The city of Oakland, California, was founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1854. The city uses a strong mayor form of government. Until the early 20th century, all Oakland mayors served terms of only one or two years each. Oakland mayors now serve 4-year terms and are limited to two terms.
Barbara Lee has served as mayor of Oakland since 2025.
Terms Office terms: 1 year 1854 – mayor elected by fellow city council members 2 years 1893 – mayor elected by fellow city council members 4 years 1953 – mayor elected by popular vote
List of mayors
Mayor Took office Left office Tenure Election Party 1 Horace Carpentier 1854 Unknown 2 Charles Campbell TBA Unknown 3 Samuel H. Robinson 1855 Unknown 1856 4 Andrew Williams 1857 Unknown 1858 5 Francis K. Shattuck 1859 Republican 6 James Paine Miller Davis 1860 Democratic 1861 7 George M. Blake 1 year 1862 Unknown 8 William Henry Bovee 1 year 1863 Unknown 9 Edward Gibbons 1864 Unknown 10 Benjamin F. Ferris 1865 Unknown 11 John W. Dwinelle 1866 Unknown 12 William Watrus Crane Jr. 1867 Unknown 13 Samuel Merritt Unknown 1868 14 John B. Felton 1869 Republican colspan="3" colspan="4" 15 Nathan Weston Spaulding 1871 Republican 1872 16 Henry Durant 1873 Unknown 1874 colspan="3" colspan="4" 17 Mack Webber Unknown 1875 18 Enoch H. Pardee 1876 Republican 1877 19 Washburne R. Andrus 1878 Workingmen's 1879 20 James E. Blethen 1880 Republican 1881 21 Charles K. Robinson 1882 Republican 22 J. West Martin 1883 Democratic 23 Ashmun Cooke Henry 1884 Republican 24 Eli W. Playter 1885 Republican 1886 25 William R. Davis 1887 Republican 26 Charles D. Pierce 1888 Democratic 27 John R. Glascock 1889 Democratic 1890 28 Melvin C. Chapman 1891 Republican 1892 29 George Pardee 1893 Republican 30 John L. Davie 1895 Populist 31 William R. Thomas 1897 Republican 32 Roland W. Snow 1899 Republican 33 Anson Barstow 1901 Republican 34 Warren Olney 2 years 1903 Fusion 35 Frank K. Mott 10 years, 4 months 1905 Fusion 1907 1909 1911 1912 recall 1913 36 John L. Davie 1915 Unknown 1917 recall 1919 1921 1923 1925 1927 1929 37 Fred N. Morcom 1931 Unknown 38 William J. McCracken 1933 Unknown 1935 1937 1939 39 John F. Slavich 1941 Unknown 1943 40 Herbert L. Beach 1945 Unknown 41 Joseph E. Smith 1947 Unknown 42 Clifford E. Rishell 1949 Republican 1951 1953 1957 43 John C. Houlihan 1961 Republican 1965 44 John H. Reading Republican 1967 special 1969 1973 45 Lionel Wilson 1977 Democratic 1981 1985 46 Elihu Harris 1990 Democratic 1994 47 Jerry Brown 1998 Democratic 2002 48 Ron Dellums 2006 Democratic 49 Jean Quan 2010 Democratic 50 Libby Schaaf 2014 Democratic 2018 51 Sheng Thao 2022 Democratic – Nikki Fortunato Bas 2024 recall Democratic – Kevin Jenkins Democratic 52 Barbara Lee Incumbent 2025 special Democratic
See also Timeline of Oakland, California List of mayors of the 50 largest cities in the United States
References
Sources
Includes photos
List of mayors, Oakland Public Library Biographical Directory of the United States Congress