The Mayor of Charlottesville is the president of the City Council in Charlottesville, Virginia. Before 1888, Charlottesville was a town within Albemarle County, Virginia, and the electorate directly chose a mayor in regular elections. In 1888, Charlottesville incorporated as a city independent of the county but continued to select its mayors in the same fashion. Since 1922, however, the popular electorate has chosen a number of individuals to serve on city council - initially three, then five from 1928 to the present. From 1922 through 2006 those elections took place in May or June each even-numbered year. Beginning in 2007, council elections moved to November of odd-numbered years.[1] The elected councilors chose one of their own members to serve as leader of the council with the title of "mayor" but with no distinct legal or executive authority. The mayor presides over council meetings and occasionally plays a role as the ceremonial head of city government.
(partial list)
| Mayor | Political party | Term start | Term end | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christopher L. Fowler[2] [3] | April 1868 | |||
| T. W. Savage | April 1868 | March 1870 | ||
| N. H. Massie | March 1870 | April 1870 | ||
| Christopher L. Fowler | April 1870 | 1870 | ||
| William L. Cochran[4] | 1870 | 1875? | ||
| Richard F. Harris | 1875 | 1881 | ||
| B. R. Pace[5] | July 1, 1881 | July 1, 1883 | ||
| Richard F. Harris[6] | July 1, 1883 | 1888 | ||
| Samuel Baker Woods[7] | 1888 | 1892 | ||
| L. T. Hanckel | 1892 | 1894 | ||
| John Shelton Patton[8] | Democratic | 1894 | 1896 | |
| J. Samuel McCue[9] | Democratic | 1896 | August 31, 1900 | |
| Charles W. Allen[10] | September 1, 1900 | August 31, 1902 | ||
| J. Samuel McCue | Democratic | September 1, 1902 | August 31, 1904 | |
| George W. Olivier[11] [12] | September 1, 1904 | August 31, 1908 | ||
| Elbridge G. Haden | September 1, 1908 | August 31, 1912 | ||
| Alpheus V. Conway[13] | September 1, 1912 | August 31, 1916 | ||
| Elbridge G. Haden | September 1, 1916 | August 31, 1920 | ||
| Benjamin E. Wheeler | September 1, 1920 | August 31, 1922 |
| Mayor | Political party | Tenure start | Tenure end | Terms | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John R. Morris | Democratic | September 1, 1922 | August 31, 1924 | 1 | |
| Jury Y. Brown | Democratic | September 1, 1924 | August 31, 1930 | 3 | |
| Frederick L. Watson | Democratic | September 1, 1930 | August 31, 1932 | 1 | |
| Frederick W. Twyman | Democratic | September 1, 1932 | August 31, 1934 | 1 | |
| W. Dandridge Haden | Democratic | September 1, 1934 | August 31, 1938 | 2 | |
| George T. Huff | Democratic | September 1, 1938 | August 31, 1940 | 1 | |
| W. Dandridge Haden | Democratic | September 1, 1940 | August 31, 1942 | 1 (3 total) | |
| J. Emmett Gleason | Democratic | September 1, 1942 | August 31, 1944 | 1 | |
| Roscoe S. Adams | Democratic | September 1, 1944 | August 31, 1948 | 1 | |
| Gus Tebell | Democratic | September 1, 1948 | August 31, 1950 | 1 | |
| Strother F. Hamm | Democratic | September 1, 1950 | August 31, 1952 | 1 | |
| William R. Hill | Democratic | September 1, 1952 | August 31, 1954 | 1 | |
| Sol B. Weinberg | Democratic | September 1, 1954 | August 31, 1956 | 1 | |
| Robert M. “Jack” Davis | Democratic | September 1, 1956 | August 31, 1958 | 1 | |
| Thomas J. Michie | Democratic | September 1, 1958 | August 31, 1960 | 1 | |
| Louie L. Scribner[14] | Democratic | September 1, 1960 | August 31, 1962 | 1 | |
| Bernard J. Haggerty | Democratic | September 1, 1962 | August 31, 1964 | 1 | |
| Lindsey B. Mount | Democratic | September 1, 1964 | August 31, 1966 | 1 | |
| Burkett A. Reynolds | Democratic | September 1, 1966 | August 31, 1968 | 1 | |
| Gunther "Dutch" Vogt | Republican | September 1, 1968 | August 31, 1970 | 1 | |
| Mitchell Van Yahres | Democratic | September 1, 1970[15] | July 3, 1972 | 1 | |
| Francis H. Fife | Democratic | July 3, 1972[16] | July 1, 1974 | 1 | |
| Charles H. Barbour | Democratic | July 1, 1974[17] | July 1, 1976 | 1 | |
| Nancy K. O'Brien | Democratic | July 1, 1976[18] | July 1, 1978 | 1 | |
| Laurence A. Brunton | Republican | July 1, 1978[19] | July 1, 1980 | 1 | |
| Francis L. Buck | Democratic | July 1, 1980 | July 1, 1988 | 4 | |
| Elizabeth "Bitsy" Waters | Democratic | July 1, 1988[20] | July 2, 1990 | 1 | |
| Alvin Edwards | Democratic | July 2, 1990[21] | July 1, 1992 | 1 | |
| Tom Vandever | Democratic | July 1, 1992[22] | July 4, 1994 | 1 | |
| David Toscano | Democratic | July 4, 1994[23] | July 1, 1996 | 1 | |
| Kay Slaughter | Democratic | July 1, 1996[24] | July 1, 1998 | 1 | |
| Virginia Daugherty | Democratic | July 1, 1998[25] | July 3, 2000 | 1 | |
| Blake Caravati | Democratic | July 3, 2000[26] | July 1, 2002 | 1 | |
| Maurice Cox | Democratic | July 1, 2002[27] | July 1, 2004 | 1 | |
| David Brown | Democratic | July 1, 2004[28] | January 7, 2008 | 2 | |
| Dave Norris | Democratic | January 7, 2008[29] | January 3, 2012 | 2 | |
| Satyendra Huja | Democratic | January 3, 2012[30] | January 4, 2016 | 2 | |
| Michael Signer | Democratic | January 4, 2016[31] | January 2, 2018 | 1 | |
| Nikuyah Walker | Independent | January 2, 2018[32] | January 5, 2022 | 2 | |
| J. Lloyd Snook, III | Democratic | January 5, 2022[33] | January 2, 2024 | 1 | |
| Juandiego Wade | Democratic | January 2, 2004[34] | Incumbent | 1 | |