Lieutenant Governor of Virginia
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The Lieutenant Governor is a constitutional officer of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Lieutenant Governor is elected every four years along with the Governor and Attorney General. The office is currently held by Republican William T. Bolling. The governor and lieutenant governor are elected separately and thus may be of different political parties. The lieutenant governor's office is located in the Finance Building on Capitol Square in Richmond, Virginia. The lieutenant governor serves as the President of the Senate of Virginia and is first in the line of succession to the governor; in the event the governor dies, resigns, or otherwise leaves office, the lieutenant governor becomes governor.
Since the late 1920s, the lieutenant governor has been one of only three officials elected statewide in Virginia (along with the governor and attorney general). Since the governor can't succeed himself, whoever is elected lieutenant governor is almost always considered a leading candidate for governor. This is especially the case if the lieutenant governor and the attorney general come from different parties. For example, after Democrat Tim Kaine was elected lieutenant governor and Republican Jerry Kilgore was elected attorney general in 2001, it was virtually taken for granted that they would face each other in the 2005 election.
The office of Lieutenant Governor is of colonial origin and can be traced to the Virginia Council of London. The Council was appointed by the King, and in turn, the Council appointed the Lieutenant Governor or deputy. When the English crown forbade colonial Governor's absence from the colonies without leave in 1680, it became the Council’s duty to designate or send a deputy who could exercise all the powers of the Governor under the written instructions of both the crown and the Governor. Virginia’s first Constitution, adopted in 1776, provided a Council of State from which a President was annually selected from its members. The President acted as Lieutenant Governor in the case of the death, inability, or necessary absence of the Governor from the government. The Virginia Constitution of 1851 abolished the Governor’s Council of State and provided for the popular election of the Lieutenant Governor. Shelton Farrar Leake, from Albemarle County, was the first elected Lieutenant Governor, serving from 1852-1856.
Constitutionally, the Lieutenant Governor is president of the Senate of Virginia, as is the case with many other lieutenant governors in the United States. Unlike most of his counterparts, however, the lieutenant governor usually presides over the chamber.
[edit] List of Lieutenant Governors of Virginia
- Mills E. Godwin Jr., Democrat from Nansemond County 1962-1966 (Became Governor 1966 as a Democrat; became Governor for a second time in 1974 as a Republican).
- Fred G. Pollard, from the City of Richmond 1966-1970
- J. Sargeant Reynolds, Democrat from the City of Richmond 1970-1971 (Died in office)
- Henry Howell, from the City of Norfolk 1971-1974. (Filled the unexpired term of Julian Sargeant Reynolds).
- John N. Dalton, Republican from the City of Radford 1974-1978 (Became Governor in 1978).
- Chuck Robb, Democrat from Fairfax County 1978-1982: Governor of Virginia 1982-1986, U.S. Senator 1989-2001, U.S. Marine Corps, son-in-law of Lyndon Johnson.
- Richard Joseph Davis, from the City of Portsmouth 1982-1986
- Doug Wilder, Democrat from the City of Richmond 1986-1990: Virginia State Senator, Governor of Virginia, Mayor of Richmond, first African-American Governor of any state. (Became Governor in 1990).
- Donald S. Beyer, Jr., Democrat from Fairfax County 1990-1998: Democratic nominee for Governor in 1997, lost to Republican James S. Gilmore III; National Treasurer for the Dean for America presidential campaign of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, who in the 2004 Democratic primary was seeking the nomination of that party for President of the United States.
- John H. Hager, Republican from the City of Richmond 1998-2002: Assistant to the Governor for Commonwealth Preparedness under Governor Mark R. Warner, Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in the U.S. Department of Education under President George W. Bush
- Timothy M. Kaine, Democrat from the City of Richmond 2002-2006: Mayor of Richmond, Richmond City Councilor, attorney, son-in-law of Governor A. Linwood Holton Jr. Governor of Virginia (2006- ).
- William T. Bolling, Republican from Hanover County 2006-Present: Virginia State Senate, Hanover County Board of Supervisors.
