Lieutenant Governor of Virginia

Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia
Seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia
Incumbent Winsome Earle Sears since January 15, 2022
Style	The Honorable
Term length	Four years
Inaugural holder	Shelton Leake
Formation	1852
Website	www.ltgov.virginia.gov/

The lieutenant governor of Virginia 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 Winsome Earle Sears, who was elected in 2021 and is the first woman of color to hold this position. 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 Oliver Hill 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 governorship; in the event that the governor dies, resigns, or otherwise leaves office, the lieutenant governor becomes governor. In Virginia, the governor is not permitted to serve consecutive terms but the lieutenant governor may do so, and has no term limit. The Lieutenant Governor earns an annual salary of $36,321.

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 governors' 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 to 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 many of her counterparts, the lieutenant governor regularly presides over Senate sessions rather than delegating this role to the president pro tempore or majority leader.

Since the late 1920s, the lieutenant governor has been one of only three positions that competes in a statewide election in Virginia (along with the governor and attorney general). Because the governor cannot serve consecutive terms, the incumbent lieutenant governor is often considered a leading candidate for governor.

List of lieutenant governors of Virginia

Parties

  No party/Conservative (3)   Democratic (29)   Whig (2)   Republican (7)

#	Name	Party	Term	Governor	Notes
1	Shelton Leake	Democratic	1852–1856	Joseph Johnson
2	Elisha W. McComas		1856–1857	Henry A. Wise
3	William Lowther Jackson	Democratic	1857–1860	Henry A. Wise
4.	Robert Latane Montague		1860–1864	John Letcher
5	Samuel Price	Democratic	1864–1865	William "Extra Billy" Smith	Richmond (Confederate) Government
6	Daniel Polsley	Republican	1861–1863	John Letcher	Restored (Unionist) Government
7	Leopold Copeland Parker Cowper	Whig	1863–1865	John Letcher	Restored (Unionist) Government
8	Leopold Copeland Parker Cowper	Whig	1865–1869	William "Extra Billy" Smith Francis Harrison Pierpont Henry H. Wells Gilbert Carlton Walker
9	John F. Lewis	Republican	1869–1870	Gilbert Carlton Walker
10	John Lawrence Marye, Jr.	Conservative	1870–1874	Gilbert Carlton Walker
11	Robert E. Withers	Democratic	1874–1875	James L. Kemper
12	Henry Wirtz Thomas	Republican	1875–1878	James L. Kemper
13	James A. Walker	Democratic	1878–1882	Frederick W. M. Holliday
14	John F. Lewis	Republican	1882–1886	William E. Cameron
15	John Edward "Parson" Massey	Democratic	1886–1890	Fitzhugh Lee
16	James Hoge Tyler	Democratic	1890–1894	Philip W. McKinney
17	Robert Craig Kent	Democratic	1894–1898	Charles Triplett O'Ferrall
18	Edward Echols	Democratic	1898–1902	James H. Tyler
19	Joseph Edward Willard	Democratic	1902–1906	Andrew J. Montague
20	James Taylor Ellyson	Democratic	1906–1918	Claude A. Swanson William Hodges Mann Henry Carter Stuart
21	Benjamin Franklin Buchanan	Democratic	1918–1922	Westmoreland Davis
22	Junius Edgar West	Democratic	1922–1930	Elbert L. Trinkle Harry F. Byrd
23	James H. Price	Democratic	1930–1938	John Garland Pollard George C. Peery
24	Saxon Winston Holt	Democratic	1938–1940	James H. Price	died in office, leaving a vacancy
25	William M. Tuck	Democratic	1942–1946	Colgate Darden
26	Lewis Preston Collins II	Democratic	1946–1952	William M. Tuck	died in office
27	Allie Edward Stokes Stephens	Democratic	1952–1962	John S. Battle	filled Collins's term
28	Mills E. Godwin, Jr.	Democratic	1962–1966	Albertis Harrison
29	Fred G. Pollard	Democratic	1966–1970	Mills Godwin
30	J. Sargeant Reynolds	Democratic	1970–1971	Linwood Holton (Republican)	died in office
31	Henry Howell	Democratic	1971–1974	Linwood Holton (Republican)	filled Reynolds's term
32	John N. Dalton	Republican	1974–1978	Mills Godwin
33	Chuck Robb	Democratic	1978–1982	John N. Dalton (Republican)
34	Dick Davis	Democratic	1982–1986	Chuck Robb
35	Douglas Wilder	Democratic	1986–1990	Gerald Baliles	First African American Lieutenant Governor of Virginia
36	Don Beyer	Democratic	1990–1998	Douglas Wilder (Democratic) George Allen (Republican)
37	John H. Hager	Republican	1998–2002	Jim Gilmore
38	Tim Kaine	Democratic	2002–2006	Mark Warner
39	Bill Bolling	Republican	2006–2014	Tim Kaine (Democratic) Bob McDonnell (Republican)
40	Ralph Northam	Democratic	2014–2018	Terry McAuliffe
41	Justin Fairfax	Democratic	2018–2022	Ralph Northam
42	Winsome Sears	Republican	2022–present	Glenn Youngkin	First woman Lieutenant Governor of Virginia

Living former lieutenant governors

As of October 2022, there are seven living former lieutenant governors of Virginia, the oldest being Douglas Wilder (served 1986–1990, born 1931). The most recent and most recently serving lieutenant governor to die was John H. Hager (served 1998–2002, born 1936) on August 23, 2020.

Lt. Governor	Lt. gubernatorial term	Date of birth (and age)
Chuck Robb	1978–1982	(1939-06-26) June 26, 1939
Douglas Wilder	1986–1990	(1931-01-17) January 17, 1931
Don Beyer	1990–1998	(1950-06-20) June 20, 1950
Tim Kaine	2002–2006	(1958-02-26) February 26, 1958
Bill Bolling	2006–2014	(1957-06-15) June 15, 1957
Ralph Northam	2014–2018	(1959-09-13) September 13, 1959
Justin Fairfax	2018–2022	(1979-02-17) February 17, 1979

External links

• Lieutenant Governor of Virginia's website
• List of past Lieutenant Governors