List of mayors of Washington, D.C.

Adrian Fenty, current mayor of Washington D.C.

The structure of Washington, D.C.'s city government has changed several times since the City of Washington was officially granted a formal government in 1802. From 1802 to 1812, the mayor was appointed by the President of the United States. Between 1812 and 1820, the city's mayors were then selected by a city council. From 1820 to 1871 the mayor was popularly elected.

Until 1871, three separate municipalities were located within the District of Columbia, and each was governed separately: the City of Washington, Georgetown, and unincorporated territory known as Washington County. With the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871, the three municipalities within the District of Columbia were abolished in favor of a single District government, whose chief executive was a territorial Governor. This office was abolished in 1874, and replaced with a three-member Board of Commissioners appointed by the President. This system existed until 1975 when the District of Columbia Home Rule Act allowed for District residents to elect their own mayor.

Currently, the Mayor of the District of Columbia is popularly elected to a four-year term with no term limits. Since Washington, D.C. is not in a state, the city government also has certain state-level responsibilities, making some of the mayor's duties analogous to those of United States governors. The current mayor of Washington, D.C. is Adrian Fenty.

The lists on this page include all of the chief executives of the District of Columbia in their various forms.

Mayors of the City of Washington (1802–1871)

The persons listed below are the mayors of the now-defunct City of Washington. The present-day boundaries of the "Old City" were Rock Creek to the west, Florida Avenue to the north, and the Anacostia River to the east and south.

From 1802 to 1871, mayors had authority over city services, appointments, and local tax assessments; however, the duties of the mayor mostly consisted of requesting appropriations from Congress to finance the city.

Mayor	Term Began	Term Ended
Robert Brent	1802	1812
Daniel Rapine	1812	1813
James H. Blake	1813	1817
Benjamin G. Orr	1817	1819
Samuel N. Smallwood	1819	1822
Thomas Carbery	1822	1824
Samuel N. Smallwood	1824	1824
Roger C. Weightman	1824	1827
Joseph Gales, Jr.	1827	1830
John P. Van Ness	1830	1834
William A. 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 B. Magruder	1856	1858
James G. Berret	1858	1861
Richard Wallach	1861	1868
Sayles J. Bowen	1868	1870
Matthew Gault Emery	1870	1871

Mayors of Georgetown (1790–1871)

Georgetown was a town in Maryland until 1801, when it became a municipality within the District of Columbia. From 1802 until 1871, mayors of Georgetown were elected by its citizens to one-year terms, with no term limit. Like the City of Washington and Washington County, Georgetown's local government ceased to exist in 1871, when Congress merged the three entities into the single District government.

Mayor	Term Began	Term Ended
Robert Peter	1790	1791
Thomas Beale	1791	1792
Uriah Forrest	1792	1793
John Threlkeld	1793	1794
Peter Casenave	1794	1795
Thomas Turner	1795	1796
Daniel Reintzel	1796	1797
Lloyd Beall	1797	1799
Daniel Reintzel	1799	1804
Thomas Corcoran	1805	1806
Daniel Reintzel	1806	1807
Thomas Corcoran	1808	1810
David Wiley	1811	1812
Thomas Corcoran	1812	1813
John Peter	1813	1818
Henry Foxall	1819	1820
John Peter	1821	1822
John Cox	1823	1845
Henry Addison	1845	1857
Richard R. Crawford	1857	1861
Henry Addison	1861	1867
Charles D. Welch	1867	1869
Henry M. Sweeney	1869	1871

Governors of the District of Columbia (1871–1874)

In 1871, Congress created a territorial government for the entire District of Columbia, which was headed by a governor. All offices, including that of the governor, were appointed by the President of the United States to a four-year term; however, due to widespread corruption and mismanagement, the territorial government was discontinued in 1874.

Governor	Term Began	Term Ended
Henry D. Cooke	1871	1873
Alexander Robey Shepherd	1873	1874

Presidents of the Board of Commissioners (1874–1975)

From 1874 to 1974, the District was administered by a Board of Commissioners, whose members were appointed by the President. There were three members of the Board: one Democrat, one Republican, and one civil engineer with no specified party. The three Commissioners would then elect one of themselves to be president of the commission. This list features the Presidents of the Board of Commissioners; while not quite analogous to the role of a mayor, the president of the commission was the city's Chief Executive.

President	Term Began	Term Ended	Commission Seat
William Dennison	1874	1878	Republican
Seth Ledyard Phelps	1878	1879	Republican
Josiah Dent	1879	1882	Democratic
Joseph Rodman West	1882	1883	Republican
James Barker Edmonds	1883	1886	Democratic
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 Kent	1920	1920
Cuno Hugo Rudolph	1920	1926
Proctor L. 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
Walter Washington	1967	1975

Mayors of the District of Columbia (1975 – present)

See also: District of Columbia home rule

Since 1975, the District has been administered by a popularly elected mayor and city council.

Mayor	Years	Political Party
Walter Washington	January 2, 1975 – January 2, 1979	Democratic
Marion Barry	January 2, 1979 – January 2, 1991	Democratic
Sharon Pratt Kelly	January 2, 1991 – January 2, 1995	Democratic
Marion Barry	January 2, 1995 – January 2, 1999	Democratic
Anthony A. Williams	January 2, 1999 – January 2, 2007	Democratic
Adrian Fenty	January 2, 2007 – present	Democratic