Lieutenant Governor office comparison
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The office of Lieutenant Governor is an elected statewide executive office in 43 states. Two states - Tennessee and West Virginia - bestow the title of Lieutenant Governor on senate presidents. The five states that do not have a Lieutenant Governor position include Maine, Arizona, Wyoming, New Hampshire and Oregon.
In Alaska, Hawaii, New Jersey and Utah, the position of Lieutenant Governor is equivalent to that of Secretary of State.
In the majority of the states with the position, the role and duties of the lieutenant governor are similar, with the main responsibility being to act as Governor if the Governor is absent from office, and to succeed a Governor who dies, resigns, or is removed from office.
However, beyond that, the duties of the office are often not explicitly laid out, resulting in the position being largely shaped by the governor and the officeholder. This page compares the office from state to state, examining similarities and differences such as how they win office, term limits, authority, budget, and duties.
Current officeholders
Political parties
The chart below is a breakdown of the political parties pertaining to the state executive office of lieutenant governor. For other state executive offices, click here.
| Office |  Democratic
|
 Republican
|
 Independent
|
Nonpartisan | Total seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lt. Governor | 20 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 45 |
| Counts current as of October 2025. If you see an error, please email us Seat totals for each office may not match up with partisan totals due to current vacancies. | |||||
List of Current Lieutenant Governors
Note: In Hawaii, the lieutenant governor serves concurrently as the secretary of state. In Tennessee and West Virginia, the president of the Senate also serves as lieutenant governor and is elected from within the legislature.
Five states do not have a lieutenant governor position. Those states are: Arizona, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Wyoming.
Qualifications
Qualifications for the office of lieutenant governor vary widely from state to state.
Minimum age
43 states have a formal provision specifying minimum age, while two, Kansas and Massachusetts have no formal provision.[1]
Of the 43 states:
- 29 designate an officeholder must be at least 30 years of age
- 6 require a minimum age of 25. These include Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada and West Virginia.
- 6 require a minimum age of 18. These include California, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
- 1, South Dakota, sets the limit at 21.
- 1, Oklahoma, sets the limit at 31.
State Citizen
33 states have a formal provision stating a lieutenant governor must be a state citizen, while 12 do not have a formal provision. Of the 33 states, 15 specify the number of years and 18 do not.[1]
States that specify number of years as a state citizen:
- 1 year - West Virginia
- 2 years - Montana, Nevada, South Dakota
- 4 years - Vermont
- 5 years - Hawaii, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina
- 6 years - Kentucky
- 7 years - Alabama, Arkansas
- 10 years - Missouri, Oklahoma
U.S. citizen
43 states have a formal provision stating a lieutenant governor must be a United States citizen, while 2 - Kansas and North Dakota - do not have a formal provision. Of the 43 states, 12 specify the number of years and 31 do not.[1]
States that specify number of years as a United States citizen:
- 1 year - West Virginia
- 2 years - Iowa
- 5 years - Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina
- 7 years – Alaska
- 10 years – Alabama
- 12 years – Delaware
- 15 years – Georgia, Missouri
- 20 years - Mississippi, New Jersey
State Resident
43 states have a formal provision stating a lieutenant governor must be a state resident, while 2 - Kansas and North Dakota - do not have a formal provision. Of the 43 states, 32 specify the number of years and 11 do not.[1]
States that specify number of years as a state resident:
- 1 year - Minnesota, Wisconsin
- 2 years - Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, South Dakota
- 3 years - Illinois, Tennessee
- 4 years - Michigan, Vermont
- 5 years - California, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia
- 6 years - Delaware, Georgia
- 7 years - Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
- 10 years – Missouri
Qualified Voter
29 states have a formal provision stating a lieutenant governor must be a qualified voter, while 16 do not have a formal provision. Of the 29 states, 3 specify the number of years and 26 do not.[1]
States that specify number of years as a qualified voter:
Term Limits
- See also: State executives with term limits
Of the 43 Lieutenant Governors, 25 have term limits, while 18 do not. The two senate presidents (Tennessee and West Virginia) who are designated as lieutenant governors do not face legislative term limits, but do serve two-year terms. Of the elected lieutenant governors, all serve four-year terms with the exception of Vermont, who serves a two-year term.[2]
- 15 lieutenant governors are limited to serving two four-year terms. This includes Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.
- 8 are limited to serving two consecutive four-year terms, after which they must wait four years and/or one full term before being eligible again. These include Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Rhode Island and South Dakota.
- 1, Montana, is limited to two terms in any 16 year span.
- 1, Florida, is limited to two consecutive terms. These need not necessarily be two full terms: if a person has served more than six years in a row, he is considered to have served two terms. He can run again after remaining out of office for one term.
Authority
All 43 elected lieutenant governors derive their authority from their state's Constitution. The great majority of these were original state executive positions. Notable exceptions include:
- Established soon after the Civil War, the office of the Lieutenant Governor of Alabama was abolished with the 1875 Constitution and recreated in the 1901.[3]
- The Alaska Lieutenant Governor/Secretary of State ballot question, passed by voters in 1970, amended the state Constitution to change the name of the Secretary of State to the Lieutenant Governor, with all powers and duties remaining the same.
- The position of Arkansas Lieutenant Governor was established by a 1914 constitutional amendment, though the position was vacant until 1927 due to confusion over whether the amendment had actually been passed.[4]
- The New Jersey Lieutenant Governor took office for the first time in January 2010 following conjoint election with the governor of New Jersey. The position was created as the result of a Constitutional amendment to the New Jersey State Constitution passed by the voters on November 8, 2005 and effective as of January 17, 2006.
- The position of Utah Secretary of State was abolished by the legislature and became the lieutenant governor in 1980.[5]
The two states where senate presidents are given the title of lieutenant governor are unique:
- The Tennessee Speaker of the Senate has been the successor to the Governor since the first state Constitution of 1796 but did not receive the title of lieutenant governor until the enactment of a statutory law in 1951.[6]
- Similarly, the office of Lieutenant Governor of West Virginia does not exist in the state's constitution. Legislation in 2000 bestowed the title on the Senate President. In 2011, then acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (R) submitted a constitutional amendment to the legislature that would have created a new elected state executive position of lieutenant governor. It did not make it to the ballot in 2012.[7]
Recent attempts to abolish the office
On April 11, 2013, the Illinois House of Representatives approved a proposal seeking to eliminate the position of lieutenant governor by constitutional amendment. In order for the measure to be passed, it must win approval of both the State Senate and Illinois voters. If the proposal is approved in a statewide public vote, the office will remain intact for one final term following the 2014 election.[8] There have been at least 10 attempts to eliminate the office since 1970, but McSweeney's was the first to be passed by the House.[9]
Budget
Budgets for lieutenant governors vary widely and, as the office itself occupies different positions within the state government hierarchy, can be difficult to compare. For example, some lieutenant governors fall under the governor's budget, while some are separate offices. Meanwhile, the breakdown of budgets can be difficult, with exactly how much money is going towards what specific end often unclear. Thus, while no clear-cut comparison can easily be made, it is still worthwhile to look at some of the information that can be gleaned from state budgets.
- South Dakota's lieutenant governor is a division of the governor's office. For FY 2014, the lieutenant governor was allotted $33,480.[10]
- The Lieutenant Governor of Idaho received a budget of $142,800 for FY 2013 and $147,600 for FY 2014.[11]
- The South Carolina budget lists the lieutenant governor's office as a separate section. The total funds for the office in FY 2012-2013 were $39,168,199.[12]
- There is no budget for the office of Lieutenant Governor in New Jersey.[13] The current Lieutenant Governor, Kim Guadagno, serves as both Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State, and her budget is out of the Department of State. The budget for the Secretary of State's office in Fiscal Year 2013 was $3,376,000.[14]
- Similarly, in Ohio the office of the Lieutenant Governor does not receive a separate budget from the office of Governor. The Lieutenant Governor is sometimes appointed to head a government agency. According to The Plain Dealer this is so, "a governor can get around paying both the lieutenant governor’s salary and the salaries of the office’s staff. Also the lieutenant governor can collect a bigger salary heading an agency."[15] Current Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor also serves as Ohio Director of Insurance.
Salary
Easier to compare then budgets is yearly salaries (not necessarily total compensation) for lieutenant governors. The information in the following table comes from the annual Book of the States, a compilation of information collected by the Council of State Governments, a nonprofit organization sponsored by state governments.[16][17][18]
| State | 2013 Salary | 2013 Rank | 2012 Salary | 2012 Rank | 2010 Salary | 2010 Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $134,592 | 5 | $134,592 | 5 | $73,488 | 33 |
| Alaska | $115,000 | 12 | $115,000 | 13 | $100,000 | 20 |
| Arkansas | $41,896 | 40 | $41,896 | 40 | $42,219 | 39 |
| California | $130,490 | 6 | $130,490 | 6 | $130,490 | 6 |
| Colorado | $68,500 | 33 | $68,500 | 34 | $68,500 | 35 |
| Connecticut | $110,000 | 17 | $110,000 | 18 | $110,000 | 15 |
| Delaware | $78,553 | 28 | $77,775 | 31 | $74,345 | 32 |
| Florida | $124,851 | 8 | $124,851 | 8 | $124,851 | 9 |
| Georgia | $91,609 | 22 | $91,609 | 22 | $91,609 | 24 |
| Hawaii | $114,420 | 15 | $114,420 | 15 | $114,420 | 14 |
| Idaho | $35,100 | 42 | $30,400 | 42 | $30,400 | 41 |
| Illinois | $135,669 | 4 | $135,669 | 4 | $135,700 | 5 |
| Indiana | $85,881 | 26 | $84,031 | 28 | $79,192 | 28 |
| Iowa | $103,212 | 20 | $103,212 | 21 | $103,212 | 18 |
| Kansas | $54,000 | 38 | $54,000 | 38 | $100,000 | 19 |
| Kentucky | $115,593 | 11 | $113,615 | 16 | $108,720 | 16 |
| Louisiana | $115,000 | 13 | $115,000 | 12 | $115,000 | 12 |
| Maryland | $125,000 | 7 | $125,000 | 7 | $125,000 | 7 |
| Massachusetts | $124,295 | 10 | $124,295 | 9 | $124,920 | 8 |
| Michigan | $111,510 | 16 | $111,510 | 17 | $123,900 | 10 |
| Minnesota | $78,197 | 29 | $78,197 | 29 | $78,197 | 30 |
| Mississippi | $60,000 | 37 | $61,714 | 35 | $61,714 | 36 |
| Missouri | $86,484 | 24 | $86,484 | 24 | $86,484 | 25 |
| Montana | $86,362 | 25 | $86,362 | 25 | $79,007 | 29 |
| Nebraska | $75,000 | 32 | $75,000 | 33 | $75,000 | 31 |
| Nevada | $63,648 | 34 | $60,000 | 37 | $60,000 | 38 |
| New Jersey | $141,000 | 3 | $141,000 | 3 | $141,000 | 4 |
| New Mexico | $85,000 | 27 | $85,000 | 27 | $85,000 | 26 |
| New York | $151,500 | 2 | $151,500 | 2 | $151,500 | 1 |
| North Carolina | $124,676 | 9 | $123,198 | 10 | $123,198 | 11 |
| North Dakota | $90,828 | 23 | $85,614 | 26 | $81,540 | 27 |
| Ohio | $78,041 | 30 | $78,041 | 30 | $142,501 | 3 |
| Oklahoma | $114,713 | 14 | $114,713 | 14 | $114,713 | 13 |
| Pennsylvania | $157,293 | 1 | $153,907 | 1 | $146,926 | 2 |
| Rhode Island | $108,808 | 18 | $108,808 | 19 | $99,214 | 22 |
| South Carolina | $46,545 | 39 | $46,545 | 39 | $100,000 | 21 |
| South Dakota | $61,800 (Part-time) | 35 | $120,000 | 11 | $17,699 | 42 |
| Texas | $7,200 | 43 | $7,200 | 43 | $7,200 | 43 |
| Utah | $104,000 | 19 | $104,000 | 20 | $104,405 | 17 |
| Vermont | $60,507 | 36 | $60,507 | 36 | $60,507 | 37 |
| Virginia | $36,221 | 41 | $36,321 | 41 | $36,321 | 40 |
| Washington | $93,948 | 21 | $91,129 | 23 | $93,948 | 23 |
| Wisconsin | $76,261 | 31 | $76,261 | 32 | $72,394 | 34 |
Elected or Appointed
Only two states do not have direct elections for lieutenant governor - Tennessee and West Virginia. In both states, whomever is elected the President of the State Senate is the de facto Lieutenant Governor. In Tennessee, the full title of this individual is, "Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the Senate." In West Virginia, recent legislation allows the Senate President to use the title, "Lieutenant Governor." Prior to that change, West Virginia did not have a lieutenant governor.
Of the 43 states that elect lieutenant governors, there are three methods by which officeholders are chosen:
- on a single ticket in both the primary and general elections (20 states)
- Colorado • Connecticut • Florida • Hawaii • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Maryland • Michigan • Minnesota • Montana • Nebraska • New Jersey • New Mexico • North Dakota • Ohio • South Dakota • Utah • Wisconsin
- separately in the primary election; for the general election each party's ticket for Governor and Lt. Governor is made up of the highest vote getters in the separate primary elections (6 states)
- Alaska • Illinois • Louisiana • Massachusetts • New York • Pennsylvania
- entirely separate elections for governor and lt. governor (17 states)
- Alabama • Arkansas • California • Delaware • Georgia • Idaho • Mississippi • Missouri • Nevada • North Carolina • Oklahoma • Rhode Island • South Carolina • Texas • Vermont • Virginia • Washington
Duties
The powers and duties of lieutenant governors come from a variety of sources - gubernatorial appointment, statute, the Constitution, direct democracy action and personal initiative.[19][20]
- All 43 elected lieutenant governors are the first in line of succession to the governor's office. The two senate presidents in Tennessee and West Virginia, who are bestowed with the title of lieutenant governor, are the first in line. In the five states without lieutenant governors, the senate presidents in New Hampshire and Maine are the first, while the secretary of states in Arizona, Oregon and Wyoming are first in line.[21]
- 27 lieutenant governors serve as President of the Senate. 23 have the power to break roll-call ties.
- 11 lieutenant governors appoint committees.
- 8 lieutenant governors have the power to assign bills. With the exception of Vermont, all of these are in southern states.
- Governors in 25 states have the authority to assign duties to the lieutenant governor. In 23 states, the lieutenant governor serves as a member of the governor’s cabinet or advisory body.
- 33 lieutenant governors serve as acting governor when the governor is out of the state.
See also
Other comparison articles
- Gubernatorial Power Comparison, 2012
- Attorney General office comparison
- Secretary of State office comparison
External links
- National Lieutenant Governor's Association
- The Council of State Governments, "The Constant Evolution of the Office of Lieutenant Governor," July 1, 2011
- The Council of State Governments, "The Office of Lieutenant Governor: A Bedrock Principle," July 2, 2012
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The Council of State Governments, "Book of the States, Table 4.13 - Lieutenant Governors: Qualifications and Terms," accessed October 21, 2013
- ↑ The Council of State Governments, "Book of the States, Table 4.9 - Constitutional and Statutory Provisions for Number of Consecutive Terms of Elected State Officials," accessed October 21, 2013
- ↑ Alabama Department of Archives and History, " Alabama Lieutenant Governors," accessed October 22, 2013
- ↑ Arkansas Lieutenant Governor, " Office History," accessed October 22, 2013
- ↑ Utah Department of Administrative Services, " Governor – Agency History #446," accessed October 22, 2013
- ↑ Lexis-Nexis, "Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-2-101," accessed December 28, 2012
- ↑ Register Herald, "Tomblin proposes lieutenant governor," February 22, 2011
- ↑ The Chicago Tribune, "House votes to eliminate lieutenant governor post," April 12, 2013
- ↑ Chicago Tribune, "A job nobody would miss: Illinois lieutenant governor," April 29, 2013
- ↑ Bureau of Finance and Management, "State of South Dakota Budget in Brief Fiscal Year 2014," accessed June 22, 2013
- ↑ Idaho 2013 Legislative Fiscal Report, "Lieutenant Governor," accessed October 24, 2013
- ↑ South Carolina General Assembly, "H. 4813 General Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2012-2013 - Section 73 Lieutenant Governor's office," accessed October 24, 2013
- ↑ PolitickerNK, "Gov's Office takes issue with AP salary story," accessed June 24, 2013
- ↑ New Jersey Department of the Treasury, "FY 2013 Appropriations Act," accessed April 16, 2013
- ↑ Cleveland.com, "Undefined role for Ohio's lieutenant governor often leads to double duty," accessed June 22, 2013
- ↑ Council of State Governments, "2013 Book of the States - Table 4.11 Selected State Administrative Officials: Annual Salaries," accessed October 24, 2013
- ↑ Council of State Governments, "2012 Book of the States - Table 4.11 Selected State Administrative Officials: Annual Salaries," accessed October 24, 2013
- ↑ Council of State Governments, "2010 Book of the States - Table 4.11 Selected State Administrative Officials: Annual Salaries," accessed October 24, 2013
- ↑ The Council of State Governments, " The Office of Lieutenant Governor," accessed October 21, 2013
- ↑ The Council of State Governments, "Book of the States, Table 4.14 - Lieutenant Governors: Powers and Duties," accessed October 21, 2013
- ↑ The Council of State Governments, "Lieutenant Governors and the Role of Succession," July 1, 2011
