Governor of Michigan

Michigan Governor
General information
Office Type:	Partisan
Office website:	Official Link
Term limits:	2 terms
Structure
Length of term:	4 years
Authority:	Michigan Constitution, Article V, Section I
Selection Method:	Elected
Current Officeholder
Name:	Rick Snyder
Officeholder Party:	Republican
Assumed office:	January 1, 2011
Compensation:	$177,000
Elections
Next election:	November 4, 2014
Last election:	November 2, 2010
Other Michigan Executive Offices
Governor • Lieutenant Governor • Secretary of State • Attorney General • Treasurer • Auditor • Superintendent of Public Instruction • Director of Agriculture and Rural Development • Insurance Commissioner • Natural Resources Director • Labor Director • Public Service Commission

The Governor of the State of Michigan is an elected Constitutional officer, the head of the Executive branch, and the highest state office in Michigan. The Governor is popularly elected every four years by a plurality and is limited to two terms.

From statehood until the election of 1966, governors were elected to two-year terms. Elections are held in November and the governor assumes office the following January, except in the case of death or resignation. From statehood until 1851, elections were held in odd-numbered years. A new state constitution was drafted in 1850 and took effect in 1851. As part of the process bringing the constitution into effect, there was a single one-year term of governor in 1851. Thereafter elections were held on even years.

The constitution adopted in 1963 changed the governor's term to four years, starting in 1967. Since then, gubernatorial elections have been offset by two years from U.S. Presidential elections (e.g., Presidential elections were in 2000 and 2004, gubernatorial elections were in 1998 and 2002). The winner of the gubernatorial election takes office at noon on January 1 of the year following the election.

In 1992, an amendment to the Michigan constitution imposed a lifetime term limit of two four-year terms for the office of governor. Prior to this, they were not limited as to how many terms they could serve; John Engler, the governor at the time, was exempt from the rule and served three terms, re-elected in 1994 and 1998 before retiring in 2003.

As of May 2013, Michigan is one of 24 Republican state government trifectas.

Current officeholder

The 48th and current governor is Rick Snyder, a Republican elected in 2010.

Authority

The state Constitution addresses the office of the governor in Article V, the Executive Department.

Under Article V, Section I:

The executive power is vested in the governor.

Qualifications

Governors
Current Governors
Gubernatorial Elections
2013 • 2012 • 2011 • 2010 Lists of candidates
Current Lt. Governors
Lt. Governor Elections
2013 • 2012 • 2011 • 2010
Breaking news

A candidate for governor is required, under Section 22, to be:

• at least 30 years old
• a registered voter in the state of Michigan for at least four years preceding the election

Elections

Michigan elects governors in the midterm elections, that is, even years that are not Presidential election years. For Michigan, 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 are all gubernatorial election years. Legally, the gubernatorial inauguration is always set for the first day of the New Year following an election. Thus, January 1, 2011 and January 1, 2015 are inaugural days.

Term limits

See also: States with gubernatorial term limits

Michigan governors are restricted to two terms in office during their lifetime.

Michigan Constitution, Article V, Section 30

No person shall be elected more than two times to each office of the executive branch of government: governor ... Any person appointed or elected to fill a vacancy in the office of governor ... for a period greater than one half of a term of such office, shall be considered to have been elected to serve one time in that office for purposes of this section. This limitation on the number of times a person shall be elected to office shall apply to terms of office beginning on or after January 1, 1993.

Partisan composition

The chart below shows the partisan breakdown of Maryland State Governors from 1992-2013.

Vacancies

See also: How gubernatorial vacancies are filled

Details of vacancy appointments are addressed under Article V, Section 26.

In the event of the governor's death, resignation, impeachment and conviction, or removal from office, the line of succession begins with the Lieutenant Governor, the elected Secretary of State, and then the elected Attorney General.

The same line of succession applies if a Governor-elect dies, which the caveat that it is the elected, or re-elected, individuals who would have taken office in the New Year.

For the temporary absence or inability of the governor, the same individuals will take over the office, but only until the governor returns or recovers. Determining a permanent inability of the governor is at the discretion of the Supreme Court of Michigan, which shall take up the matter only after receiving a joint petition from the President Pro Tem of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. If a majority of the Court rules that the governor is indeed unfit for office, that determination shall be final and may only be reversed by the same Court.

Duties

Michigan's governor is the commander-in-chief of the state's militia (§ 12), upholds and executes all laws (§ 8), and is the final supervisor of all principle departments of the government. She may initiate court proceedings in the name of the state to enforce all laws, except she may not initiate such proceeding against the legislature. (§ 8)

Respecting the Constitutional upper bound of 20 departments, the governor may reorganize offices of the state government and reallocate functions among those offices. (§ 2) The single officers and the boards and commissions that head each department are gubernatorial appointees, unless their election or appointment by another method is explicitly prescribed in law.(§ 3).

Under § 7, all appointments that legally require Senatorial advice and consent shall be put forth by the governor. Any nominee who is rejected by the Senate is ineligible for an interim appointment to the same office.

The governor may request information and reports from any department and any executive officer, and may remove or suspend such officers for corruption, neglect, and incompetence. Such privileges to remove and suspend officer does not extend to the legislature or the judiciary. (§ 10). In such cases, the governor may make an interim appointment until the suspension is removed or until a vacancy election is held. (§ 11) Concerning legislative vacancies, the governor issues a writ calling a special election to replace both Representatives and Senators who vacate their office. (§ 13).

Other duties and privileges of the office include:

• Granting reprieves, pardons, and commutations except in cases of impeachment. Once a year, the governor must address the legislature stating his reasons for each pardon (§ 14)

• Convening extraordinary sessions of the legislature (§ 15) and moving the meeting place of the legislature when the seat of government is in danger (§ 16)

• Addressing the legislature at the start of each regular session and at other times she deems prudent on the condition of the state and delivering her recommendations (§ 17)

• Submitting a budget once a year that covers the next fiscal period, in which proposed expenditures may not exceed proposed revenues. The governor may also proposes amendments to any appropriation bill under consideration in either chamber (§ 18) If expenditures are later predicted to exceed revenue, the governor shall work with the appropriations committees of both houses to bring spending back into balance (§ 20)

Compensation

See also: Comparison of gubernatorial salaries and Compensation of state executive officers

In 2012, the Michigan Governor was paid an estimated $177,000 according to the Council of State Governments.

Article V, Section 23 of the Michigan Constitution defines the method by which the Governor's compensation is set:

The governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and attorney general shall each receive the compensation provided by law in full payment for all services performed and expenses incurred during his term of office. Such compensation shall not be changed during the term of office except as otherwise provided in this constitution.

History

Partisan balance 1992-2013

See also: Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States and Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Michigan’’

Partisan breakdown of the Michigan governorship from 1992-2013

From 1992-2013, in Michigan there were Democratic governors in office for eight years while there were Republican governors in office for 14 years, including the last three. Michigan was under Republican trifectas for the last three years of the study period.

Across the country, there were 493 years of Democratic governors (44.82%) and 586 years of Republican governors (53.27%) from 1992-2013.

Over the course of the 22-year study, state governments became increasingly more partisan. At the outset of the study period (1992), 18 of the 49 states with partisan legislatures had single-party trifectas and 31 states had divided governments. In 2013, only 13 states have divided governments, while single-party trifectas held sway in 36 states, the most in the 22 years studied.

The chart below shows the partisan composition of the Office of the Governor of Michigan, the Michigan State Senate and the Michigan House of Representatives from 1992-2013.

Historical officeholders (1835-Present)

There have been 48 Governors of Michigan since 1835. Of the 48 governors, 17 were Democratic, 28 were Republican, 2 were Whigs, and 1 was Democratic (Fusionist).

List of Former Officeholders from 1835-Present
#	Name	Tenure	Party
1	Stevens T. Mason	1835-1840	Democratic
2	William Woodbridge *	1840-1841	Whig
3	James Wright Gordon	1841	Whig
4	John S. Barry	1842-1846	Democratic
5	Alpheus Felch **	1846-1847	Democratic
6	Whigilliam L. Greenly	1847	Democratic
7	Epaphroditus Ransom	1848-1850	Democratic
8	John S. Barry	1850-1851	Democratic
9	Robert McClelland	1852-1853	Democratic
10	Andrew Parsons	1853-1854	Democratic
11	Kinsley S. Bingham	1855-1858	Republican
12	Moses Wisner	1859-1860	Republican
13	Austin Blair	1861-1864	Republican
14	Henry H. Crapo	1865-1868	Republican
15	Henry P. Baldwin	1869-1872	Republican
16	John J. Bagley	1873-1876	Republican
17	Charles M. Croswell	1877-1880	Republican
18	David H. Jerome	1881-1882	Republican
19	Josiah W. Begole	1883-1884	Democratic (Fusionist)
20	Russell A. Alger	1885-1886	Republican
21	Cyrus G. Luce	1887-1890	Republican
22	Edwin B. Winans	1891-1892	Democratic
23	John T. Rich	1893-1896	Republican
24	Hazen S. Pingree	1897-1900	Republican
25	Aaron T. Bliss	1901-1904	Republican
26	Fred M. Warner	1905-1910	Republican
27	Chase S. Osborn	1911-1912	Republican
28	Woodbridge N. Ferris	1913-1916	Democratic
29	Albert E. Sleeper	1917-1920	Republican
30	Alexander J. Groesbeck	1921-1926	Republican
31	Fred W. Green	1927-1930	Republican
32	Wilber M. Brucker	1931-1932	Republican
33	William A. Comstock	1933-1934	Democratic
34	Frank D. Fitzgerald	1935-1936	Republican
35	Frank Murphy	1937-1938	Democratic
36	Frank D. Fitzgerald ***	1939	Republican
37	Luren D. Dickinson	1939-1940	Republican
38	Murray D. Van Wagoner	1941-1942	Democratic
39	Harry F. Kelly	1943-1946	Republican
40	Kim Sigler	1947-1948	Republican
41	G. Mennen Williams	1949-1960	Democratic
42	John B. Swainson	1961-1962	Democratic
43	George Romney	1963-1969	Republican
44	William G. Milliken	1969-1982	Republican
45	James J. Blanchard	1983-1990	Democratic
46	John M. Engler	1991-2002	Republican
47	Jennifer M. Granholm	2003-2010	Democratic
48	Rick Snyder	2011-Present	Republican
* Resigned February 24, 1841, to become a U.S. senator ** Resigned March 3, 1847, to become a U.S. senator *** Died in office, March 16, 1939

Contact information

Governor Rick Snyder
P.O. Box 30013
Lansing, Michigan 48909
PHONE: (517) 373-3400
FAX:(517) 335-6863

See also

• Michigan Governor Rick Snyder
• Lieutenant Governor of Michigan
• Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley
• Michigan Attorney General
• Michigan Secretary of State

External links

Suggest a link

• Office of the Michigan Governor