The mayor of Portland, Oregon is the official head of the city of

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The officeholder is elected for a four-year term and has no term limits. By law, all elections in Portland are nonpartisan. The current mayor is Keith Wilson, who has served since January 1, 2025, and was first elected in the 2024 election. The current term for mayor of Portland is four years, having been increased from two years in 1913. Mayoral elections were previously held in May of US presidential election years (years divisible by four), during the Oregon

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

, with a runoff between the top two vote-getters held in November of the same year should no candidate garner a

majority vote A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...

in the May election, however a new system taking effect in 2024 holds a single general election in November of Presidential election years using the Instant Runoff ranked choice voting method. The mayor-elect takes office the following January.

Duties and powers

Prior to 2025, Portland used a

city commission government City commission government is a form of local government in the United States. In a city commission government, voters elect a small commission, typically of five to seven members, typically on a plurality-at-large voting basis. These commission ...

, the only major city to do so. The mayor and commissioners were responsible for legislative policy and oversaw the various bureaus tasked with day-to-day operation of the city. The mayor served as chairman of the council, and was responsible for allocating department assignments to his fellow commissioners. The mayor's power included declaring an emergency and acting as

police commissioner A police commissioner is the head of a police department, responsible for overseeing its operations and ensuring the effective enforcement of laws and maintenance of public order. They develop and implement policies, manage budgets, and coordinate ...

. Beginning with the 2025 mayoral term, Portland switched to a Council-Mayor form of government. The executive mayor works with a professional city administrator to implement the laws enacted by council and administer the city’s bureaus, employees, facilities, and resources. The executive mayor develops and proposes the city’s budget to council for review and approval, may introduce measures before the council, and breaks tie votes in the council.

Elections

Portland_Mayors_Office_Portrait_Gallery_001

The mayor is elected in citywide election. Elections utilize the instant runoff ranked choice voting method, beginning with the 2024 general election. The city charter also allows for

write-in candidate A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...

s. The mayor is elected to a four-year term with no term limits. The office of mayor is officially

nonpartisan Nonpartisan or non-partisan may refer to: __NOTOC__ General political concepts * Nonpartisanship, also known as Nonpartisanism, co-operation without reference to political parties * Non-partisan democracy, an election with no official recognition ...

by state law, although most mayoral candidates identify a party preference. Mayoral elections happen in conjunction with the

United States presidential election The election of the president of the United States, president and Vice President of the United States, vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are Voter registration in the United ...

. Elections followed a

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

prior to 2024 where the first round of the elections was a primary election. If a candidate received a majority of the vote in the primary they were elected outright, however, If no candidate received a majority the top two candidates advance to a runoff election, called the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

. The most recent election was in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, when businessman Keith Wilson defeated 19 other candidates.

List of mayors

Note: The color shown in the number (#) column denotes registered political party (red for Republican, blue for Democratic,

teal alt=American teal duck (male), Green-winged teal (male) Teal is a greenish-blue color. Its name comes from that of a bird—the Eurasian teal (''Anas crecca'')—which presents a similarly colored stripe on its head. The word is often used ...

for the People's Party (Populist), gray for

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

). Officially, Mayors run and serve as nonpartisan. The City of Portland mayor's office, in the

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

, contains a collection of mounted portraits of all the mayors to date. As of February 2024, only two mayors are missing from the collection; William H. Farrar (1862–1863), and Hamilton Boyd (1868–1869).

References

Notes

{{Government of Portland, Oregon Government of Portland, Oregon

Mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Duties and powers

Elections

List of mayors

See also

References

Notes