Irma L. Anderson was the elected mayor of the city of Richmond, California serving between 2001 and 2006. She ran for re-election as the incumbent Democrat in the 2006 mayoral race and lost to Green Party challenger councilperson Gayle McLaughlin by 192 votes. Anderson earned both RN and BSN degrees from Cornell University. She also earned an MPH at the school of public health of University of California, Berkeley and was a high school valedictorian.