President of the Los Angeles City Council

President of the Los Angeles City Council
Seal of the City of Los Angeles
Flag of Los Angeles
Incumbent Marqueece Harris-Dawson since September 20, 2024
Style	Council President
Member of	Los Angeles City Council
Appointer	Elected by members of the City Council
Inaugural holder	Boyle Workman
Formation	1919
Deputy	Bob Blumenfield (President pro tempore)
Website	City Council

The President of the Los Angeles City Council is the presiding officer of the Los Angeles City Council. The president presides as chair over meetings of the council and assignments to City Council committees and handles parliamentary duties like ruling motions in or out of order. The president automatically becomes an acting mayor when the mayor is out of state. Since 2020, the president has been elected at the first scheduled council meeting in January of even-numbered years. ^[1]

The current president is Democrat Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who took office on September 20, 2024.

History

Early history

The office of the President was created with the introduction of the Los Angeles Common Council in 1850, with one of the members of the Council serving as the President. ^{[2] [3]} The first president of the Common Council was pioneer David W. Alexander, who was elected in 1850 before resigning a year later. ^[4] In 1889, the Los Angeles City Council was created under the first city charter, though the office stayed relatively the same. ^[5]

New city charter

In 1965, the job of President Pro Tempore was created to preside during the absence of the President, with the first officer being councilman Thomas D. Shepard. Shepard presided when L. E. Timberlake became acting mayor due to mayor Sam Yorty traveling outside the country. ^[6] The assistant pro tempore was created in 1977 with councilman Ernani Bernardi as the officer, who presided over meeting if both the President and the President Pro Tempore are out.

Councilman John Ferraro is the longest serving president, serving for 20 years in two terms. The first woman to be elected as the City Council president was Pat Russell, who held the title until 1987 when she was defeated in the City Council elections. ^[7] The first Latino elected was Alex Padilla in 2001 after defeating incumbent Ruth Galanter; he served as acting mayor days after the 9/11 attacks as mayor James Hahn traveled out of the city. ^{[8] [9]} The first African-American president was Herb Wesson, who was elected in 2012 and served until 2020. The first Latina president was Nury Martinez, who was elected in 2020 and served until 2022. ^[10]

Responsibilities

The President Pro Tempore is Bob Blumenfield since September 20, 2024.

The Assistant President Pro Tempore is Nithya Raman since January 28, 2025.

• presiding over meetings of the council.
• giving assignments to City Council committees.
• handling parliamentary duties like ruling motions in or out of order.
• serving as an acting mayor for the Mayor of Los Angeles if the office is vacant.

List of presidents (1919–present)

No.	Portrait	Officeholder	Tenure start	Tenure end	Pro Tem.	Assistant Pro Tem.	Mayor
1		Boyle Workman (4th–Wilshire Center)	July 7, 1919	July 5, 1921	Office did not exist	Office did not exist	Meredith P. Snyder
2		Ralph Luther Criswell (7th–Vermont Square)	July 5, 1921	July 1, 1923			George E. Cryer
3		Boyle Workman (4th–Wilshire Center)	July 1, 1923	June 30, 1925
			July 1, 1925	June 30, 1927
4		William G. Bonelli (14th–Eagle Rock)	July 1, 1927	June 30, 1929
5		Winfred J. Sanborn (9th–Boyle Heights)	July 1, 1929	June 30, 1931			John Clinton Porter
6		Charles H. Randall (1st–Sun Valley)	July 1, 1931	June 30, 1933
7		Howard W. Davis (7th–Vermont Square)	July 1, 1933	June 30, 1935			Frank L. Shaw
8		Robert L. Burns (4th–Wilshire Center)	July 1, 1935	June 30, 1937
			July 1, 1937	June 30, 1939
			July 1, 1939	June 30, 1941			Fletcher Bowron
9		G. Vernon Bennett (10th–University Park)	July 1, 1941	June 30, 1943
10		Robert L. Burns (4th–Wilshire Center)	July 1, 1943	June 30, 1945
11		George H. Moore (15th–Wilmington)	July 1, 1945	June 30, 1947
12		Harold A. Henry (4th–Windsor Square)	July 1, 1947	June 30, 1949
			July 1, 1949	June 30, 1951
			July 1, 1951	June 30, 1953
13		John S. Gibson Jr. (15th–San Pedro)	July 1, 1953	June 30, 1955			Norris Poulson
			July 1, 1955	June 30, 1957
			July 1, 1957	June 30, 1959
			July 1, 1959	June 30, 1961
14		Harold A. Henry (4th–Windsor Square)	July 1, 1961	June 30, 1963			Sam Yorty
15		L. E. Timberlake (6th–Gramercy Park)	July 1, 1963	June 30, 1965
			July 1, 1965	June 30, 1967	Thomas D. Shepard
			July 1, 1967	June 30, 1969	John S. Gibson Jr.
16		John S. Gibson Jr. (15th–San Pedro)	July 1, 1969	June 30, 1971	Billy G. Mills
			July 1, 1971	June 30, 1973
			July 1, 1973	June 30, 1975	Robert J. Stevenson		Tom Bradley
			July 1, 1975	June 30, 1977	John Ferraro
17		John Ferraro (4th–Hancock Park)	July 1, 1977	June 30, 1979	Joel Wachs	Ernani Bernardi
			July 1, 1979	June 30, 1981
18		Joel Wachs (2nd–Studio City)	July 1, 1981	June 30, 1983	Peggy Stevenson
19		Pat Russell (6th–Westchester)	July 1, 1983	June 30, 1985
			July 1, 1985	June 30, 1987	Joan Milke Flores
20		John Ferraro (4th–Hancock Park)	July 1, 1987	June 30, 1989	Marvin Braude
			July 1, 1989	June 30, 1991		Joan Milke Flores
			July 1, 1991	June 30, 1993
			July 1, 1993	June 30, 1995		Richard Alatorre	Richard J. Riordan
			July 1, 1995	June 30, 1997	Joel Wachs	Mike Hernandez
			July 1, 1997	June 30, 1999		Ruth Galanter
			July 1, 1999	April 17, 2001	Ruth Galanter	Rudy Svorinich
21		Ruth Galanter (6th–Venice)	April 17, 2001	July 1, 2001	Mark Ridley-Thomas
22		Alex Padilla (7th–Pacoima)	July 1, 2001	June 30, 2003		Cindy Miscikowski	James Hahn
			July 1, 2003	June 30, 2005	Cindy Miscikowski	Eric Garcetti
			July 1, 2005	January 1, 2006	Wendy Greuel	Tony Cárdenas	Antonio Villaraigosa
23		Eric Garcetti (13th–Echo Park)	January 1, 2006	June 30, 2007		Jan Perry
			July 1, 2007	June 30, 2009
			July 1, 2009	January 2, 2012	Jan Perry	Dennis Zine
24		Herb Wesson (10th–Mid City)	January 2, 2012	June 30, 2012	Ed Reyes	Tom LaBonge
			July 1, 2013	June 30, 2015	Mitchell Englander		Eric Garcetti
			July 1, 2015	June 30, 2017		Nury Martinez
			July 1, 2017	December 31, 2018
			January 15, 2019	June 30, 2019	Nury Martinez	Joe Buscaino
			July 1, 2019	January 5, 2020
25		Nury Martinez (6th–Sun Valley)	January 5, 2020	December 14, 2020	Joe Buscaino	David Ryu
			December 14, 2020	June 30, 2021		Vacant
			July 1, 2021	September 21, 2021
			October 1, 2021	October 10, 2022	Mitch O'Farrell
-	Mitch O'Farrell (13th–Echo Park) Acting President October 10 - 18, 2022				Vacant
26		Paul Krekorian (2nd–Toluca Lake)	October 18, 2022	October 25, 2022	Mitch O'Farrell
			October 25, 2022	December 12, 2022	Curren Price
			December 12, 2022	June 13, 2023			Karen Bass
			June 13, 2023	June 20, 2023	Vacant
			June 20, 2023	September 20, 2024	Marqueece Harris-Dawson	Bob Blumenfield
27		Marqueece Harris-Dawson (8th–Gramercy Park)	September 20, 2024	December 10, 2024	Bob Blumenfield	Vacant
			December 10, 2024	January 28, 2025
			January 28, 2025	Incumbent		Nithya Raman

References

1. "What Do City Council Members Do?". LA 101 Guide.
2. Newmark, Marco R. (1948). "Ordinances and Regulations of Los Angeles 1832-1888: Part I" . The Quarterly: Historical Society of Southern California. 30 (1). University of California Press: 26–41. doi:10.2307/41168148. JSTOR   41168148.
3. Chronological Record of Los Angeles City Officials,1850-1938, 1868-1869 section, page 11
4. Clare Wallace, Los Angeles Public Library Reference File, April 26, 1939, with sources as listed there
5. Stevens, Mark H. (December 1, 2004). "The Road to Reform: Los Angeles' Municipal Elections of 1909: Part II". University of California Press.
6. "Council President Timberlake Plans Retirement July 1," May 15, 1969, page B-1
7. "The Women of the Los Angeles City Council: Part Two". Los Angeles Public Library . March 15, 2021.
8. "Ca - Officials". Allgov.com. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
9. "Alex Padilla has been rising political star since his 20s, when he became L.A.'s youngest councilmember". KTLA . 2020-12-22.
10. "New LA City Council president Nury Martinez outlines her vision". Los Angeles Daily News . January 14, 2020.