Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina

Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina
Incumbent Dan Forest since January 7, 2013
Term length	Four years
Formation	1868
Salary	$124,676.00 (2013)[1]
Website	www.ltgov.nc.gov

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 Dan Forest, a Republican.

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.^[2]

Duties and powers

The office of Lieutenant Governor was created by the North Carolina Constitution of 1868. Just as the Vice President of the United States presides (albeit rarely) over the United States Senate, 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.

By virtue of the office (Ex officio), the lieutenant governor is a member of the North Carolina Council of State, the North Carolina Board of Education, the North Carolina Capital Planning Commission, and the North Carolina Board of Community Colleges, and serves as the Chairman of the eLearning Commission.^[3]

From 1868 through 1977, the lieutenant governor, like the governor of North Carolina, was limited to a single four-year term. In 1977, the North Carolina Constitution was amended to allow both the governor and the lieutenant governor to serve two consecutive terms.^[4]

Succession to office of governor

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 has happened twice in North Carolina since the 1977 constitutional amendment, once from 1985 to 1989, and during the present 2017 to 2021 term.

List of lieutenant governors

Parties

  Democratic   Republican

#	Image	Lt. Governor	Term of Office	Political Party	Governor(s)
1		Tod R. Caldwell[lower-alpha 1]	1868–1870	Republican	William W. Holden (R)
Office vacant 1870–1873
2		Curtis H. Brogden	1873–1874	Republican	Tod R. Caldwell (R)
Office vacant 1874–1877
3		Thomas J. Jarvis	1877–1879	Democratic	Zebulon B. Vance (D)
Office vacant 1879–1881
4		James L. Robinson[lower-alpha 2]	1881–1885	Democratic	Thomas J. Jarvis (D)
5		Charles M. Stedman	1885–1889	Democratic	Alfred Moore Scales (D)
6		Thomas M. Holt	1889–1891	Democratic	Daniel Gould Fowle (D)
Office vacant 1891–1893
7		Rufus A. Doughton	1893–1897	Democratic	Elias Carr (D)
8		Charles A. Reynolds	1897–1901	Republican	Daniel Lindsay Russell (R)
9		Wilfred D. Turner	1901–1905	Democratic	Charles Brantley Aycock (D)
10		Francis D. Winston	1905–1909	Democratic	Robert Broadnax Glenn (D)
11		William C. Newland	1909–1913	Democratic	William Walton Kitchin (D)
12		Elijah L. Daughtridge	1913–1917	Democratic	Locke Craig (D)
13		Oliver Max Gardner	1917–1921	Democratic	Thomas Walter Bickett (D)
14		William B. Cooper	1921–1925	Democratic	Cameron A. Morrison (D)
15		Jacob E. Long	1925–1929	Democratic	Angus Wilton McLean (D)
16		Richard T. Fountain	1929–1933	Democratic	Oliver Max Gardner (D)
17		Alexander H. Graham	1933–1937	Democratic	John C. B. Ehringhaus (D)
18		Wilkins P. Horton	1937–1941	Democratic	Clyde R. Hoey (D)
19		Reginald L. Harris	1941–1945	Democratic	J. Melville Broughton (D)
20		Lynton Y. Ballentine	1945–1949	Democratic	R. Gregg Cherry (D)
21		Hoyt Patrick Taylor	1949–1953	Democratic	W. Kerr Scott (D)
22		Luther H. Hodges	1953–1954	Democratic	William B. Umstead (D)
Office vacant 1954–1957
23		Luther E. Barnhardt	1957–1961	Democratic	Luther H. Hodges (D)
24		Harvey Cloyd Philpott[lower-alpha 3]	1961	Democratic	Terry Sanford (D)
Office vacant 1961–1965
25		Robert W. Scott	1965–1969	Democratic	Dan K. Moore (D)
26		Hoyt Patrick Taylor, Jr.	1969–1973	Democratic	Robert W. Scott (D)
27		Jim Hunt	1973–1977	Democratic	James Holshouser (R)
28		James C. Green[lower-alpha 4]	1977–1985	Democratic	Jim Hunt (D)
29		Robert B. Jordan	1985–1989	Democratic	James G. Martin (R)
30		James Carson Gardner[lower-alpha 5]	1989–1993	Republican	James G. Martin (R)
31		Dennis A. Wicker	1993–2001	Democratic	Jim Hunt (D)
32		Beverly Perdue[lower-alpha 6]	2001–2009	Democratic	Mike Easley (D)
33		Walter H. Dalton	2009–2013	Democratic	Beverly Perdue (D)
34		Dan Forest	2013–	Republican	Pat McCrory (R) (2013–2017)
					Roy Cooper (D) (2017–)

Notes

See also

North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Elections: 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016

Living former Lieutenant Governors of North Carolina

As of January 2017, seven former lieutenant governors of North Carolina were alive, the oldest being Hoyt Patrick Taylor, Jr. (served 1969–1973, born 1924). The most recent death of a former lieutenant governor of North Carolina was that of Robert W. Scott (served 1965–1969, born 1929), on January 23, 2009. The most recently serving lieutenant governor to die was James C. Green (1977-1985), on February 4, 2000.

References

External links

• Office of the Lieutenant Governor
• NC History Project