List of mayors of New York City

Colonial mayors (1665–1783)

Before 1680, mayors served one-year terms. From 1680, they served two-year terms. Exceptions are noted thus (*). A dagger (†) indicates mayoralties cut short by death in office.

Note

1. For a time, Matthias Nicoll's second and non-consecutive term was erroneously excluded from the official numbering of mayors due to the contemporary records of Nicoll's second term being misplaced, leading to a misnumbering of every subsequent mayor. The error was first noted as early as 1935, and was later officially corrected in 2026.
2. Peter Delanoy was the first and only directly-elected mayor of New York until 1834. Appointed mayors resumed in the wake of Leisler's Rebellion.

† died in office

Pre-consolidation mayors (1784–1897)

The mayor continued to be selected by the Government of New York's Council of Appointment until 1821, when Stephen Allen became the first mayor appointed by a local Common Council. Under the Charter of 1834, mayors were elected annually by direct popular vote. Starting in 1849, mayors were elected to serve two-year terms.

Notes

1. As a result of a conflict between the Republican-dominated New York State Legislature and the Tammany Hall political machine, Fernando Wood's second consecutive term as mayor was shortened by a year through a vote passed by both chambers of legislature to revise the New York City Charter. A mayoral election for a standard-length term was held later that year, resulting in the incumbent Wood's loss to independent candidate Daniel F. Tiemann.
2. John T. Hoffman resigned after his election as governor of the State of New York but before the end of his mayoral term. Thomas Coman, president of the New York City Board of Aldermen, completed Hoffman's term as acting mayor until his elected successor, A. Oakey Hall, took office.
3. When Hall temporarily retired from office during the Tweed investigation, the acting mayor was Board of Aldermen president John Cochrane.
4. William F. Havemeyer died during his last term in 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.
5. William Lafayette 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.

† died in office

Post-consolidation mayors (since 1897)

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. Since then, mayors have had to be elected with the support of all five boroughs: Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx.

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

Notes

1. Randolph Gugghenheimer served as acting mayor in 1900 while Robert Anderson Van Wyck was away.
2. Seth Low previously served as Mayor of the City of Brooklyn from 1882 to 1885.
3. William Jay Gaynor died at sea on September 10, 1913. Ardolph L. Kline, as president of the Board of Aldermen, succeeded as acting mayor upon Gaynor's death, but then sought re-election as an alderman rather than mayor. Kline has been the only person to occupy the mayoral office and never previously win a citywide election since 1834, having been appointed vice president of the Board of Aldermen by his colleagues and then succeeding to the council's presidency mid-term, rather than winning it by popular election at large.
4. John Hylan and NYPD police commissioner Richard Enright resigned on December 30, 1925 to ensure that they received their city pensions, which they may not have been entitled to keep had they stayed in office for one more day. President of the Board of Aldermen William T. Collins became acting Mayor for one day, prior to the inauguration of Jimmy Walker.
5. Jimmy Walker resigned on September 1, 1932 amid allegations of corruption in his administration. 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 on August 31, 1950, during a police corruption scandal, after which he was appointed United States Ambassador to Mexico by President Harry S. Truman.
7. Vincent R. Impellitteri, President of the New York City Council, became acting mayor upon O'Dwyer's resignation on August 31, 1950, and was then elected to the office in a special election held on November 7, 1950. He was inaugurated a week later on November 14.
8. John Lindsay left the Republican Party in favor of the Democratic Party in 1971 and ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for president the next year.
9. Michael Bloomberg was a lifelong member of the Democratic Party before registering as a Republican in 2001 and running for mayor. He left the Republican Party in 2007 and ran as an independent candidate in the 2009 mayoral election, later re-registering as a Democrat in 2018 in preparation for his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020.

† died in office

List of living former mayors

There are four living former mayors.

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Appendices

Official misnumbering

In 1937, Charles Lodwick, who served from as mayor from 1694 to 1695, was inserted as the city's 21st mayor, increasing the official numbering of all subsequent mayors by one.

In December 2025, another official numbering issue affecting all mayors after John Lawrence's first term in 1673 was widely reported. Similar to American presidents, mayors are counted twice in the official numbering if they served non-consecutive terms. Matthias Nicoll, who was the sixth mayor from 1672–73, was appointed to a non-consecutive term by governor Edmund Andros in 1674 as the city's eighth mayor after the city was returned to English control following the Dutch reconquest during Third Anglo-Dutch War as part of the Treaty of Westminster, but his second term was erroneously omitted in official records. The error appeared in official numberings from as early as an 1841 Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York. The New York City Department of Records and Information Services located original court documents corroborating Nicoll's second term after reporting by Gothamist the same month. The error had previously been noted by various researchers since as early as 1935.

The outgoing administration of Eric Adams declined to address the issue in its final weeks. On January 1, 2026, as Zohran Mamdani was sworn into office his official website called him the 112th mayor. In his inauguration speech, Mamdani joked about the misnumbering, saying "I stand before you... honored to serve as either your 111th or 112th Mayor of New York City."

Mayoral terms and term limits in New York City since 1834

Direct elections to the mayoralty of the unconsolidated City of New York began in 1834 for a term of one year, extended to two years after 1849. The 1897 Charter of the consolidated City stipulated that the mayor was to be elected for a single four-year term. In 1901, the term halved to two years, with no restrictions on reelection. In 1905, the term was extended to four years once again. (Mayors Fiorello La Guardia, Robert F. Wagner Jr., Ed Koch and Michael Bloomberg were later able to serve for twelve years each.) In 1993, the voters approved a two-term (eight-year) limit, and reconfirmed this limit when the issue was submitted to referendum in 1996. In 2008, the New York City Council voted to change the two-term limit to three terms (without submitting the issue to the voters). Legal challenges to the Council's action were rejected by Federal courts in January and April 2009. However, in 2010, yet another referendum, reverting the limit to two terms, passed overwhelmingly.

Principal source: The Encyclopedia of New York City especially the entries for "charter" and "mayoralty".

1. Mayor Strong, elected in 1894, served an extra year because no municipal election was held in 1896, in anticipation of the consolidated City's switch to odd-year elections.
2. George B. McClellan Jr. was elected to one two-year term (1904–1906) and one four-year term (1906-1910).
3. David Dinkins was not affected by the term limit enacted in 1993 because he had served only one term by 1993 and failed to win re-election.
4. The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in Manhattan coincided with the primary elections for a successor to Mayor Giuliani, who was completing his second and final term of office. Many were so impressed by both the urgency of the situation and Giuliani's response that they wanted to keep him in office beyond December 31, 2001, either by removing the term limit or by extending his service for a few months. However, neither happened, the primary elections (with the same candidates) were re-run on September 25, the general election was held as scheduled on November 6, and Michael Bloomberg took office on the regularly appointed date of January 1, 2002.
5. On October 2, 2008, Michael Bloomberg announced that he would ask the city council to extend the limit for mayor, council and other officers from two terms to three, and that, should such an extended limit prevail, he himself would seek re-election as mayor. On October 23, the New York City Council voted 29–22 to extend the two-term limit to three terms. (A proposed amendment to submit the vote to a public referendum had failed earlier the same day by a vote of 22–28 with one abstention.)
6. In November 2010, yet another popular referendum, limiting mayoral terms to two, passed overwhelmingly.

Interrupted terms

Mayors John T. Hoffman (1866–1868, elected Governor 1868), William Havemeyer (1845–1846, 1848–1849, and 1873–1874), William Jay Gaynor (1910–1913), John Francis Hylan (1918–1925), Jimmy Walker (1926–1932), and William O'Dwyer (1946–1950) failed to complete the final terms to which they were elected. The uncompleted mayoral terms of Hoffman, Walker, and O'Dwyer were added to the other offices elected in (respectively) 1868, 1932, and 1950. Those three elections are listed as "special" in the table below because they occurred before the next regularly scheduled mayoral election; the "regular" mayoral elections of 1874 and 1913, on the other hand, were held on the same day that they would have happened had the mayoralty not become vacant.

† Became acting mayor as the president of the board of aldermen or (in 1950) city council.

(D) = (Democratic)

(R) = (Republican)

1. Mayor Havemeyer was a Democrat who ran as a Republican against the Democratic Tweed Ring in 1872.
2. Acting Mayors Coman, Vance, Kline and Collins did not seek election as mayor.
3. Acting Mayors McKee and Impellitteri were Democrats who lost the Democratic primary to succeed themselves, but still ran in the general election as independents.
4. Elected Mayor Oakey Hall won re-election, while Mayor Wickham did not seek it. Mayors Mitchel and O'Brien lost attempts at re-election, while Mayor Impellitteri did not run for a full term in the 1953 regular general election after losing the Democratic primary.

List of mayors of the City of Brooklyn (1834–1897)

Brooklyn elected a mayor from 1834 until consolidation in 1898 into the City of Greater New York, whose own second mayor (1902–1903), Seth Low, had been Mayor of Brooklyn from 1882 to 1885. Since 1898, Brooklyn has, in place of a separate mayor, elected a Borough President.

List of mayors of Long Island City (1870–1897)

Long Island City, now a neighborhood within the Borough of Queens, was incorporated as a city on May 4, 1870 and consolidated into the present Greater New York City on January 1, 1898, along with the City of Brooklyn and several other municipalities in the counties of Queens and Richmond.

Notes

1. George H. Hunter served as acting mayor from September 1873 to April 1874 while Henry S. DeBevoise was away.

References

References

1. (1906). "The Constitutional History of New York: From the Beginning of the Colonial Period to the Year 1905, Showing the Origin, Development, and Judicial Construction of the Constitution – Volume 2". The Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company.
2. [http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcas/html/about/greenbook_mayors.shtml "The Green Book: Mayors of the City of New York"] {{Webarchive. link. (March 22, 2014 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 six acting mayoralties are unnumbered.)
3. Kim, Elizabeth. (December 12, 2025). "Miscount of NYC mayors spans centuries, archive search confirms". [[Gothamist]].
4. Newman, Andy. (December 26, 2025). "Will Mamdani Be the 111th or the 112th Mayor of New York? It Depends.". [[The New York Times]].
5. Honan, Katie. (January 1, 2026). "Mamdani Takes the Helm as City's New Mayor".
6. {{cite gotham pp.99–100
7. (March 1, 1994). "American Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1". [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]].
8. Mooney, James E. "Tiemann, Daniel F(awcett)" in {{cite enc-nyc2
9. {{cite gotham
10. {{cite chrono
11. (November 17, 1868). "Local Intelligence — Board of Aldermen — Resignation of the Mayor". [[The New York Times]].
12. (January 5, 1869). "Municipal Affairs — Organization of the Common Council — The Mayor's Message — The City Budget for 1869 — Comparison of Taxation in 1868 and 1869". [[The New York Times]].
13. (November 7, 1897). "Robert A. Van Wyck". [[The New York Times Magazine]].
14. (December 31, 1925). "Hylan And Enright Out With Pensions; Last-Hour Shifts In Police Department; Walker Fills Important City Posts — Collins Mayor for a Day — Leach is the Active Head of the Police Force for the Last Day of 1925 — Hylan to Get $4,205 A Year — Retirement Voted by Board of Estimate, He Quits to Assure Pension — Enright to Draw $5,000 — Approval of His Retirement as Commissioner One of Hylan's Last Official Acts". [[The New York Times]].
15. (November 7, 1917). "How Hylan Reached The Mayor's Chair — Came Here from the Farm and First Worked as a Tracklayer — To School After Marriage — Long Active in Civic Affairs in Brooklyn — Mayoralty Said to Have Been His Ambition". [[The New York Times]].
16. (November 10, 1932). "O'Brien Will Stay on Bench Till Jan. 1 — Mayor-Elect Says, However, He Will Devote Spare Time to Study of City's Problems — Renews Economy Pledge — Silent on Protest Vote — McKee Among Thousands Who Send Congratulatory Messages". [[The New York Times]].
17. (November 5, 1933). "List of Candidates Who Will Be on Ballots in Municipal Election Nov. 7". [[The New York Times]].
18. (August 20, 1900). "Acting Mayor Boomed Long Branch Property by Buying Drexel Cottage". [[The New York Times]].
19. "Randolph Gugghenheimer".
20. (August 12, 1971). "Lindsay the Democrat". [[The New York Times]].
21. Wise, Justin. (October 10, 2018). "Bloomberg re-registers as Democrat". [[The Hill (newspaper).
22. Kim. (December 1, 2025). "Zohran Mamdani will be sworn in as NYC's 111th mayor. But what if that number's wrong?". [[Gothamist]].
23. Kim, Elizabeth. (December 12, 2025). "Miscount of NYC mayors spans centuries, archive search confirms". [[Gothamist]].
24. Peltz, Jennifer. (December 18, 2025). "Mamdani has a place in NYC history. But which place in a centuries-long list of mayors?".
25. "Official Site of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani – NYC Mayor's Office".
26. Oppenheim, Oren. (January 1, 2026). "New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, at inauguration, vows to be a mayor for all New Yorkers, lead as democratic socialist". [[ABC News (United States).
27. For further details, see [http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/third-term-no-charm-historians-say/index.html Third Term No Charm, Historians Say] by Sewell Chan, ''[[The New York Times]]'' "City Room", published and retrieved on October 1, 2008.
28. Fernanda Santos: [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/nyregion/24whatsnext.html The Future of Term Limits Is in Court], ''[[The New York Times]]'', New York edition, October 24, 2008, page A24 (retrieved on October 24, 2008), [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/nyregion/14termlimits.html Judge Rejects Suit Over Term Limits], ''The New York Times'', New York edition, January 14, 2009, page A26, and [http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/appeals-court-upholds-term-limits-revision/ Appeals Court Upholds Term Limits Revision], ''The New York Times'' City Room Blog, April 28, 2009 (both retrieved on July 6, 2009). The original January decision by Judge Charles Sifton of the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York]] ([[Long Island]], Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island) was upheld by a three-judge panel of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]] (Vermont, Connecticut and New York state).
29. Hernandez, Javier C.. (November 3, 2010). "Term Limits in New York City Are Approved Again". The New York Times.
30. “The Encyclopedia of New York City (1st edition), edited by Kenneth T. Jackson (Yale University Press and The New York Historical Society, New Haven, Connecticut, 1995, {{ISBN. 0-300-05536-6 )
31. See, for example, these stories from ''The New York Times'': [https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/20/nyregion/a-nation-challenged-the-mayor-in-crisis-giuliani-s-popularity-overflows-city.html "In Crisis Giuliani’s Popularity Overflows City"], by [[Jennifer Steinhauer]], September 20, 2001, [https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/26/nyregion/the-new-york-primary-voices-a-shift-in-the-ritual-and-meaning-of-voting.html "A Shift in the Ritual, and Meaning, of Voting"], by Mirta Ojito, September 26, 2001 and [https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/27/nyregion/new-york-primary-incumbent-giuliani-explores-term-extension-2-3-months.html "Giuliani Explores A Term Extension Of 2 Or 3 Months"], by Jennifer Steinhauer with Michael Cooper, September 27, 2001.
32. Sewell Chan, [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/nyregion/03bloomberg.html Bloomberg Says He Wants a Third Term as Mayor], ''[[The New York Times]]'', published and retrieved on October 2, 2008.
33. Sewell Chan and Jonathan P. Hicks, [http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/council-to-debate-term-limits-change/ Council Votes, 29 to 22, to Extend Term Limits], ''[[The New York Times]]'', published on-line and retrieved on October 23, 2008.
34. “The Encyclopedia of New York City (1st edition), edited by Kenneth T. Jackson (Yale University Press and The New York Historical Society, New Haven, Connecticut, 1995, {{ISBN. 0-300-05536-6 ); (p. 149, 3rd Column.)
35. James Bradley for ''[[The Encyclopedia of New York City]]'' (1st edition), edited by Kenneth T. Jackson (Yale University Press and The New York Historical Society, New Haven, Connecticut, 1995, {{ISBN. 0-300-05536-6); (p. 690, 3rd Column, under "Long Island City")
36. James Nevlus, ''Long Island City's Forgotten History'' (Curbed New York, November 16, 2018) https://ny.curbed.com/2018/11/16/18097555/amazon-hq2-long-island-city-nyc-history