List of Mayors of Washington, DC

Muriel Bowser, current Mayor of Washington, DC

This list shows everyone who has held the post of mayor of the American capital Washington, DC , or who previously held a comparable position. Between 1802 and 1812 the incumbents were appointed by the respective US president and from 1812 to 1820 they were elected by the city council. Only after 1820 did elections for the office of mayor take place. Until the dissolution of the three independent cities of the District of Columbia in 1871, including Washington formally, the mayors did not rule the entire federal district . The then independent city of Georgetown had its own administration with its own mayor.

Mayor of Washington (1802–1871)

Surname	Term of office (beginning)	Term of office (end)	photo
Robert Brent	1802	1812
Daniel Rapine	1812	1813
James Heighe Blake	1813	1817
Benjamin Grayson Orr	1817	1819
Samuel Nicholas Smallwood	1819	1822
Thomas Carbery	1822	1824
Samuel Nicholas Smallwood	1824	1824
Roger Chew Weightman	1824	1827
Joseph Gales	1827	1830
John Peter Van Ness	1830	1834
William Albert Bradley	1834	1836
Peter Force	1836	1840
William Winston Seaton	1840	1850
Walter Lenox	1850	1852
John Walker Maury	1852	1854
John Thomas Towers	1854	1856
William Bean's Magruder	1856	1858
James Gabriel Berret	1858	1861
Richard Wallach	1861	1868
Sayles Jenks Bowen	1868	1870
Matthew Gault Emery	1870	1871

District of Columbia Governors (1871–1874)

In 1871, Congress formed a territorial government for the entire District of Columbia . This administration was headed by a four-year governor appointed by the US President . This model soon proved to be unsustainable due to serious corruption cases and was abolished again in 1874.

Surname	Term of office (beginning)	Term of office (end)	photo
Henry David Cooke	1871	1873
Alexander Robey Shepherd	1873	1874

President of the Board of Commissioners (1874–1975)

Between 1874 and 1967, the District of Columbia was administered by a Board of Commissioners made up of three people and appointed by the respective US President. This committee consisted of one member from the Democratic Party and one member from the Republican Party . The third person was a construction professional, whose party affiliation was arbitrary. This committee elected a member to be its president, who then practically headed the administration of the federal district, even if he did not have the official title of mayor.

Surname	Term of office (beginning)	Term of office (end)	Political party	photo
William Dennison	1874	1878	Rep
Seth Ledyard Phelps	1878	1879	Rep
Josiah Dent	1879	1882	Dem
Joseph Rodman West	1882	1883	Rep
James Barker Edmonds	1883	1886	Dem
William Benning Webb	1886	1889
John Watkinson Douglass	1889	1893
John Wesley Ross	1893	1898
John Brewer Wright	1898	1900
Henry Brown Floyd MacFarland	1901	1909
Cuno Hugo Rudolph	1910	1913
Oliver Peck Newman	1913	1917
Louis Brownlow	1917	1920
Charles Willauer Kutz	1920	1920
Cuno Hugo Rudolph	1920	1926
Proctor Lambert Dougherty	1926	1930
Luther Halsey Reichelderfer	1930	1933
Melvin Colvin Hazen	1933	1941
John Russell Young	1941	1952
F. Joseph Donohue	1952	1953
Samuel Spencer	1953	1956
Robert E. McLaughlin	1956	1961
Walter Nathan Tobriner	1961	1967	Dem
Walter Edward Washington	1967	1975	Dem

Home Rule Mayors (since 1975)

As early as 1967, the administration of Washington was restructured. The Board of Commissioners, which had previously consisted of three people, was expanded to nine people and was now called the City Council. In addition, there was again a mayor and a deputy mayor (Mayor-Commissioner or Assistant to the mayor-commissioner). However, all of these positions continued to be determined by the US President. This system was abolished in 1975. Since then, both the mayor and the city council of the federal capital have been determined in general elections.

Surname	Term of office (beginning)	Term of office (end)	Political party	photo
Walter Edward Washington	1975	1979	Dem
Marion Shepilov Barry	1979	1991	Dem
Sharon Pratt Kelly	1991	1995	Dem
Marion Shepilov Barry	1995	1999	Dem
Anthony Allen Williams	1999	2007	Dem
Adrian Malik Fenty	2007	2011	Dem
Vincent Condol Gray	2011	2015	Dem
Muriel Elizabeth Bowser	2015		Dem

See also

• List of US House of Representatives delegates from Washington, DC