# List of mayors of Charleston, South Carolina

Elections in South Carolina :
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Ballot measures
2006
Amendment 1
2008
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2014 :
Charleston
Mayoral elections
2007
2011
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2023 :
Columbia
Mayoral elections
2005
2009
2010
2013
2017
2021 :
Rock Hill
Mayoral elections
2007
2011
2015
2019
2023 :
Greenville
Mayoral elections
2007
2011
2015
2019
2023 :
vte :
The mayor is the highest elected official in Charleston, South Carolina. Since the city's incorporation in 1783, Charleston's chief executive officer has been elected directly by qualified voters, except for the years 1867–1868, when mayors were appointed by Federal officials. The position was known as intendant until 1836, and has been known as "mayor" since that time. In 2012, the annual mayoral salary was $162,815.90.

## Intendants and Mayors of Charleston, South Carolina

| # | Mayor | Party | Sworn in | Left office | Comments |
| 1 | Richard Hutson | | 1783 | 1785 | |
| 2 | Arnoldus Vanderhorst | | 1785 | 1786 | |
| 3 | John Faucheraud Grimké | | 1786 | 1788 | |
| 4 | Rawlins Lowndes | | 1788 | 1789 | |
| 5 | Thomas Jones | | 1789 | 1790 | |
| (2) | Arnoldus Vanderhorst | | 1790 | 1792 | |
| 6 | John Huger | | 1792 | 1794 | |
| 7 | John Bee Holmes | | 1794 | 1795 | |
| 8 | John Edwards | | 1795 | 1797 | |
| 9 | Henry William de Saussure | Federalist | 1797 | 1799 | Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1791 Attorney, indigo planter and slave owner |
| 10 | Thomas Roper | | 1799 | 1801 | |
| 11 | John Ward | | 1801 | 1802 | |
| 12 | David Deas | | 1802 | 1803 | |
| 13 | John Drayton | Democratic-Republican | 1803 | 1804 | |
| 14 | Thomas Winstanley | | 1804 | 1805 | |
| 15 | Charles Cochran | | 1805 | 1806 | |
| 16 | John Dawson Jr. | | 1806 | 1808 | |
| 17 | Benjamin Boyd | | 1808 | 1808 | |
| 18 | William Rouse | | 1808 | 1810 | |
| 19 | Thomas H. McCalla | | 1810 | 1812 | |
| 20 | Thomas Bennett Jr. | Democratic-Republican | 1812 | 1813 | |
| 21 | Thomas Rhett Smith | Federalist | 1813 | 1815 | |
| 22 | Elias Horry | | 1815 | 1817 | |
| 23 | John Geddes | Democratic-Republican | 1817 | 1818 | Once a Member of the South Carolina State Legislature Governor of South Carolina from 1818 to 1820 |
| 24 | Daniel Stevens | | 1819 | 1820 | |
| (22) | Elias Horry | | 1820 | 1821 | |
| 25 | James Hamilton Jr. | Democratic-Republican | 1821 | 1822 | U.S. Representative from 1822 to 1829 Governor of South Carolina from 1830 to 1832 |
| (23) | John Geddes | Democratic-Republican | 1823 | 1824 | |
| 26 | Samuel Prioleau | Federalist | 1824 | 1825 | |
| 27 | Joseph Johnson | Whig | 1825 | 1827 | |
| 28 | John Gadsden | | 1827 | 1829 | Once a Member of the South Carolina State Legislature |
| 29 | Henry L. Pinckney | Democrat (Nullifier) | 1829 | 1830 | |
| 30 | James R. Pringle | Democrat (Unionist) | 1830 | 1831 | |
| (29) | Henry L. Pinckney | Democrat (Nullifier) | 1831 | 1833 | |
| 31 | Edward W. North | | 1833 | 1836 | |
| 32 | Robert Young Hayne | Democrat (Nullifier) | 1836 | 1837 | U.S. Senator from 1823 to 1832 Governor of South Carolina from 1832 to 1834 First chief executive officer of Charleston known as Mayor of Charleston |
| (29) | Henry L. Pinckney | Democrat (Nullifier) | 1837 | 1840 | |
| 33 | Jacob F. Mintzing | Democrat (Unionist) | 1840 | 1842 | Once a Member of the South Carolina State Legislature |
| 34 | John Schnierle | Democrat | 1842 | 1846 | 2nd German-American mayor Attorney Major General with the 16th Regiment of South Carolina Militia |
| 35 | Thomas Leger Hutchinson | Democrat | 1846 | 1850 | |
| (34) | John Schnierle | Democrat | 1850 | 1852 | |
| (35) | Thomas Leger Hutchinson | Democrat | 1852 | 1855 | |
| 36 | William Porcher Miles | Democrat | 1855 | 1857 | |
| 37 | Charles Macbeth | Democrat | 1857 | 1865 | |
| 38 | Peter Charles Gaillard | Democrat | 1865 | 1868 | Gaillard was a lieutenant colonel in the Confederate Army. He was removed from office by Federal authorities. |
| 39 | William Wallace Burns | Military appointment | 1868 | 1868 | |
| 40 | Milton Cogswell | Military appointment | 1868 | 1868 | |
| 41 | George Washington Clark | Military appointment | 1868 | 1868 | |
| 42 | Gilbert Pillsbury | Republican | 1868 | 1871 | Pillsbury was Charleston's Reconstruction mayor. He made career with the Freedmen's Bureau. |
| 43 | Johann Andreas Wagener | Democrat | 1871 | 1873 | German-American and Lutheran mayor Wagener had been a Confederate General. He founded St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1840 and is buried in its Bethany Cemetery. |
| 44 | George I. Cunningham | Republican | 1873 | 1877 | |
| 45 | William W. Sale | Democrat | 1877 | 1879 | |
| 46 | William Ashmead Courtenay | Democrat | 1879 | 1887 | |
| 47 | George D. Bryan | Democrat | 1887 | 1891 | |
| 48 | John F. Ficken | Democrat | 1891 | 1895 | |
| 49 | James Adger Smyth | Democrat | 1895 | 1903 | |
| 50 | R. Goodwyn Rhett | Democrat | 1903 | 1911 | |
| 51 | John P. Grace | Democrat | 1911 | 1915 | 1st Irish-American and Catholic mayor The John P. Grace Memorial Bridge was named to honor him. |
| 52 | Tristram T. Hyde | Democrat | 1915 | 1919 | |
| (51) | John P. Grace | Democrat | 1919 | 1923 | |
| 53 | Thomas Porcher Stoney | Democrat | 1923 | 1931 | |
| 54 | Burnet Rhett Maybank | Democrat | 1931 | 1938 | Governor of South Carolina from 1939 to 1941 U.S. Senator from 1941 to 1954 |
| 55 | Henry Whilden Lockwood | Democrat | 1938 | 1944 | |
| 56 | E. Edward Wehman Jr. | Democrat | 1944 | 1947 | |
| 57 | William McG. Morrison | Democrat | 1947 | 1959 | |
| 58 | J. Palmer Gaillard Jr. | Democrat | 1959 | 1975 | |
| 59 | Arthur B. Schirmer Jr. | Democrat | 1975 | 1975 | |
| 60 | Joseph P. Riley Jr. | Democrat | 1975 | 2016 | Riley was the city's longest serving executive and second Irish Catholic mayor. |
| 61 | John Tecklenburg | Democrat | 2016 | 2023 | |
| 62 | William S. Cogswell Jr. | Republican | 2023 | Present | William was the first Republican mayor of Charleston since 1877. |