NLGA Fact Sheet
TEAM
ELECTION DATA FOR THE OFFICE OF LIEUTENANT
GOVERNOR
as of December 29, 2006
24 states have team elections for governor and
lieutenant governor in the general election:
Alaska*, Colorado~, Connecticut+, Florida,
Hawaii*, Illinois*, Indiana+, Iowa+, Kansas,
Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts*, Michigan+,
Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska#, New Mexico*, New
York*, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South
Dakota+, Utah, and Wisconsin*.
18 states elect the governor and lieutenant
governor separately. Following the 2006
elections, four of these states the governor and
lieutenant governor are of different parties:
Alabama (R/D), California (R/D), Rhode Island
(R/D), and Virginia (D/R) .
In four territorial jurisdictions, American
Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and the
U.S. Virgin Islands there are team elections for
governor and lieutenant governor; in Puerto Rico
the secretary of state is next in line for
succession to governor and is appointed.
In the three states where the Office of
Secretary of State is next in line for
succession to the governor, there are no team
elections – Arizona, Oregon, and Wyoming.
Oregon’s secretary of state is not elected in
the same year as the governor.
Five states have presiding officers of the
senate as successor – Maine, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
Tennessee confers the lieutenant governor title
and succession responsibility on the speaker of
the senate. In 2000, the West Virginia
legislature determined the president of the
senate be additionally designated the title of
‘lieutenant governor’ in acknowledgement of the
president’s responsibility as first successor to
governor. New Jersey has created the
office of lieutenant governor and will elect its
first (in a team election) in 2010.
* Lt Governor candidates are selected at the
primary election independent of the
gubernatorial candidates. Team in the general.
+ Lt Governor candidates are selected by party
convention following the gubernatorial primary
and become part of the team in the general
~ Beginning with the 2002 election, Lt Governor
candidates for the major political parties are
nominated by the gubernatorial candidates not
later than 7 days after the election.
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