List of mayors of Ponce, Puerto Rico

This is a list of mayors of Ponce, Puerto Rico's southern economic center, the island's second largest and second most important city.

From 1692 to 1840, the office of mayor in Ponce was filled either by local hacendados or by military officers appointed by the governor, depending on whether the political situation on Spain at the time was that of a constitutional or an absolutist government. From 1840 to 1870, mayors were oftentimes elected by the municipal council, whose members were called regidores. In 1870, political parties were created for the first time and municipal officials were elected by the people at large, and the mayor, as well as the members of the municipal council, would belong to one of the two parties active, either the Partido Liberal Reformista or the Partido Incondicional Español. With the advent of the American political system in Puerto Rico after the American invasion of 1898, the mayor was elected by popular vote, which is the system still (2019) in place.

Ponce's first mayor was Don Pedro Sánchez de Mathos, in 1692, appointed by governor Juan Robles de Lorenzana. Ponce elected its first mayor (as well as its first Municipal Assembly) on 20 September 1812. Its first elected mayor was José Ortiz de la Renta, who took office in 1812. Ortiz de la Renta occupied the post of mayor on eight occasions between 1812 and 1846.

The mayor of Ponce is Luis Irizarry Pabón, elected in 2020, from the Partido Popular Democratico and who succeeded María "Mayita" Meléndez Altieri of the Partido Nuevo Progresista. Mayita had been the first woman elected to the office of mayor by the people of Ponce in its extensive political history. She was also the first mayor of a party other than the Popular Democratic Party in Ponce since 1989, when Rafael "Churumba" Cordero Santiago won the elections and took the oath of office that same year.

Current Mayor Luis Irizarry Pabon was discharged on November 1 2023 for Corruption charges, in succession, the Vice-Mayor Marlese Sifre was appointed to be the in charge of the municipality.

Throughout the centuries the Ponce municipal heads of government listed here as "mayors" may have held titles different from the modern title of "Mayor". Some of the other titles held were Teniente a guerra, Corregidor, Alcalde mayor, Alcalde ordinario, Justicia mayor, Alcalde constitucional, Alcalde en propiedad, Alcalde real ordinario, and Comandante militar. Regardless of the titles held, the people listed here were the maximum civil authority at the municipal level. In the lists that follow, "Alcalde" refers to the Spanish colonial position attained via election by the regidores (council members) of the municipal council, and refers to someone who had both judicial and administrative functions. "Mayor", on the other hand, refers to a local executive, elected by the people, with administrative functions only.

18th century
Source: Eduardo Neumann Gandía, Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico, and Neysa Rodríguez Deynes.

19th century
Sources: Eduardo Neumann Gandía, Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico, and Neysa Rodríguez Deynes.

Other mayors
Following is a list of other Ponce mayors according to Enciclopedia Puerto Rico but which are not accounted for in the 1913 historical account by Eduardo Neumann Gandía, Verdadera y Auténtica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce: Desde sus Primitivos Tiempos hasta la Época Contemporánea. Source: Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico. Some of the names in this list (such as Tomás de Renovales, Francisco Vassallo and Antonio Toro) are listed in Neumann's book, but not for the additional time periods indicated in Enciclopedia Puerto Rico (and, thus, in the table that follows). The positions held are all generically listed as "Alcalde" as a placeholder; but, at least for some of them, based on the time periods Enciclopedia Puerto Rico states they served, likely held a title other than "Alcalde".

Pre-1692 mayors
Historians Eli D. Oquendo Rodriguez (De Criadero a Partido: Ojeada a la historia de los orígenes de Ponce, 1645-1810. 2015. p. 31.) and Francisco Lluch Mora (Orígenes y Fundación de Ponce. 2006, p. 101.) allude to various other Ponce municipal magistrates in the years preceding 1692. Among them are Juan de Quiñones (Lluch Mora), and Juan Quiñones, Pedro Sanchez, Juan Joseph Ortiz, and Andres Martinez de Quiñones (Oquendo Rodriguez).