Dave Bieter

Bieter ran for a fifth term as mayor in the 2019 Boise mayoral election, finishing second place behind City Council President Lauren McLean in a field of seven candidates. As no candidate won 50 percent of votes cast, McLean and Bieter competed again in a runoff scheduled December 3, 2019. McLean defeated Bieter, earning 65 percent of votes cast to his 35.

Bieter won a fourth term in 2015, defeating Judy Peavey-Derr and Seth Holden with 69 percent of the vote. Bieter is the first Boise mayor to win four four-year terms and the first Boise mayor to win a fourth term since R. E. Edlefsen in 1957. With the win Bieter became the longest-serving mayor in the city's history.

Under Bieter, Boise has expanded the purchase of open space and easements in the foothills areas north of the city to protect wildlife habitat, water quality, and recreation opportunities. In 2015, a ballot measure authorizing additional property taxes to support foothills preservation passed with 74 percent approval; two years later the same measure, resubmitted to voters to correct a clerical error, passed with 83 percent approval.

In 2015, Bieter was instrumental in creation of Trailhead, a non-profit business incubator supported by the City of Boise, its redevelopment agency, and local entrepreneurs. He also worked with the Boise School District to launch Idaho's first public preschool program; after just two years, a study showed a sizable increase in reading scores.

Bieter easily won a third four-year term as mayor in November 2011, defeating David B. Hall with 74 percent of the vote. He was the first Boise mayor to win a third four-year term since Richard Eardley in 1981.

Bieter was an early supporter of Barack Obama in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. He was a Hillary Clinton delegate for Idaho at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

In 2005, Basque President Juan José Ibarretxe presented Bieter with an award for his work to promote Basque culture around the world.

In 2004, Bieter was elected Boise mayor in an open-seat, nonpartisan contest, defeating Republican Party activist Chuck Winder and Ada County Sheriff Vaughn Killeen. He was reelected in 2007 with 64 percent of the vote, defeating city councilman Jim Tibbs.

Pat and Eloise Bieter were killed in an automobile accident in 1999.

In 1999, Bieter was appointed to the Idaho House of Representatives as a Democrat to succeed his late father, Pat Bieter, in District 19 (North Boise). Bieter was elected to a full term in 2000 and reelected in 2002.

Bieter married his wife Julia in 1998, and they have one daughter.

Bieter earned a bachelor's degree in international studies from University of St. Thomas in Minnesota and a J.D. degree from the University of Idaho in Moscow. He was admitted to the Idaho State Bar in 1986.

Born in Boise, Bieter graduated from Bishop Kelly High School in 1978. He was third of five children born to John Patrick "Pat" Bieter (born 1930) and Eloise Garmendia Bieter (born 1925).

Pat was a Midwesterner of German descent; Eloise was the daughter of immigrants from the Basque region of Spain. A teacher and college professor, Pat became active in Boise's Basque community and started the Basque studies program at Boise State University, taking 75 students, seven faculty, and his wife and five children to live in the Franco-era Basque Country for the 1974-75 academic year, when David was a freshman in high school.

David Harold Bieter (born November 1, 1959) is an American politician and attorney who served as mayor of Boise from 2004 to 2020. He is the longest-serving mayor in the city's history. According to The New York Times, he was the only Basque-speaking mayor in the United States as of 2012.