Governor of Massachusetts

From Ballotpedia - Reading time: 15 min

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Massachusetts Governor
General information
Office Type:	Partisan
Office website:	Official Link
Compensation:	$185,000
2022 FY Budget:	$5,751,345
Term limits:	None
Structure
Length of term:	4 years
Authority:	Massachusetts Constitution, Chapter 2, Section I, Article I
Selection Method:	Elected
Current Officeholder
Governor of Massachusetts Charles D. Baker Republican Party Assumed office: 2015-01-08
Elections
Next election:	November 8, 2022
Last election:	November 6, 2018
Other Massachusetts Executive Offices
Governor • Lieutenant Governor • Secretary of State • Attorney General • Treasurer • Auditor • Secretary of Education • Agriculture Commissioner • Insurance Commissioner • Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs • Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development • Public Utilities Commission

The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is an elected constitutional officer, the head of the executive branch and the highest state office in Massachusetts. The governor is popularly elected every four years by a plurality and is not subject to term limits.^[1]

Like most other state officers, senators, and representatives, the governor was originally elected annually. In 1918 this was changed to a two-year term, and since 1966 the office of governor has carried a four-year term.

Massachusetts has a divided government where neither party holds a trifecta. The Republican Party controls the office of governor, while the Democratic Party controls both chambers of the state legislature.

Massachusetts has a divided government where neither party holds a triplex. The Republican Party controls the office of governor, while the Democratic Party controls the offices of attorney general and secretary of state.

See also: Massachusetts State Legislature, Massachusetts House of Representatives, Massachusetts State Senate

Current officeholder[edit]

The current officeholder is Charles D. Baker (R).^[2] He was first elected on November 4, 2014, and succeeded Deval Patrick (D) on January 8, 2015.^[3]

Authority[edit]

The state Constitution addresses the office of the governor in Chapter 2, the Executive Department.

Under Chapter 2, Section I, Article I:

There shall be a supreme executive magistrate, who shall be styled, The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; and whose title shall be -- His Excellency.[1]

Qualifications[edit]

State Executives
Current Governors
Gubernatorial Elections
2022 • 2021 • 2020 2019 • 2018 • 2017 2016 • 2015 • 2014
Current Lt. Governors
Lt. Governor Elections
2022 • 2021 • 2020 2019 • 2018 • 2017 2016 • 2015 • 2014

A candidate for the governorship must be a registered elector in the state and have been a resident for at least seven years before taking office.^[1]

Elections[edit]

Massachusetts elects governors in the midterm elections, that is, even years that are not presidential election years. For Massachusetts, 2018, 2022, 2026, 2030, and 2034 are all gubernatorial election years. Legally, the first day of the political year is always the first Wednesday in the January following an election and the gubernatorial inauguration occurs at noon the first Thursday in January.

Under Article VII of the Amendments to the Constitution, once the Governor has taken the oath of office, no further oath or affirmation shall be required before he executes any his duties.^[1]

2022[edit]

See also: Massachusetts gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2022

The general election will occur on November 8, 2022.

2018[edit]

See also: Massachusetts gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2018

2014[edit]

See also: Massachusetts gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2014

Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Charles D. Baker/Karyn Polito	48.4%	1,044,573
	Democratic	Martha Coakley/Steve Kerrigan	46.5%	1,004,408
	United Independent	Evan Falchuk/Angus Jennings	3.3%	71,814
	Independent	Scott Lively/Shelly Saunders	0.9%	19,378
	Independent	Jeffrey McCormick/Tracy Post	0.8%	16,295
	Nonpartisan	Write-in votes	0.1%	1,858
Total Votes				2,158,326
Election results via Massachusetts Secretary of State

Term limits[edit]

See also: States with gubernatorial term limits

Massachusetts governors do not face any term limits.

Partisan composition[edit]

The chart below shows the partisan breakdown of Massachusetts governors from 1992 to 2013.

Vacancies[edit]

See also: How gubernatorial vacancies are filled

Details of vacancy appointments are addressed under Article LV of the Amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution. When it was passed, Article LV annulled and replaced Article VI of Section III of Chapter II.

The established line of succession for any gubernatorial vacancy is currently:

• the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts

• the Massachusetts Secretary of State

• the Attorney General of Massachusetts

• the Massachusetts Treasurer (alternate title for Receiver-General)

• the Massachusetts Auditor

When the lieutenant governor takes over, his or her official title is 'Lieutenant Governor, Acting Governor'. Regardless of the officer who takes over as acting governor, that individual shall have all the powers and rights of the elected governor, if not the title.

If a governor-elect dies without taking office, the individual elected on the same ballot as the lieutenant governor shall take office and serve as the governor.

Any time a sitting Governor communicates in writing to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of House of Representatives that he or she is unable to discharge the office, that action shall be taken to consider the office of the governor vacant. At any time, the Chief Justice and a majority of the Associate Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Court may deliver an opinion to the Senate and House that they have found the governor unfit to discharge the office; in such an instance, the governorship shall also be considered to be vacant.

Whether a governor declared himself or herself temporarily unfit or the courts found him or her unfit, the governor may deliver, to the legislature, a written statement that he or she is fit to return to office. Unless the Supreme Court contests that declaration, the governor shall return to office within four days. If the Supreme Court does challenge the governor's return to office, Article XCI of the Amendments to the Constitution lays out a process for hearing and a final decision.

Regardless of who initiated the decision about the governor's disability, if that disability continues for six months and if more than five months remain until the next biennial election, a special election shall be held for the remainder of the governor's term.

Duties[edit]

As one of America's oldest constitutions, many of the original duties assigned to the governor have been annulled or superseded by over two centuries of amendments. Under the organization of the Massachusetts Constitution, all amendments are listed separately in Articles of Amendment, Massachusetts Constitution, which itself runs to 120 discrete items.

Massachusetts' governor is the commander-in-chief of the state's militia, which he or she may assemble for training and parade as well as for actual military functions. Within legal parameters, the governor may also give periodic advice on the organization and regulation of the militia.

Regarding vetoes, if the governor communicates an objection to a bill and the legislature adjourns before he or she is able to deliver his objections, that bill shall not take effect or have any force of law. The governor may not veto a law passed by the voters, through the General Court may amend or repeal such a law.

Other duties and privileges of the office include:

• Making appointments, including notaries public and judicial officers. Additionally, if the legislature is in recess when an office they appoint becomes vacant, the governor may make a vacancy appointment. With consent of the legislature, the governor may also remove previously appointed notaries and judicial officers. Also, the governor may retire appointees for reasons of mental or physical health

• Decennially, working with legislators, reapportioning the number of Senators and Representatives each district shall have

• Granting all military commissions made by the state of Massachusetts

• Making recommendations concerning the general appropriations bills, supplementary budgets, and details and terms of loans taken on by the state to the legislature. The governor also has a line-item veto on the appropriations bill.

• Convening special sessions of the legislature

• Granting pardons, except in cases of impeachment where the individual has been tried in the House and convicted in the Senate

• Requiring legal opinions on important judicial matters from members of the Massachusetts Supreme Court

• Preparing and presenting, to the legislature, plans to reorganize the executive branch, including establishing and abolishing departments and offices

• Presenting a budget to the legislature each year, and compelling any board, commission, or office to provide information deemed necessary in preparing a budget

Divisions[edit]

Note: Ballotpedia's state executive officials project researches state official websites for information that describes the divisions (if any exist) of a state executive office. That information for the Governor of Massachusetts has not yet been added. After extensive research we were unable to identify any relevant information on state official websites. If you have any additional information about this office for inclusion on this section and/or page, please email us.

State budget[edit]

Role in state budget[edit]

See also: Massachusetts state budget and finances

The state operates on an annual budget cycle. The sequence of key events in the budget process is as follows:^[4]

1. Budget instructions are sent to state agencies in mid-November of the year preceding the start of the new fiscal year.
2. Agency hearings are held in February.
3. The governor submits his or her proposed budget to the state legislature on the fourth Wednesday in January.
4. The legislature typically adopts a budget in June. A simple majority is required to pass a budget. The fiscal year begins July 1.

Massachusetts is one of 44 states in which the governor has line item veto authority.^[4]

The governor is legally required to submit a balanced budget proposal. Likewise, the legislature is legally required to pass a balanced budget.^[4]

Governor's office budget[edit]

The budget for the offices of governor, lieutenant governor and the governor's council for the 2022 fiscal year was $5,751,345.^[5]

Compensation[edit]

See also: Comparison of gubernatorial salaries and Compensation of state executive officers

The Massachusetts Constitution states that the governor should have a fixed and permanent salary, decided upon by the State Legislature, which would be revisited if the salary was deemed insufficient.^[1] However in 1998, the Massachusetts State Legislators Compensation Amendment was passed, prohibiting state legislators from altering the base pay of the governor, and other state public officials. Since January 2001, compensation for public officials instead is adjusted (increased or decreased) every two years corresponding with changes in median household income for Massachusetts’s residents.^[6]

In 2014, a seven-member Special Advisory Commission was created by Section 239 of the Articles of Amendment to the Constitution to review and compare the compensation of Massachusetts’s public officials to other states.^{[7] [8]}

2020[edit]

In 2020, the governor received a salary was $185,000, according to the Council of State Governments.^[9]

2019[edit]

In 2019, the governor received a salary was $185,000, according to the Council of State Governments.^[10]

2018[edit]

In 2018, the governor received a salary was $151,800, according to the Council of State Governments.^[11]

2017[edit]

In 2017, the governor received a salary was $151,800, according to the Council of State Governments.^[12]

2016[edit]

In 2016, the governor received a salary was $151,800, according to the Council of State Governments.^[13]

2015[edit]

In 2015, the governor received a salary was $151,800, according to the Council of State Governments.^[14]

2014[edit]

In 2014, the governor earned a salary of $151,800, according to the Council of State Governments.^[15]

2013[edit]

In 2013, the governor's salary was $139,832.^[16]

2010[edit]

In 2010, the governor was paid $140,535 a year, the 16th highest gubernatorial salary in America at the time.^[17]

Historical officeholders[edit]

There have been 68 Governors of Massachusetts since 1789. Of the 68 officeholders, 33 were Republican, 16 were Democrat, six were Democratic-Republican, five were Federalists, five were Whig, two were Republican/Whig, one was American/Know-Nothing, one was Democrat/National, and one was Adams Republican.^[18]

List of officeholders from 1789-present
#	Name	Tenure	Party
7	John Hancock	1789 - 1793	Federalist
8	Samuel Adams	1793 - 1797	Democratic-Republican
9	Increase Sumner	1797 - 1799	Federalist
10	Caleb Strong	1800 - 1807	Federalist
11	James Sullivan	1807 - 1808	Democratic-Republican
12	Levi Lincoln	1808 - 1809	Democratic-Republican
13	Christopher Gore	1809 - 1810	Federalist
14	Elbridge Gerry	1810 - 1812	Democratic-Republican
10	Caleb Strong	1812 - 1816	Federalist
15	John Brooks	1816 - 1823	Federalist
16	William Eustis	1823 - 1825	Democratic-Republican
17	Marcus Morton	1825 - 1825	Democratic-Republican
18	Levi Lincoln	1825 - 1833	Adams Republican
19	John Davis	1834 - 1835	Republican, Whig
20	Samuel Turell Armstrong	1835 - 1836	Whig
21	Edward Everett	1836 - 1840	Whig
17	Marcus Morton	1840 - 1841	Democratic-Republican
19	John Davis	1841 - 1843	Republican, Whig
17	Marcus Morton	1843 - 1844	Democratic-Republican
22	George Nixon Briggs	1844 - 1851	Whig
23	George Sewall Boutwell	1851 - 1853	Democratic
24	John Henry Clifford	1853 - 1854	Whig
25	Emory Washburn	1854 - 1855	Whig
26	Henry Joseph Gardner	1855 - 1858	American /Know-Nothing
27	Nathaniel Prentice Banks	1858 - 1861	Republican
28	John Albion Andrew	1861 - 1866	Republican
29	Alexander Hamilton Bullock	1866 - 1869	Republican
30	William Claflin	1869 - 1872	Republican
31	William Barrett Washburn	1872 - 1874	Republican
32	Thomas Talbot	1874 - 1875	Republican
33	William Gaston	1875 - 1876	Democratic
34	Alexander Hamilton Rice	1876 - 1879	Republican
32	Thomas Talbot	1879 - 1880	Republican
35	John Davis Long	1880 - 1883	Republican
36	Benjamin Franklin Butler	1883 - 1884	Democratic, National
37	George Dexter Robinson	1884 - 1887	Republican
38	Oliver Ames	1887 - 1890	Republican
39	John Quincy Adams Brackett	1890 - 1891	Republican
40	William Eustis Russell	1891 - 1894	Democratic
41	Frederic Thomas Greenhalge	1894 - 1896	Republican
42	Roger Wolcott	1896 - 1900	Republican
43	Winthrop Murray Crane	1900 - 1903	Republican
44	John Lewis Bates	1903 - 1905	Republican
45	William Lewis Douglas	1905 - 1906	Democratic
46	Curtis Guild	1906 - 1909	Republican
47	Ebenezer Sumner Draper	1909 - 1911	Republican
48	Eugene Noble Foss	1911 - 1914	Democratic
49	David Ignatius Walsh	1914 - 1916	Democratic
50	Samuel Walker McCall	1916 - 1919	Republican
51	John Calvin Coolidge	1919 - 1921	Republican
52	Channing Harris Cox	1921 - 1925	Republican
53	Alvan Tufts Fuller	1925 - 1929	Republican
54	Frank G. Allen	1929 - 1931	Republican
55	Joseph Buell Ely	1931 - 1935	Democratic
56	James Michael Curley	1935 - 1937	Democratic
57	Charles Francis Hurley	1937 - 1939	Democratic
58	Leverett Saltonstall	1939 - 1945	Republican
59	Maurice Tobin	1945 - 1947	Democratic
58	Robert Fiske Bradford	1947 - 1949	Republican
59	Paul Andrew Dever	1949 - 1953	Democratic
60	Christian Archibald Herter	1953 - 1957	Republican
61	Foster John Furcolo	1957 - 1961	Democratic
62	John Anthony Volpe	1961 - 1963	Republican
63	Endicott Peabody	1963 - 1965	Democratic
62	John Anthony Volpe	1965 - 1969	Republican
64	Francis Williams Sargent	1969 - 1975	Republican
65	Michael Stanley Dukakis	1975 - 1979	Democratic
66	Edward Joseph King	1979 - 1983	Democratic
65	Michael Stanley Dukakis	1983 - 1991	Democratic
67	William Weld	1991 - 1997	Republican
68	Argeo Paul Cellucci	1997 - 2001	Republican
69	Jane Maria Swift	2001 - 2003	Republican
70	Mitt Romney	2003 - 2007	Republican
71	Deval Patrick	2007-2015	Democratic
72	Charles D. Baker	2015-present	Republican

History[edit]

Partisan balance 1992-2013[edit]

See also: Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States and Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Massachusetts

From 1992-2013, in Massachusetts there were Democratic governors in office for the last seven years while there were Republican governors in office for the first 15 years. During the last seven years of the study Massachusetts was under Democratic trifectas.

Across the country, there were 493 years of Democratic governors (44.82%) and 586 years of Republican governors (53.27%) from 1992 to 2013.

Over the course of the 22-year study, state governments became increasingly more partisan. At the outset of the study period (1992), 18 of the 49 states with partisan legislatures had single-party trifectas and 31 states had divided governments. In 2013, only 13 states had divided governments, while single-party trifectas held sway in 36 states, the most in the 22 years studied.

The chart below shows the partisan composition of the Office of the Governor of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts State Senate and the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1992 to 2013.

SQLI and partisanship[edit]

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Massachusetts state government and the state's SQLI ranking for the years studied. For the SQLI, the states were ranked from 1-50, with 1 being the best and 50 the worst. Massachusetts had a period of divided government between 1992 and 2006 before electing a Democratic trifecta in 2007. Between the years 1992 and 2004, Massachusetts remained in the top-10 in the SQLI ranking, hitting its highest spot (3rd) in 2000 under divided government. The state had its lowest ranking (24th) in 2006, also under divided government. During the years 2005 and 2006, Massachusetts fell eleven spots in the SQLI ranking under divided government, which was its largest drop in the ranking during the period of the study. The state has never had a Republican trifecta.

• SQLI average with Democratic trifecta: 14.17
• SQLI average with Republican trifecta: N/A
• SQLI average with divided government: 7.20

Recent news[edit]

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Governor Massachusetts. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Contact information[edit]

See also[edit]

• Massachusetts state executive offices
• Massachusetts state executive officials

External links[edit]

• Office of the Massachusetts Governor

Footnotes[edit]

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