| Post: | Mayor |
| Body: | New Haven, Connecticut |
| Incumbent: | Justin Elicker |
| Incumbentsince: | 2020 |
| Type: | Mayor |
| Formation: | 1784 |
| First: | Roger Sherman |
| Salary: | $134,013 |
This is a list of the mayors of New Haven, Connecticut.
Before 1826, the city's mayors did not have a fixed term of office; once elected, they held office indefinitely, at the pleasure of the Connecticut General Assembly. Beginning in 1826 the mayor and members of the Common Council were elected an annual town meeting and held office until the following year's town meeting. Since the 1870s, New Haven's mayors have been elected to two-year terms.[1]
As of July 2023, the Mayor of New Haven earns an annual salary of $134,013.[2]
| Years served | Name | Party | Lived | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1784–1793 | Roger Sherman | 1721–1793 | Signer of the Declaration of Independence. Later became a U.S. Senator. | ||
| 1793–1803 | Samuel Bishop | Democratic-Republican | 1723–1803 | Also probate judge | |
| 1803–1822 | Elizur Goodrich | 1761–1849 | Professor of law. Also served as a U.S. Congressman. | ||
| 1822–1826 | George Hoadley | Democratic-Republican | 1781–1857 | Bank president. Later became Mayor of Cleveland (1846–1847). | |
| 1826–1827 | Simeon Baldwin | 1761–1851 | Judge. Was previously a U.S. Congressman. | ||
| 1827–1828 | William Bristol | Democratic-Republican | 1779–1836 | Also State Senator | |
| 1828–1830 | David Daggett | 1764–1851 | Also U.S. Senator; CT House Speaker; Chief Justice of the CT Supreme Court | ||
| 1830–1831 | Ralph Ingersoll | Democrat | 1789-1872 | Also U.S. Congressman | |
| 1831–1832 | Dennis Kimberly | Democrat | 1790–1862 | Lawyer. Also major general and member of Connecticut General Assembly. Was elected mayor again in 1833, but declined the office. Was chosen U.S. Senator in 1838.[3] | |
| 1832–1833 | Democrat | 1793–1866 | |||
| 1833–1834 | Whig | 1782–1846 | Judge. (Dennis Kimberly had been elected to fill this term, but declined to serve.) | ||
| 1834–1839 | Whig | 1792–1863 | Lawyer, editor | ||
| 1839–1842 | Whig | 1786–1845 | Lawyer, president of Yale Law School | ||
| 1842–1845 | Whig | 1796–1872 | Businessman (carpet manufacturing and insurance) | ||
| 1846–1850 | Henry E. Peck | Whig | 1795–1867 | Newspaper printer and publisher.https://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/CT/masons.html | |
| 1850–1854 | Aaron N. Skinner | Whig | 1800–1858 | Classical boarding school headmaster | |
| 1854–1855 | Chauncey Jerome | Whig | 1793–1868 | Clock manufacturer | |
| 1855-1856 | Alfred Blackman | Democrat | 1807-1880 | [4] | |
| 1856–1860 | Whig | 1796–1872 | Secretary of Mutual Security Insurance Company | ||
| 1860–1863 | Harmanus M. Welch | Democrat | 1813–1889 | Businessman who was founder and president of the New Haven Rolling Mill and president of the First National Bank. | |
| 1863-1865 | Morris Tyler | Republican | 1806–1876 | ||
| 1865–1866 | Erastus C. Scranton | Republican | 1808–1866 | ||
| 1866–1869 | Lucien Wells Sperry | Democrat | 1820−1890 | Carpenter and merchant; committed suicide after embezzling trust funds; died $50,000 in debt. | |
| 1869-1870 | William Fitch | Republican | 1820-1877 | ||
| 1870-1877 | Henry G. Lewis | Democrat | 1820-1891 | [5] | |
| 1877-1879 | William R. Shelton | Democrat | 1821-1892 | Prosecuted by Republicans (as a Democratic ex-mayor) for his involvement in a scandal with a female employee[6] | |
| 1879-1881 | Hobart B. Bigelow | Republican | 1834–1891 | Businessman, founder of the Bigelow Manufacturing Co. | |
| 1881-1883 | John Brownlee Robertson | Democrat | 1809-1892 | ||
| 1883-1885 | Henry G. Lewis | Democrat | 1820-1891 | ||
| 1885-1887 | George F. Holcomb | Democrat | |||
| 1887–1888 | Democrat | 1839-1898 | |||
| 1889–1890 | Republican | 1828-1911 | |||
| 1891–1894 | Democrat | 1822–1907 | Served three terms. Founder of Sargent & Co. | ||
| 1895–1896 | Albert C. Hendrick | Republican | 1833-1912 | ex-chief of the New Haven Fire Department | |
| 1897–1899 | Frederick Benjamin Farnsworth | Republican | 1851-1930 | Presided over the enactment of a new city charter, which gave New Haven a unified administrative structure. Interred in Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven | |
| 1899–1901 | Cornelius Thomas Driscoll | Democrat | 1845–1931 | born in Ireland, he was New Haven's first immigrant mayor | |
| 1901-1909 | John Payne Studley | Republican | 1846–1931 | Used the police to stop performances of Bernard Shaw's play, "Mrs. Warren's Profession". Interred in Evergreen Cemetery, New Haven, CT | |
| 1910–1917 | Frank J. Rice | Republican | 1869–1917 | Elected to four terms. Died in office. | |
| 1917 | Samuel Campner | Republican | 1887-1934 | New Haven's first Jewish mayor | |
| 1918–1926 | Democrat | 1874-1942 | |||
| 1926-1928 | John B. Tower | Republican | |||
| 1929–1931 | Republican | 1886-1950 | |||
| 1932–1944 | Democrat | 1878–1964 | Labor leader | ||
| 1945–1953 | William C. Celentano | Republican | 1904-1972 | Served eight years. First Italian-American mayor of New Haven, funeral director. | |
| 1954–1970 | Richard C. Lee | Democrat | 1916–2003 | Served eight terms. Was New Haven's youngest mayor. | |
| 1970–1975 | Democrat | 1914–1978 | |||
| 1976–1979 | Frank Logue | Democrat | 1924–2010 | Served two two-year terms as the city's chief executive. He won the office in the 1975 election, defeating incumbent Democratic mayor Bart Guida in a party primary. | |
| 1980–1989 | Biagio "Ben" DiLieto | Democrat | 1922–1999 | Served five terms. Former police chief. | |
| 1990–1993 | John C. Daniels | Democrat | 1936–2015 | First black mayor of New Haven. | |
| 1994–2013 | Democrat | born 1955 | New Haven's longest-serving mayor. | ||
| 2014–2020 | Toni Harp | Democrat | born 1949 | First woman elected mayor and 2nd African American mayor of New Haven. | |
| 2020–present | Justin Elicker | Democrat | born 1975 |