Esther Manheimer was first elected to the Asheville City Council in 2009 and was elected vice mayor by her peers in 2011. She was elected mayor in 2013 and re-elected in 2017 and 2022. Her current term runs through December 2026. A graduate of Asheville High School, Mayor Manheimer earned her juris doctor and master’s in public administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She earned her bachelor’s from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Mayor Manheimer is a partner in the Van Winkle Law Firm in Asheville, where she specializes in land litigation. She is married to Mark Harris, a social studies teacher at Enka High School and coach of Enka’s award-winning wrestling team. They have three sons, and a rescue dog named Sochi.