List of mayors of Flint, Michigan

The mayor position of Flint, Michigan is a strong mayor-type. In Flint's previous 1929 charter, the mayor was one of the City Commissioners, as the council in a council-manager type government.

1855–1888

The mayor was one of many citywide elected officers including the Recorder, Supervisor, Treasurer, Marshal, Directors of the Poor, School Inspector and Justices of the Peace. Additionally, other administrative officers were selected by wards.^[1]

Mayor	Start of Term	End of Term	Notes
Grant Decker	1855	1856
Robert J. S. Page	1856	1857
Henry M. Henderson	1857	1858
William M. Fenton	1858	1860[2][3]	Some records show Porter Hazelton as mayor from 1859 to 1860[4]
Henry H. Crapo	1860	1861
Ephraim S. Williams	1861	1862
William Paterson	1862	1863
William Hamilton	1863	1865
William B. McCreery	1865	1867
Austin B. Witherbee	1867	1868[2][4]
Samuel M. Axford	1868	1869[2][3]
William S. Patrick	1869	1870
James B. Walker	1870	1871
David Spencer Fox	1871	1873
George H. Durand	1873	1875
Alexander McFarland	1875	1876
William Hamilton	1876	1877
Edward Hughes Thomson	1877	1878
Jerome Eddy	1878	1879
James C. Willson	1879	1880[3]
Zacheus Chase	1880	1881
Charles A. Mason	1881	1882
William A. Atwood	1882	1883
George E. Newall	1883	1884
William W. Joyner	1884	1885
Mathew Davison	1885	1886
George T. Warren	1886	1887
John C. Dayton	1887	1888

^[2][4]

1888 Charter

Mayor	Start of Term	End of Term	Notes
Oren Stone	1888	1889
Frank D. Baker	1889	1890
William A. Paterson	1890	1891
Francis H. Rankin Jr.	1891	1892
George E. Taylor	1892	1893
Andrew J. Ward	1893	1894
Arthur C. McCall	1894	1894
John C. Zimmerman Sr.	1895	1896
Samuel C. Randall	1896	1897
Milton C. Pettibone	1897	1898
George R. Gold	1898	1899
Hugh Alexander Crawford	1899	1900
Charles A. Cummings	1900	1901
Clark B. Dibble	1901	1902
Austin D. Alvord	1902	1904
Bruce J. McDonald	1904	1905
David D. Aitken	1905	1906
George E. McKinley	1906	1908
Horace C. Spencer	1908	1909
Guy W. Selby	1909	1911
John A. C. Menton	1911	1912
Charles Stewart Mott	1912	1914
John R. MacDonald	1914	1915
William H. McKeighan	1915	1916
Earl F. Johnson	1916	1917[2][4]
George C. Kellar	1917	1918
Charles Stewart Mott	1918	1919
George C. Kellar	1919	1920
Edwin W. Atwood	1920	1922
William H. McKeighan	1922	1923
David R. Cuthbertson	1923	1924
Judson L. Transue	1924	1927
William H. McKeighan	1927	1928
Ray A. Brownell	1929	1930

^[4]

Key to party colors and abbreviations for members of the U.S. Congress and other politicians or officials

Alaskan Independence (AKIP) Know Nothing (KN) American Labor (AL) Anti-Jacksonian (Anti-J) National Republican (NR) Anti-Administration (AA) Anti-Masonic (Anti-M) Conservative (Con) Covenant (Cov)

Democratic (D) Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) Democratic–NPL (D-NPL) Dixiecrat (Dix), States' Rights (SR) Democratic-Republican (DR) Farmer–Labor (FL) Federalist (F) Pro-Administration (PA)

Free Soil (FS) Fusion (Fus) Greenback (GB) Independence (IPM) Independent Democrat (ID) Independent Republican (IR) Jacksonian (J) Liberal (Lib)

Libertarian (L) National Union (NU) Nonpartisan League (NPL) Nullifier (N) Opposition Northern (O) Opposition Southern (O) Populist (Pop) Progressive (Prog)

Prohibition (Proh) Readjuster (Rea) Republican (R) Silver (Sv) Silver Republican (SvR) Socialist (Soc) Union (U) Unconditional Union (UU)

Vermont Progressive (VP) Whig (W) Independent (I) Nonpartisan (NP)

1929 Charter

Under the 1929 charter, Flint move to a council–manager form of government with the council called the “City Commission.”

Mayor	Start of Term	End of Term	Notes
Harvey J. Mallery	1930	1931
William H. McKeighan	1931	1933
Ray A. Brownell	1933	1934
Howard J. Clifford	1934	1935
George E. Boysen	1935	1936
Harold E. Bradshaw	1936	1938
Harry M. Comins	1938	1940
Oliver Tappin	1940	1940
William Osmund Kelly	1940	1944
Edwin C. McLogan	1944	1946
Edward J. Viall	1946	1948
George G. Wills	1948	1950
Paul Lovegrove	1950	1952
Donald W. Riegle Sr.	1952	1954
George M. Algoe	1954	1958
Robert J. Egan	1958	1960
Charles A. Mobley	1960	1962
George R. Poulos	1962	1964
Harry K. Cull	1964	1966
Floyd J. McCree	1966	1968	First African-American mayor
Donald R. Cronin	1968	1970
Francis E. Limmer(C. Stanley Mills)	1970	1973
Paul Calvin Visser	1973	1975

^[4]

1974 Charter

Under the 1974 Charter, the office of mayor is a non-partisan elected position.

Mayor	Start of Term	End of Term	Administrator	Notes	Elections[5]
James W. Rutherford	1975	1983			Year Votes opponent opponent's votes 1975 20,679 Floyd J. McCree 20,474 1979 20,738 Floyd J. McCree 12,902
James A. Sharp Jr.	1983	1987		First elected African-American mayor 2nd African-American mayor	1983 21,718 James W. Rutherford 20,467
Matthew S. Collier	1987	1991[4]			1987 22,874 James A. Sharp Jr. 19,509
Woodrow Stanley	1991	March 5, 2002	? (1991–2001) Darnell Earley (2001–2002)	3rd African-American mayor Recalled from office in third term[6]	1991 25,946 Matt Collier 17,686 1995 21,687 Don Williamson 9,168 1999 17,224 Scott Kincaid 16,393 2002 12,336 Recall 15,863
Darnell Earley	March 5, 2002	August 6, 2002	himself	Temporary Mayor per City Charter Effectively City Administrator as of July 9, 2002, due to State appointment of Emergency Financial Manager, Ed Kurtz
James W. Rutherford	August 6, 2002	2003	Darnell Earley	elected to fill remainder of Stanley term; City still under State Financial Manager	2002 11,239 Arthur J. Pointer (WI) 4,712 [7]
Don Williamson	2003	February 15, 2009	Peggy R. Cook (2003–2007) Darryl Buchanan (2007–2009) Michael Brown (2009)	Initially under Emergency Financial Manager lifted in 2004. facing recall; resigns[8]	2003 13,906 Floyd Clack 9,228 2007 12,434 Dayne Walling 11,853
Michael Brown	February 16, 2009[8]	August 5, 2009	himself	Temporary Mayor per City Charter[8]
Dayne Walling	August 5, 2009[9]	November 9, 2015	Gregory Eason (August 14, 2009-[10] December 2, 2011)[11] Michael Brown (8/7/2012- July 2013) Natasha Henderson[12]	Powers remove effective 12/1/2011 under city's financial emergency & transfer to an Emergency Manager[13] of which several individuals served until April 30, 2015, when a Receivership Board assume some oversight.[12]	2009 12,266 Brenda Clack 6,876 2011 8,819 (56%) Darryl Buchanan 6,868 votes (44%)[14]
Karen Weaver	November 9, 2015	November 11, 2019	Natasha Henderson[12] Sylvester Jones Steve Branch (Chief of Staff, interim)[15]	under RTA Board oversight[12] First female mayor of Flint.	2015 7,825 (55%) Dayne Walling 6,061 (43%)[16]
Sheldon Neeley	November 11, 2019	present	Clyde Edwards[17]		2019 7,082 (50.19%) Karen Weaver 6,877 (48.74%)[18]

References

1. The History of Genesee County, MI. Chapter XIII: First City Officers.
2. Chapter XIII: Roster of City Officials. The History of Genesee County, MI.
3. Ellis, Franklin (1879). History of Genesee county, Michigan. With illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers. Philadelphia, PA.: Everts & Abbott. p. 177.
4. "List of Flint City Mayors". Political Graveyards.com. Lawrence (Larry) Kestenbaum. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
5. Raymer, Marjory (9 August 2007). "Two white candidates make history". The Flint Journal. Booth Newspapers. Retrieved 30 March 2009.
6. Fonger, Ron (16 December 2008). "Woodrow Stanley, headed for state House, thanks county commission for giving his political career new life". Flint Journal. Flint, Michigan: Booth Newspapers. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013.
7. "PRIMARY ELECTION GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN TUESDAY, AUGUST 06, 2002". Genesee County Website. Flint, Michigan: GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 6 August 2002. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
8. "Mayor of Flint, Michigan resigns for health reasons". Wikinews. Wikimedia Foundation. 11 February 2009. Retrieved 18 February 2009.
9. Kristin, Longley (6 August 2009). "Mayor Dayne Walling lays out priorities at swearing in ceremony, pledges to keep police chief". Flint Journal. Flint, Michigan: Booth Newspapers. Archived from the original on 12 August 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
10. Kristin, Longley (14 August 2009). "Gregory Eason appointed Flint city administrator by Mayor Dayne Walling". Flint Journal. Flint, Michigan: Booth Newspapers. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
11. Longley, Kristin (2 December 2011). "Shakeup at Flint City Hall as new emergency manager issues layoffs, pay cuts". The Flint Journal. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
12. Fonger, Ron (29 April 2015). "'A heavy burden' lifted from Flint as Gov. Rick Snyder declares end of financial emergency". Flint Journal. Mlive Media Group. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
13. Longley, Kristin (29 November 2011). "Former Acting Mayor Michael Brown named Flint's emergency manager". Flint Journal. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
14. Longley, Kristin (9 November 2011). "About 19 percent of voters turned out to re-elect Flint Mayor Dayne Walling". Flint Journal. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
15. Goodin-Smith, Oona (20 October 2017). "Flint City Administrator Sylvester Jones resigns". Flint Journal. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
16. Fonger, Ron (4 November 2015). "Karen Weaver makes history, elected Flint's first woman mayor". Flint Journal. Mlive Media Group. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
17. "Flint City Council appoints new city administrator". Mid-Michigan NOW. 25 November 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
18. "Live Nov. 5 Flint general election results". MLive. Retrieved 12 November 2019.