The Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina is the second highest elected official in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is the only elected official to have powers in both the legislative and executive branches of state government. The current Lieutenant Governor is Walter Dalton, a Democrat.
As of 2008, the administrative offices of the Lieutenant Governor are located in the historic Hawkins-Hartness House on N. Blount Street in Raleigh's Government District. The Lieutenant Governor also maintains an office at the nearby North Carolina State Legislative Building. At one time, the Lieutenant Governor had an office in the North Carolina State Capitol.[1]
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The office of Lieutenant Governor was created by the North Carolina Constitution of 1868. Like the Vice-President of the United States, the lieutenant governor's primary responsibility is to preside over the North Carolina Senate; until 1970, this was the lieutenant governor's only major responsibility, and the position was only part-time. The position is now a full-time job but still carries no official power beyond voting to break a tie in the Senate.[2] Lieutenant Governors typically must depend on governors to assign them high-profile tasks. [3] Much of the Lieutenant Governor's power in the state Senate was reduced by legislators in 1989, giving more power to the Senate President pro tempore.[4]
By virtue of the office, the lieutenant governor is a member of the North Carolina Council of State, the North Carolina Board of Education, the North Carolina Capitol Planning Commission and the North Carolina Board of Community Colleges.
The Lieutenant Governor is the first official in line to succeed the Governor of North Carolina, should that office be vacated. This has occurred five times in the history of the office; four of the first six lieutenant governors were promoted upon the death, impeachment, or resignation of the previously sitting governor.
Lieutenant Governors have often run for Governor, but few have been successful. Jim Hunt, elected governor in 1976, and Beverly Perdue, elected governor in 2008, are the two most recent exceptions.[5]
The lieutenant governor is elected on a separate ballot from the governor; therefore, it is theoretically possible that the governor and lieutenant governor may be of different political party affiliations. This most recently was the case from 1985 to 1989.
North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Elections: 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012
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