Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky

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Elected US official

Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky

Commonwealth seal

Incumbent
Jacqueline Coleman

since December 10, 2019

Government of Kentucky
Style| The Honorable
Term length| Four years, renewable once consecutively
Inaugural holder| Alexander Scott Bullitt (1800)
Formation| Kentucky Constitution
Salary| $139,724.88 [1]
Website| http://ltgovernor.ky.gov

The lieutenant governor of Kentucky was created under the state's second constitution, which was ratified in 1799. The inaugural officeholder was Alexander Scott Bullitt, who took office in 1800 following his election to serve under James Garrard in 1799. The lieutenant governor becomes governor of Kentucky under circumstances similar to those under which the vice president of the United States assumes the presidency. The current lieutenant governor is Democrat Jacqueline Coleman, who has been office since December 10, 2019.

## Duties of the Kentucky lieutenant governor

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As specified in Kentucky Revised Statute 11.400, it states:

11.400 Duties of Lieutenant Governor.[2] (1) In addition to the duties prescribed for the office by the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the duties of the Lieutenant Governor shall be as follows: (a) To serve as vice chairman of the State Property and Buildings Commission as prescribed by KRS 56.450; (b) To serve as vice chairman of the Kentucky Turnpike Authority as prescribed in KRS 175.430; (c) To serve as a member of the Kentucky Council on Agriculture in accordance with KRS 247.417; (d) To appoint one (1) member of the Public Officials' Compensation Commission as provided in KRS 64.742; (e) To serve as a member of the Board of the Kentucky Housing Corporation in accordance with KRS 198A.030; and (f) To serve as a member of Kentucky delegations on the following interstate compact commissions or boards: 1\. The Southern Growth Policies Board as prescribed by KRS 147.585; 2\. The Breaks Interstate Park Commission as provided in KRS 148.225; 3\. The Falls of the Ohio Interstate Park Commission pursuant to KRS 148.242; 4\. The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority pursuant to KRS 182.305; 5\. The Interstate Water Sanitation Control Commissions as prescribed by KRS 224.18-710; and 6\. The Kentucky Mining Advisory Council for the Interstate Mining Compact as provided by KRS 350.310. (2) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the Governor and Lieutenant Governor from agreeing upon additional duties within the executive branch of the state government to be performed by the Lieutenant Governor. Effective: June 26, 2007

## Changes by 1992 amendment

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The role and powers of the lieutenant governor of Kentucky were altered by a 1992 amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky. Prior to that 1992 amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky the lieutenant governor became acting governor at any time that the governor was outside of the commonwealth. Lieutenant governors Thelma Stovall (1975–1979) and Happy Chandler (1931–1935) engaged in high-profile use of their powers as acting governor when the elected governor was out of the commonwealth.

Kentucky's first governor's mansion served as the lieutenant governor's official residence for many years.

Also prior to the 1992 amendment of the Constitution of Kentucky, the lieutenant governor of Kentucky presided over the Kentucky Senate, casting a vote only in the event of a tie. The 1992 constitutional amendment supplanted the office of President pro tempore of the Kentucky Senate with the new office of President of the Kentucky Senate as presiding officer and abolished the lieutenant governor's duties involving the Senate. As a result, the lieutenant governor has no ongoing constitutional duties, and his or her traditional use of the Old Governor's Mansion as an official residence has been phased out.

Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor in Kentucky run together on party slates. This is the result of the same 1992 constitutional amendment; prior to that the candidates for both offices ran separately and, as a result, sometimes the two elected to those offices were not allies and did not work together. This was famously highlighted when then-Lt. Gov. A. B. "Happy" Chandler in 1935 and then-Lt. Gov. Thelma Stovall in 1978 called the Kentucky General Assembly into session to enact legislation that was not advocated by the governors at the time (Ruby Laffoon and Julian Carroll, respectively). In 1967 a Republican, Louie Nunn, was elected governor and a Democrat, Wendell H. Ford, was elected lieutenant governor; they served together in that way for four years.

## List of lieutenant governors

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Democratic (29) Democratic-Republican (5) National Republican (1) Free Soil (0) Republican (7) Whig (5)

#  | Image  | Name  | Political party  | Term  | Governor(s) served under

|
|
|
|
|

1  |  | Alexander Scott Bullitt |  | 1800–1804  | James Garrard
2  |  | John Caldwell |  | 1804  | Christopher Greenup
3  |  | Thomas Posey | Democratic-Republican  | 1806–1808  | Christopher Greenup
4  |  | Gabriel Slaughter | Democratic-Republican  | 1808–1812  | Charles Scott
5  |  | Richard Hickman |  | 1812–1816  | Isaac Shelby
6  |  | Gabriel Slaughter  | Democratic-Republican  | 1816  | George Madison
Vacant 1816–1820  | Gabriel Slaughter
7  |  | William T. Barry | Democratic-Republican  | 1820–1824  | John Adair
8  |  | Robert B. McAfee | Democratic-Republican  | 1824–1828  | Joseph Desha
9  |  | John Breathitt | Democratic  | 1828–1832  | Thomas Metcalfe
10  |  | James T. Morehead | National Republican, Whig  | 1832–1834  | John Breathitt
Vacant 1834–1836  | James T. Morehead
11  |  | Charles A. Wickliffe | Whig  | 1836–1839  | James Clark
12  |  | Manlius Valerius Thomson |  | 1840–1844  | Robert P. Letcher
13  |  | Archibald Dixon | Whig  | 1844–1848  | William Owsley
14  |  | John LaRue Helm | Whig  | 1848–1850  | John J. Crittenden
Vacant 1850–1851  | John L. Helm
15  |  | John Burton Thompson | Whig, Know Nothing  | 1851–1853  | Lazarus W. Powell
16  |  | James Greene Hardy | Know Nothing | 1855–1856  | Charles S. Morehead
Vacant 1856–1859
17  |  | Linn Boyd | Democratic  | 1859  | Beriah Magoffin
18  |  | Richard Taylor Jacob | Democratic  | 1863–1864  | Thomas E. Bramlette
Vacant 1864–1867  | Thomas E. Bramlette
19  |  | John W. Stevenson | Democratic  | 1867  | John L. Helm
Vacant 1867–1871
20  |  | John G. Carlisle | Democratic  | 1871–1875  | Preston H. Leslie
21  |  | John C. Underwood | Democratic  | 1875–1879  | James B. McCreary
22  |  | James E. Cantrill | Democratic  | 1879–1883  | Luke P. Blackburn
23  |  | James R. Hindman | Democratic  | 1883–1887  | J. Proctor Knott
24  |  | James W. Bryan | Democratic  | 1887–1891  | Simon Bolivar Buckner
25  |  | Mitchell C. Alford | Democratic  | 1891–1895  | John Young Brown
26  |  | William J. Worthington | Republican  | 1895–1899  | William O. Bradley
27  |  | John Marshall | Republican  | 1899–1900  | William S. Taylor
28  |  | J. C. W. Beckham | Democratic  | 1900  | William Goebel
–  |  | Newton Willard Utley (Acting)  |  | 1902–1903  | J. C. W. Beckham
29  |  | William P. Thorne | Democratic  | 1903–1907  | J. C. W. Beckham
30  |  | William H. Cox | Republican  | 1907–1911  | Augustus E. Willson
31  |  | Edward J. McDermott | Democratic  | 1911–1915  | James B. McCreary
32  |  | James D. Black | Democratic  | 1915–1919  | Augustus O. Stanley
33  |  | S. Thruston Ballard | Republican  | 1919–1923  | James D. Black
Edwin P. Morrow
34  |  | Henry Denhardt | Democratic  | 1923–1927  | William J. Fields
35  |  | James Breathitt, Jr. | Democratic  | 1927–1931  | Flem D. Sampson
36  |  | Happy Chandler | Democratic  | 1931–1935  | Ruby Laffoon
37  |  | Keen Johnson | Democratic  | 1935–1939  | Happy Chandler
38  |  | Rodes K. Myers | Democratic  | 1939–1943  | Keen Johnson
39  |  | Kenneth H. Tuggle | Republican  | 1943–1947  | Simeon Willis
40  |  | Lawrence W. Wetherby | Democratic  | 1947–1950  | Earle Clements
41  |  | Emerson Beauchamp | Democratic  | 1951–1955  | Lawrence W. Wetherby
vacant
42  |  | Harry Lee Waterfield | Democratic  | 1955–1959  | Happy Chandler
43  |  | Wilson W. Wyatt | Democratic  | 1959–1963  | Bert Combs
44  |  | Harry Lee Waterfield | Democratic  | 1963–1967  | Ned Breathitt
45  |  | Wendell Ford | Democratic  | 1967–1971  | Louie Nunn
46  |  | Julian Carroll | Democratic  | 1971–1974  | Wendell Ford
Vacant 1974–1975
47  |  | Thelma Stovall | Democratic  | 1975–1979  | Julian Carroll
48  |  | Martha Layne Collins | Democratic  | 1979–1983  | John Y. Brown Jr.
49  |  | Steve Beshear | Democratic  | 1983–1987  | Martha Layne Collins
50  |  | Brereton C. Jones | Democratic  | 1987–1991  | Wallace Wilkinson
51  |  | Paul E. Patton | Democratic  | 1991–1995  | Brereton C. Jones
52  |  | Steve Henry | Democratic  | 1995–2003  | Paul E. Patton
53  |  | Steve Pence | Republican  | 2003–2007  | Ernie Fletcher
54  |  | Daniel Mongiardo | Democratic  | 2007–2011  | Steve Beshear
55  |  | Jerry Abramson | Democratic  | 2011–2014  | Steve Beshear
56  |  | Crit Luallen | Democratic  | 2014–2015  | Steve Beshear
57  |  | Jenean Hampton | Republican  | 2015–2019  | Matt Bevin
58  |  | Jacqueline Coleman | Democratic  | 2019–present  | Andy Beshear

Some accounts also indicate that Kentucky's Confederate government had one lieutenant governor, Horatio F. Simrall, who was elected at the Russellville Convention in 1861. Simrall fled to Mississippi shortly thereafter.[3]

## See also

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* Governor of Kentucky

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Transparency.ky.gov - Salary Search". May 25, 2023. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
2. ^ Kentucky Revised Statute 11.400
3. ^ Powell, Robert A. (1976). Kentucky Governors. Frankfort, Kentucky: Kentucky Images. ASIN B0006CPOVM. OCLC 2690774.

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Kentucky portal

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Lieutenant governors of Kentucky

* Bullitt
* Caldwell
* Posey
* Slaughter (1st time)
* Hickman
* Slaughter (2nd time)
* Barry
* McAfee
* Breathitt
* J. Morehead
* Wickliffe
* M. Thomson
* Dixon
* Helm
* J. Thompson
* Hardy
* Boyd
* Jacob
* Stevenson
* Carlisle
* Underwood
* Cantrill
* Hindman
* Bryan
* Alford
* Worthington
* Marshall
* Beckham
* Thorne
* Cox
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* Black
* Ballard
* Denhardt
* Breathitt Jr.
* Chandler
* Johnson
* Myers
* Tuggle
* Wetherby
* Beauchamp
* Waterfield
* Wyatt
* Waterfield
* Ford
* Carroll
* Stovall
* Collins
* Beshear
* Jones
* Patton
* Henry
* Pence
* Mongiardo
* Abramson
* Luallen
* Hampton
* Coleman

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Lieutenant governors in the United States

Vice President of the United States: ▌Kamala Harris (D)

▌Ainsworth (R)

▌Dahlstrom (R)

▌Fontes (D)1

▌Rutledge (R)

▌Kounalakis (D)

▌Primavera (D)

▌Bysiewicz (D)

▌Bullock (D)*1

▌Nuñez (R)

▌Jones (R)

▌Luke (D)

▌Bedke (R)

▌Stratton (D)

▌Crouch (R)

▌Cournoyer (R)

▌Toland (D)

▌Coleman (D)

▌Nungesser (R)

▌Daughtry (D)2

▌Miller (D)

▌Driscoll (D)

▌Gilchrist (D)

▌Flanagan (DFL)

▌Hosemann (R)

▌Kehoe (R)

▌Juras (R)

▌Kelly (R)

▌Anthony (R)

▌Carson (R)2

▌Way (D)

▌Morales (D)

▌Delgado (D)

▌Hunt (D)

▌Strinden (R)

▌Husted (R)

▌Pinnell (R)

▌Read (D)1

▌Davis (D)

▌Matos (D)

▌Evette (R)

▌Rhoden (R)

▌McNally (R)2

▌Patrick (R)

▌Henderson (R)

▌Rodgers (R)

▌Sears (R)

▌Heck (D)

▌Smith (R)2

▌Rodriguez (D)

▌Gray (R)1

Federal districts:

▌Mendelson (D)3

Territories:

▌Ae (R)

▌Tenorio (D)

▌Apatang (I)

▌Ferraiuoli (PNP/D)*1

▌Roach (D)

An asterisk indicates an Acting Lt. Governor

Italics indicate next-in-line of succession for states and territories without a directly elected lieutenant governor or whose lieutenant governor office is vacant:

* 1\. Secretary of State
* 2\. President of the Senate
* 3\. Council Chair

Political party affiliation

* ▌Republican: 28 (27 states, 1 territory)
* ▌Democratic: 26 (23 states, 2 territories, 1 district)
* ▌New Progressive: 1 (1 territory)
* ▌Independent: 1 (1 territory)

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Kentucky statewide elected officials

* Governor
* Lieutenant Governor
* Secretary of State
* Attorney General
* Treasurer
* Auditor
* Agriculture Commissioner

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United States lieutenant governors by political division

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Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, Wyoming, and Puerto Rico do not have lieutenant governors.
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