For immediate release
Contact: Julia Hurst (859) 283-1400
Data available at www.nlga.us to personalize to your state
One in Four Governors were once Lieutenant Governor
Nearly twenty-five percent (25%) of the nation’s governors first served in the position of lieutenant governor, according to a new study. Between the years 1980 – 2006, an average of one in every four people who served as governor at one time had served as lieutenant governor or in the position first in line of gubernatorial succession.
The National Lieutenant Governors Association (NLGA) this month conducted a 50-state research project analyzing the vitae of every governor who served in any state between January of 1980 and June of 2006. “Each governor who once served as lieutenant governor or in the office first in line of gubernatorial succession was noted. In eight states, the official first in line of succession is the Senate President or the Secretary of State and those individuals are treated as lieutenant governors in this study,” said researcher Morgan Mundell. “The data shows more than 25% of the individuals who served as Governor at one time served their state as Lieutenant Governor.”
“This shows that for more than 100 years, about one in every four governors once served as lieutenant governor or first in line of succession,” said NLGA Director Julia Hurst. The 1996 publication “Lieutenant Governors: The Office and its Powers” found that a “significant 23% of governors between the years 1900 – 1980 served at one point as lieutenant governor.”
From 1980 – 2006, Virginia is the state with the largest number of governors (4 of 8 for 50%) in the period having once served as lieutenant governor, followed by Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Montana, and Ohio which each had three governors in the period who once served as lieutenant governor.
“The data for the past quarter-century also showed the East region of the country had slightly more governors who once served as lieutenant governor (26%) than any other region, with the West region having fewest (22%),” said Hurst.
The full research project and white paper is posted at www.nlga.us.
An ongoing research project to be released by NLGA in March of 2007 will review whether or not any other elected office or particular background is more prevalent in the backgrounds of governors than holding the office of lieutenant governor.
# # # #