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The lieutenant governor is the second-highest-ranking government official in 45 of the 50 U.S. states and four of the five territories. In those states and territories, it is the first in the line of succession in case of a vacancy in the office of governor (note: in Massachusetts and West Virginia, the lieutenant governor only assumes powers & duties as acting governor, not succeeding to the governorship), while in the remaining states and territories another office holds that status. Currently, 26 states elect a lieutenant governor on a ticket with the governor, while 17 states elect a lieutenant governor separately. In West Virginia, the president of the Senate, as elected by the State Senators, serves as the state's lieutenant governor. In Tennessee, the State Senators elect a Speaker of the Senate, who in turn serves as lieutenant governor. Four states and one inhabited territory do not have a lieutenant governor.

List of lieutenant governors by state

In the table below, "term ends" indicates the year the current lieutenant governor will leave office; a notation (term limits) after the year indicates that the current lieutenant governor is ineligible to seek re-election in that year. A notation of (retiring) after the year indicates that the current lieutenant governor is leaving office that year, having not sought re-election. A notation of (defeated) indicates that the current lieutenant governor was defeated for re-election.

State	Image	Lieutenant governor	Party	Prior public experience	Start of term	End of term	Chosen by
Alabama (list)		Will Ainsworth	Republican	Alabama House	January 14, 2019	2027	Separate election
Alaska (list)		Nancy Dahlstrom	Republican	Commissioner of Alaska Department of Corrections Alaska House	December 5, 2022	2026	Same ticket
Arkansas (list)		Leslie Rutledge	Republican	Attorney General	January 10, 2023	2027	Separate election
California (list)		Eleni Kounalakis	Democratic	United States Ambassador to Hungary	January 7, 2019	2027 (term limits)	Separate election
Colorado (list)		Dianne Primavera	Democratic	Colorado House	January 8, 2019	2027	Same ticket
Connecticut (list)		Susan Bysiewicz	Democratic	Secretary of the State of Connecticut Connecticut House	January 9, 2019	2027	Same ticket in the general elections; Separate elections in the primaries
Delaware (list)		Bethany Hall-Long	Democratic	Delaware Senate Delaware House	January 17, 2017	2025	Separate election
Florida (list)		Jeanette Nuñez	Republican	Florida House	January 8, 2019	2027 (term limits)	Same ticket
Georgia (list)		Burt Jones	Republican	Georgia Senate	January 9, 2023	2027	Separate election
Hawaii (list)		Sylvia Luke	Democratic	Hawaii House	December 5, 2022	2026	Same ticket in the general elections; Separate elections in the primaries
Idaho (list)		Scott Bedke	Republican	Idaho House Speaker	January 2, 2023	2027	Separate election
Illinois (list)		Juliana Stratton	Democratic	Illinois House	January 14, 2019	2027	Same ticket
Indiana (list)		Suzanne Crouch	Republican	Auditor Indiana House	January 9, 2017	2025 (retiring)	Same ticket in the general elections; Separate elections in the primaries
Iowa (list)		Chris Cournoyer	Republican	Iowa Senate	December 16, 2024	2027	Same ticket
Kansas (list)		David Toland	Democratic	State Secretary of Commerce	January 2, 2021	2027	Same ticket
Kentucky (list)		Jacqueline Coleman	Democratic	No prior offices	December 10, 2019	2027 (term limits)	Same ticket
Louisiana (list)		Billy Nungesser	Republican	Plaquemines Parish President	January 11, 2016	2028	Separate election
Maryland (list)		Aruna Miller	Democratic	Maryland House of Delegates	January 18, 2023	2027	Same ticket
Massachusetts (list)		Kim Driscoll	Democratic	Mayor of Salem	January 5, 2023	2027	Same ticket in the general elections; Separate elections in the primaries
Michigan (list)		Garlin Gilchrist	Democratic	No prior offices	January 1, 2019	2027 (term limits)	Same ticket
Minnesota (list)		Peggy Flanagan	Democratic (DFL)	Minnesota House	January 7, 2019	2027	Same ticket
Mississippi (list)		Delbert Hosemann	Republican	Mississippi Secretary of State	January 14, 2020	2028 (term limits)	Separate election
Missouri (list)		Mike Kehoe	Republican	Missouri Senate	June 18, 2018	2025 (retiring)	Separate election
Montana (list)		Kristen Juras	Republican	No prior offices	January 4, 2021	2025	Same ticket
Nebraska (list)		Joe Kelly	Republican	United States Attorney for the District of Nebraska	January 5, 2023	2027	Same ticket
Nevada (list)		Stavros Anthony	Republican	Las Vegas City Council	January 2, 2023	2027	Separate election
New Jersey (list)		Tahesha Way	Democratic	Secretary of State Passaic County Freeholder	September 8, 2023	2026	Same ticket
New Mexico (list)		Howie Morales	Democratic	New Mexico Senate Grant County Clerk	January 1, 2019	2027	Same ticket in the general elections; Separate elections in the primaries
New York (list)		Antonio Delgado	Democratic	U.S. House	May 25, 2022	2026	Same ticket in the general elections; Separate elections in the primaries
North Carolina (list)		Mark Robinson	Republican	No prior offices	January 9, 2021	2025 (retiring)	Separate election
North Dakota (list)		Michelle Strinden	Republican	North Dakota House	December 15, 2024	2028	Same ticket
Ohio (list)		Jon Husted	Republican	Secretary of State Ohio Senate House Speaker Ohio House	January 14, 2019	2027	Same ticket
Oklahoma (list)		Matt Pinnell	Republican	Chair of the Oklahoma Republican Party	January 14, 2019	2027	Separate election
Pennsylvania (list)		Austin Davis	Democratic	Pennsylvania House	January 17, 2023	2027	Same ticket in the general elections; Separate elections in the primaries
Rhode Island (list)		Sabina Matos	Democratic	Providence City Council	April 14, 2021	2027	Separate election
South Carolina (list)		Pamela Evette	Republican	No prior offices	January 9, 2019	2027	Same ticket
South Dakota (list)		Larry Rhoden	Republican	South Dakota House Speaker	January 5, 2019	2027	Same ticket
Tennessee (list)		Randy McNally	Republican	Tennessee Senate Tennessee House	January 10, 2017	2027	State Senate
Texas (list)		Dan Patrick	Republican	Texas Senate	January 20, 2015	2027	Separate election
Utah (list)		Deidre Henderson	Republican	Utah Senate	January 4, 2021	2025	Same ticket
Vermont (list)		David Zuckerman	Progressive	Lieutenant Governor of Vermont (2017–2021) Vermont Senate Vermont House of Representatives	January 5, 2023	2025	Separate election
Virginia (list)		Winsome Sears	Republican	Virginia House of Delegates	January 15, 2022	2026	Separate election
Washington (list)		Denny Heck	Democratic	U.S. House Washington House	January 13, 2021	2025	Separate election
West Virginia (list)		Craig Blair	Republican	West Virginia House West Virginia Senate	January 13, 2021	2025	State Senate
Wisconsin (list)		Sara Rodriguez	Democratic	Wisconsin State Assembly	January 3, 2023	2027	Same ticket in the general elections; Separate elections in the primaries

List of lieutenant governors by territory

Territory	Image	Lieutenant governor	Party	Prior public experience	Start of term	End of term	Chosen by
American Samoa (list)		Salo Ale	Democratic	Attorney General	January 3, 2021	2025	Same ticket
Guam (list)		Josh Tenorio	Democratic	No prior offices	January 7, 2019	2027	Same ticket
Northern Mariana Islands (list)		David Apatang	Independent	Mayor of Saipan	January 9, 2023	2027	Same ticket
U.S. Virgin Islands (list)		Tregenza Roach	Democratic	Legislature of the Virgin Islands	January 7, 2019	2027	Same ticket

States which do not have lieutenant governors

Five states do not have a position of an official lieutenant governor. In these cases, the secretary of state or the president of the Senate is next in line for the governorship.

State	Office	Image	Officeholder	Party	Prior public experience	Start of term
Arizona	Secretary of State		Adrian Fontes	Democratic	County Recorder of Maricopa County	January 2, 2023
Maine	President of the Senate		Troy Jackson	Democratic	Maine Senate	December 5, 2018
New Hampshire	President of the Senate		Sharon Carson	Republican	New Hampshire Senate New Hampshire House of Representatives	December 4, 2024
Oregon	Secretary of State		Tobias Read	Democratic	Oregon House	January 3, 2017
Wyoming	Secretary of State		Chuck Gray	Republican	Wyoming House of Representatives	January 2, 2023

Federal district and territories which do not have lieutenant governors or deputy mayors

One territory, Puerto Rico, places the secretary of state next in line for the governorship. In the District of Columbia, the chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia is first in line of succession in the event of a vacancy in the office of mayor of the District of Columbia.

Jurisdiction	Office	Image	Officeholder	Party	Prior public experience	Start of term
District of Columbia	Chairman of the Council		Phil Mendelson	Democratic	DC Councilman Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner	June 13, 2012
Puerto Rico	Secretary of State		Omar J. Marrero	New Progressive	No prior offices	July 12, 2021

States and territories with differing party membership at the executive level

In most states or territories, the governor and lieutenant governor are members of the same political party. In the following states, the designated successor to the governorship is of a different political party than the governor:

See also

• List of current United States first spouses
• List of current United States governors
• List of current United States lieutenant governors by age
• List of female lieutenant governors in the United States
• List of minority governors and lieutenant governors in the United States

Notes

1. Proposition 131 passed in the 2022 election which will create the office of Arizona Lieutenant Governor starting with the 2026 election.
2. ^ Because the current Oregon Secretary of State was appointed and not elected, Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read is first in the line of succession until the next election.

References

1. ^ "Executive Branch of the Several States". The Green Papers. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
2. NY lieutenant gubernatorial terms begin at midnight New Year's Day.
3. The Tennessee Senate elects their speaker who serves as lieutenant governor. The full title of the office is Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the Senate.
4. West Virginia Code 6A-1-4(b), as enacted in 2000, entitles the president of the West Virginia Senate to use the title Lieutenant Governor
5. Mendelson was initially appointed Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia after the position was vacated on June 6, 2012, due to the resignation of Kwame R. Brown. Brown had been charged in federal court with bank fraud and, after his resignation, was further charged in D.C. Superior Court with making an unlawful cash campaign expenditure. Mendelson was subsequently elected to complete Brown's term on November 6, 2013.

• Lists of state lieutenant governors of the United States
• Lists of current office-holders in the United States
• Lists of current office-holders of country subdivisions