest job in America' (nyc mayor)" The Big Apple (December 31, 2007) (see the list of references from reliable sources in the entry)
2. "The Green Book: Mayors of the City of New York" on the official NYC website. When a former mayor serves again after a break in office, a new number is assigned to his resumed service. However, the five acting mayoralties are unnumbered.
3. Burrows, Edwin G. & Wallace, Mike (1999). Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195116348. pp.99–100

External links

• Media related to Mayors of New York City at Wikimedia Commons