Ortwin Runde (born 12 February 1944) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

He was the First Mayor (Erster Bürgermeister) of the Free and Hanseatic City Hamburg from 1997 to 2001.

After receiving his high-school diploma in 1964, Runde studied Economics and Sociology at the universities of Münster and Hamburg.

After Henning Voscherau (SPD) stepped down after internal arguments over with whom a political coalition should be formed, Runde was elected as First Mayor of the Free and Hanseatic City Hamburg on 12 November 1997.

In the next election four years later, the coalition of SPD and the Green Party lost its majority,[1] and therefore Runde had to leave his office as mayor as well on 31 October 2001.