The inaugural Tees Valley mayoral election was held on 4 May 2017 to elect the mayor of the Tees Valley Combined Authority. The mayor was elected by the supplementary vote system. Subsequent elections will be held in May 2021 and every four years after 2024.^[1][2]

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2017 Tees Valley mayoral election

4 May 2017 2021 →
Turnout	21.3%
Candidate Ben Houchen Sue Jeffrey Party Conservative Labour Co-op 1st Round vote 40,278 39,797 Percentage 39.5% 39.0% 2nd Round vote 48,578 46,400 Percentage 51.1% 48.9%   Candidate Chris Foote Wood John Tennant Party Liberal Democrats UKIP 1st Round vote 12,550 9,475 Percentage 12.3% 9.3% 2nd Round vote Eliminated Eliminated Percentage Eliminated Eliminated
Second round by local authorities First round by local authorities
Mayor before election Position established Elected Mayor Ben Houchen Conservative

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North East England was considered a Labour stronghold and prior to the election, the Labour candidate Sue Jeffrey was considered the overwhelming favourite.^[3] The eventual victory of the Conservative candidate Ben Houchen was reported as a shock and a poor result for Labour following their losses in the local elections that same day.^[4]

Following a devolution deal between the UK government and the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA), it was agreed to introduce a directly-elected mayor for the combined authority, with an initial election to be held in May 2017. The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 required a directly-elected metro mayor for combined authorities to receive additional powers from central government.^[5]