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Mayor of Spokane
Flag of Spokane, Washington
Incumbent Lisa Brown since January 2, 2024
Status	Her Honor The Honorable

The mayor of Spokane is the chief executive of city government in Spokane, Washington, the 96th largest city in the United States. The mayor oversees the management and administration of various local government departments. Historically, the mayor of Spokane has had different powers under different forms of government. From its founding until 1960, Spokane used a commission system. On March 8, 1960, voters overwhelmingly approved the adoption of a city manager system, which gave the role of city manager most powers. In 2001, Spokane switched to the currently used strong mayor form of government, giving more power to the mayor as chief executive.

List

Pre-strong mayor system (1881–2001)

#	Photo	Mayor	Term start	Term end
1		Robert W. Forrest	1881	1882
2		James N. Glover	1883	1884
3		Anthony M. Cannon	1885	1886
4		William H. Taylor	1887	1888
5		Jacob Hoover	1888	1889
6		Francis M. Tull	1889	1889
7		Isaac S. Kaufman	1889	1889
8		Fred Furth	1889	1890
9		Charles F. Clough	1890	1891
10		David B. Fotheringham	1891	1892
11		Daniel M. Drumheller	1892	1893
12		Edward L. Powell	1893	1894
13		Horatio N. Belt	1894	1896
14		Elmer D. Olmsted	1897	1898
15		James M. Comstock	1898	1901
16		Patrick S. Byrne	1901	1903
17		L. Frank Boyd	1903	1905
18		Floyd L. Daggett	1905–1907
19		C. Herbert Moore	1907	1909
20		Nelson S. Pratt	1909	1911
21		William J. Hindley	1911	1913
22		Charles M. Fassett	1914	1916
23		Charles A. Fleming	1916	1917
24		Charles M. Fassett	1918	1920
25		Charles A. Fleming	1920	1929
26		Leonard Funk	1929	1935
27		Arthur W. Burch	1935	1937
28		Frank G. Sutherlin (Sr.)	1937	1945
29		Otto A. Dirkes	1945	1946
30		Arthur Meehan	1945	1955
31		Willard Taft	1955	1958
32		Frank G. Sutherlin (Jr.)	1958	1960
33		Kenneth Lawson	1960	1960
34		Neal R. Fosseen	1960	1967
35		David H. Rodgers	1967	1978
36		Ron Bair	1978	1982
37		James Everett Chase	1982	1986
38		Vicki McNeill	1986	1990
39		Sheri S. Barnard	1990	1994
40		Jack Geraghty	1994	1998
41		John Talbott	1998	2000

Strong mayor system (2001–present)

Spokane adopted the "strong mayor" form of government in January 2001.

#	Photo		Mayor	Term	Party	Election	Notes
39			John Powers	December 28, 2000 – December 23, 2003	Democratic	2000	Elected to a truncated term of three years due to the switch to the strong mayor system.
40			James E. West	December 23, 2003 – December 16, 2005	Republican	2003	Recalled in 2005 over allegations of sexual abuse.
41			Dennis P. Hession	December 16, 2005 – November 27, 2007	Democratic	—	Appointed by the city council as mayor following West's recall in 2005.
42			Mary Verner	November 27, 2007 – December 30, 2011	Democratic	2007
43			David Condon	December 30, 2011 – December 30, 2019	Republican	2011
						2015
44			Nadine Woodward	December 30, 2019 – January 2, 2024	Republican	2019
45			Lisa Brown	January 2, 2024 – present	Democratic	2023

Notes

1. Per the Washington State Constitution, mayors are technically nonpartisan, but mayors still often associate with political parties.

References

1. Stimson, William. "The Big Quake of 1960". Inlander. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
2. Walters, Daniel. "How the "One-Term Mayor Curse" took out the previous 10 Spokane mayors". Inlander. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
3. ^ Durham, N.W. (1912). History of the city of Spokane and Spokane County, Washington: from its earliest settlement to the present time, Volume 1. S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. https://archive.org/details/historyofcityofs01durh/page/n8/mode/2up
4. ^ Edwards, Jonathan (1910). An Illustrated History of Spokane County, State of Washington. W. H. Lever. https://archive.org/details/illustratedhisto00edwa/page/n6/mode/2up
5. ^ Kip Hill (2018-06-15). "Glover Field, which honored Spokane's third mayor, renamed Redband Park". Spokesman-Review (Photo Archive). Retrieved 2020-05-13. This photo, taken between 1917 and 1920, features several ex-mayors of early Spokane. |2nd of 3-image slide show)
6. ^ "Looking Back: Former Spokane mayors". Spokesman-Review. 1998-08-31. p. 20. Retrieved 2020-04-28. Mayoral group: sometime between 1917 and 1920, eight former mayors of Spokane gathered for this photo.
7. "ANTHONY M. CANNON DEAD - The End Came Suddenly in the Sturtevant House. WAS THE FATHER OF SPOKANE FALLS He Had Recently Been to Brazil for His Health and Had Apparently Improved - His Busy Career. - View Article - NYTimes.com" (PDF). New York Times. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
8. ^ Durham, N.W. (1912). History of the city of Spokane and Spokane County, Washington: from its earliest settlement to the present time, Volume 2. S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. https://archive.org/details/historyofcityofs02indurh/page/n6/mode/2up
9. "Hindley, William J., 1872-1943 - Social Networks and Archival Context".
10. "Jim Kershner's this day in history". Spokesman-Review. 2014-12-03. Retrieved 2020-04-29. From our archives, 100 years ago: C.M. Fassett was named mayor of Spokane by unanimous vote of his fellow city commissioners. He would finish out the term of the former mayor, W.J. Hindley.
11. Thomas Clouse (2005-12-24). "Lawyer Kathleen Taft dies". Spokesman.com. Retrieved 2020-04-28.
12. "The Spokesman-Review - Google News Archive". 1991-12-04. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
13. Hansen, Pia K. "'Tis the season to transition". Inlander. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
14. Oliver Staley, S. w. (2000, Nov 03). Strong mayor candidates offer strong contrast talbott, powers offer differing styles, viewpoints: . Spokesman Review Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/strong-mayor-candidates-offer-contrast-talbott/docview/394907504/se-2
15. Walters, Daniel. "John Powers- Spokane's first strong mayor - beholds the changes the city has undergone, and pronounces them (mostly) good". Inlander. Retrieved 2023-06-17.
16. "The life of Jim West". Spokesman.com. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
17. WILEY, By JOHN K. (2005-12-07). "Spokane's mayor ousted in recall vote". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
18. ^ "Verner sworn in as Spokane mayor | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
19. "Hession sees 'bright future' | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
20. "Spokane's new mayor takes the reins | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved 2023-02-20.
21. "Nadine Woodward sworn in as Spokane's mayor | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved 2023-02-18.

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Transportation	Spokane Intermodal Center Spokane International Airport Spokane Transit Authority
Spokane County Spokane metropolitan area Washington (state) United States

• Lists of mayors of places in Washington (state)
• Mayors of Spokane, Washington