Mayor of Richmond
Incumbent Danny Avula since January 1, 2025
Style	The Honorable
Term length	Four years(since 2005)
Inaugural holder	William Foushee, Sr.
Formation	July 2, 1782
Website	Office of the Mayor

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TheMayor of Richmond, Virginia is the chief executive of the government ofRichmond,Virginia, as stipulated by the city's charter.

This list includes mayors who were appointed by theRichmond City Council as well as those who were elected by popular vote.

The currentMayor of Richmond, Virginia and 81st in the sequence of regular officeholders isDemocratDanny Avula, who has served in the office since January 1, 2025.

The City of Richmond was founded in 1737 byWilliam Byrd II.

In May 1782, theVirginia General Assembly expressed desire to move inland, to a place less exposed to British incursions thanWilliamsburg. Richmond had been made the temporary capital after urging fromThomas Jefferson years earlier, and it was soon decided to make the move permanent.

Two months later, on July 2, a charter was written up, and the city was incorporated. Twelve men were to be elected from the City at-large and were to select one of their own to act as Mayor, another to serve as Recorder and four to serve as Aldermen. The remaining six were to serve as members of the Common Council. All positions had term limits of three years, with the exception of the mayor who could only serve one year consecutively. A vote was held at a meeting the following day andDr. William Foushee, Sr. was chosen as the first mayor.

In March 1851, the decision was made to replace the original Richmond City Charter. It was decided that all city officials were to be popularly elected. After the 12-year tenure ofWilliam Lambert and his short-term replacement by recorder Samuel T. Pulliam,^[1] elections were held, withJoseph C. Mayo coming out on top. Mayo was deposed in April 1865, weeks before the end of theAmerican Civil War, whenUnion forces captured the city.

The system set forth by the Second City Charter worked as long as the city was small and most voters knew personally, the qualifications of the men for whom they were voting and the requirements for the jobs to which they were elected. Beginning in 1948, Richmond eliminated the popularly elected mayor's office, and instituted acouncil-manager form of government. This lasted until 2004, when the City Charter was changed once again, bringing back the popularly elected mayor. Former Virginia Gov.L. Douglas Wilder was elected mayor that year. Of Virginia's38 cities, only Richmond does not have a council-manager form of government.

	Portrait	Mayor	Political party	Term start	Term end
43		Joseph C. Mayo	Democratic	1853	April 3, 1865
Fall of Richmond (April 3, 1865) - City under federal authority until appointment of David Saunders as mayor
44		David J. Saunders	Democratic	July 3, 1865	April 6, 1866
45		Joseph C. Mayo	Democratic	April 7, 1866	May 4, 1868
46		George Chahoon	Republican	May 6, 1868	March 15, 1870
47		Henry K. Ellyson[note 1]	Democratic	March 16, 1870	June 30, 1871
48		Anthony M. Keiley	Democratic	July 1, 1871	June 30, 1876
49		William C. Carrington	Democratic	July 1, 1876	June 30, 1888
50		James Taylor Ellyson	Democratic	July 1, 1888	June 30, 1894
51		Richard M. Taylor	Democratic	July 1, 1894	1904
52		Carlton McCarthy	Democratic	September 1, 1904	August 31, 1908
53		David C. Richardson	Democratic	September 1, 1908	September 3, 1912
54		George Ainslie	Democratic	September 4, 1912	1924
55		John Fulmer Bright	Democratic	1924	1940
56		Gordon Barbour Ambler	Democratic	1940	1944
57		William C. Herbert	Democratic	1944	September 10, 1946
58		Horace H. Edwards	Democratic	September 11, 1946	1948

	Portrait	Mayor	Political party	Term start	Term end	Notes
59		W. Stirling King	Democratic	1948	1950
60		T. Nelson Parker	Democratic	1950	1952
61		Edward E. Haddock	Democratic	1952	1954
62		Thomas P. Bryan	Democratic	1954	1956
63		F. Henry Garber	Democratic	1956	1958
64		A. Scott Anderson	Democratic	1958	1960
65		Claude W. Woodward	Democratic	1960	1962
66		Eleanor P. Sheppard	Democratic	July 1, 1962	June 30, 1964	Sheppard was the first female City Council member in Richmond as well as the first female mayor.
67		Morrill Martin Crowe	Democratic	July 1, 1964	June 30, 1968
68		Philip J. Bagley, Jr.	Democratic	July 1, 1968	June 30, 1970
69		Thomas J. Bliley, Jr.	Democratic	July 1, 1970	March 7, 1977[note 2]
70		Henry L. Marsh, III	Democratic	March 8, 1977	June 30, 1982	Marsh was the firstAfrican-American mayor of Richmond.
71		Roy A. West	Democratic	July 1, 1982	June 30, 1988	[3]
72		Geline B. Williams	Republican	July 1, 1988	June 30, 1990
73		Walter T. Kenney, Sr.	Democratic	July 1, 1990	June 30, 1994	[4]
74		Leonidas B. Young, II	Democratic	July 1, 1994	June 30, 1996
75		Larry E. Chavis	Democratic	July 1, 1996	June 30, 1998
76		Timothy M. Kaine	Democratic	July 1, 1998	September 10, 2001
77		Rudolph C. McCollum, Jr.	Democratic	September 11, 2001	January 1, 2005

	Portrait	Mayor	Political party	Term start	Term end	Notes
78		Douglas Wilder	Democratic	January 2, 2005	January 1, 2009
79		Dwight C. Jones	Democratic	January 1, 2009	December 31, 2016
80		Levar Stoney	Democratic	January 1, 2017	December 31, 2024	Stoney was the 8th African American mayor to serve as mayor
81		Danny Avula	Democratic	January 1, 2025	Incumbent

History of Virginia
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• City of Richmond: City Council 1948-Present
• Political Graveyard: Mayors of Richmond

• Lists of mayors of places in Virginia
• Mayors of Richmond, Virginia

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• Use mdy dates from April 2025