Mayor of Portland, Oregon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mayor of Portland, Oregon |
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| Style | Mayor |
| Term length | Four years |
| Inaugural holder | Hugh O'Bryant |
| Formation | 1851 |
| Salary | $143,666 |
| Website | Office of the Mayor |
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. The current mayor is Ted Wheeler, who has served since 2017, and was first elected in the 2016 election.
The current term for mayor of Portland is four years, having been increased from two years in 1913. 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 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.
Contents
Duties and powers
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. 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. 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. 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.
Elections
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.
List of mayors
| # | Image | Name
(Birth–Death) |
Term start and end |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Hugh O'Bryant(1813–1883) | 1851–1852 |
| 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 | .jpg) |
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 | .png) |
David Logan(1824–1874) | 1863–1864 |
| 15 |  |
Henry Failing(1834–1898) | 1864 – November 16, 1866 |
| 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) |
| 27 |  |
Van B. DeLashmutt(1842–1921) | May 2, 1888 – 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 – March 27, 1899
(died in office) |
| 32 |  |
W. A. Storey(1854–1917) | May 17, 1899 –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 |
| 39 |  |
George L. Baker(1868–1941) | July 1917 – July 1933 |
| 40 |  |
Joseph K. Carson(1891–1956) | July 1933 – December 1940 |
| 41 | |
Earl Riley(1890–1965) | January 1941 – December 1948 |
| 42 |  |
Dorothy McCullough Lee(1901–1981) | January 1949 – December 1952 |
| 43 | |
Fred L. Peterson(1896–1985) | January 1953 – December 1956 |
| 44 |  |
Terry Schrunk(1913–1975) | January 1957 – December 1972 |
| 45 |  |
Neil Goldschmidt(born 1940) | January 1973 – August 15, 1979 |
| 46 | Connie McCready(1921–2000) | September 5, 1979 – November 23, 1980 | |
| 47 |  |
Frank Ivancie(1924–2019) | November 24, 1980 – January 2, 1985 |
| 48 |  |
Bud Clark(1931–2022) | January 1985 – December 1992 |
| 49 |  |
Vera Katz(1933–2017) | January 1993 – December 2004 |
| 50 |  |
Tom Potter(born 1940) | January 3, 2005 – December 31, 2008 |
| 51 | .jpg) |
Sam Adams(born 1963) | January 1, 2009 – December 31, 2012 |
| 52 |  |
Charlie Hales(born 1956) | January 1, 2013 – December 31, 2016 |
| 53 | _(cropped).jpg) |
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).
See also
