Mayor of Los Angeles, California

The mayor of Los Angeles is the Chief Executive Officer of the City. [Los Angeles City Charter, Vol I, Article II, Sec 230)] He is elected for a four year term [Los Angeles City Charter, Vol I, Article II, Sec 205)] and limited to serving no more than two terms. [Los Angeles City Charter, Vol I, Article II, Sec 206)] Under the city charter, the office is non-partisan, though candidate party affiliations are normally made public in elections. The current Mayor is Antonio Villaraigosa; he is the 52nd Mayor of Los Angeles.

The mayor has an office in the Los Angeles City Hall and resides at the Mayor's Mansion Getty House, Windsor Square in Hancock Park.

Los Angeles has a strong mayor council form of government, giving the mayor the position of chief executive of the city. The city does not have a city manager and as a result, the mayor truly is the one responsible, much like a President or Governor, for the success of the city. The mayor is given the authority to appoint general managers and commissioners, remove officials from city posts, and is required to propose a budget each year. Most of the Mayor's appointments and proposals are subject to approval by the City Council, but the Mayor has the power of veto or approval of City Council legislation. [Los Angeles City Charter, Vol I, Article II, Sec 240)] The organization of the Mayor's Office changes with administration, but is almost always governed by a chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, director of communications, and several deputy mayors. Each Mayor also organizes his office into different offices, usually containing the Los Angeles Housing Team, Los Angeles Business Team, International Trade Office, Mayor's Volunteer Corps, and Office of Immigrant Affairs, among other divisions.

In the case of an office vacancy, the City Council has a choice to appoint a new mayor or to hold a Special election. [Los Angeles City Charter, Vol I, Article IV, Sec 409)] The office of the Mayor is also subject to recall in the same manner that he was elected.

The title should not be confused with the Mayor of the County of Los Angeles. That title is occasionally used by the chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The Los Angeles County Mayor position is a rotating position and purely ceremonial.

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List of mayors

† Died in office in 1860.

‡ Samuel Yorty was elected and served two terms and most of his third as a Democrat, but changed affiliations to Republican in 1972.

The office of Mayor is officially non-partisan, with no intra-party primary prior to the general election. If neither candidate receives fifty percent, plus one vote, a runoff election is required. (See Mayoral runoff races below).

The party affiliation in the table references the incumbent's voter registration, as party affiliation is not identified on ballots.

In 2001 comedian Dante, ran for Mayor and lost to James Hahn.

Mayoral runoff races

All candidates run together, and if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote getters run against each other in a runoff election a couple of months later. The table below refers to the runoff races over the years.

(winners are in bold)
*Note: 1941 election is reported with 1750 out of 2753 precincts reporting, but Cunningham concedes at this point

Notes

* [http://lacodes.lacity.org/NXT/gateway.dll?f=templates&fn=default.htm Los Angeles City Charter]

External links

* [http://www.citymayors.com/mayors/los_angeles_mayor.html City Mayors profile of Antonio Villaraigoso]
* [http://www.lacity.org/mayor/index.htm Los Angeles Mayor Homepage]
* [http://cityclerk.lacity.org/election/ElectionCodeOct-04-2000.pdf Election ordinance]