List of governors of Pennsylvania

List of Pennsylvania Governors

The office of Pennsylvania governor was created by the state's Constitution of 1790. Before 1790, those who are listed below had held the office called president of the state Supreme Executive Council.

Presidents of the Supreme Executive Council to 1790

1. 1777-1778.....Thomas Wharton, Jr.

(no party affiliation)

1. 1778..............George Bryan

(no party affiliation)

1. 1778-1781.....Joseph Reed (no party affiliation)
2. 1781-1782.....William Moore (no party affiliation)
3. 1782-1785.....John Dickinson (no party affiliation)
4. 1785-1790.....Benjamin Franklin (no party affiliation)

Governors since 1790

Term Began	Term Ended	Governor	Party	Notes
21 Dec 1790	17 Dec 1799	Thomas Mifflin	None
17 Dec 1799	20 Dec 1808	Thomas McKean	Dem-Rep
20 Dec 1808	16 Dec 1817	Simon Snyder	Dem-Rep
16 Dec 1817	19 Dec 1820	William Findlay	Dem-Rep
19 Dec 1820	16 Dec 1823	Joseph Hiester	Dem-Rep
16 Dec 1823	15 Dec 1829	John Andrew Shulze	Dem-Rep
15 Dec 1829	15 Dec 1835	George Wolf	Dem-Rep
15 Dec 1835	15 Jan 1839	Joseph Ritner	Anti-Masonic
15 Jan 1839	21 Jan 1845	David Rittenhouse Porter	Democratic	First Gov. under Constitution of 1838
21 Jan 1845	09 Jul 1848	Francis Rawn Shunk	Democratic	Resigned
09 Jul 1848	26 Jul 1848	- office vacant; see below -
26 Jul 1848	20 Jan 1852	William Freame Johnston	Whig
20 Jan 1852	16 Jan 1855	William Bigler	Democratic
16 Jan 1855	19 Jan 1858	James Pollock	Whig
19 Jan 1858	15 Jan 1861	William Fisher Packer	Democratic
15 Jan 1861	15 Jan 1867	Andrew Gregg Curtin	Republican
15 Jan 1867	21 Jan 1873	John White Geary	Republican
21 Jan 1873	21 Jan 1879	John Frederick Hartranft	Republican	First Gov. under Constitution of 1874
21 Jan 1879	16 Jan 1883	Henry Martin Hoyt	Republican
16 Jan 1883	18 Jan 1887	Robert Emory Pattison	Democratic
18 Jan 1887	20 Jan 1891	James Addams Beaver	Republican
20 Jan 1891	15 Jan 1895	Robert Emory Pattison	Democratic	2nd Administration
15 Jan 1895	17 Jan 1899	Daniel Hartman Hastings	Republican
17 Jan 1899	20 Jan 1903	William Alexis Stone	Republican
20 Jan 1903	15 Jan 1907	Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker	Republican
15 Jan 1907	17 Jan 1911	Edwin Sydney Stuart	Republican
17 Jan 1911	19 Jan 1915	John Kinley Tener	Republican
19 Jan 1915	21 Jan 1919	Martin Grove Brumbaugh	Republican
21 Jan 1919	16 Jan 1923	William Cameron Sproul	Republican
16 Jan 1923	18 Jan 1927	Gifford Pinchot	Republican
18 Jan 1927	20 Jan 1931	John Stuchell Fisher	Republican
20 Jan 1931	15 Jan 1935	Gifford Pinchot	Republican	2nd Administration
15 Jan 1935	17 Jan 1939	George Howard Earle	Democratic
17 Jan 1939	19 Jan 1943	Arthur Horace James	Democratic
19 Jan 1943	03 Jan 1947	Edward Martin	Republican	Resigned; see below.
03 Jan 1947	21 Jan 1947	John Cromwell Bell, Jr.	Republican
21 Jan 1947	16 Jan 1951	James Henderson Duff	Republican
16 Jan 1951	18 Jan 1955	John Sydney Fine	Republican
18 Jan 1955	20 Jan 1959	George Michael Leader	Republican
20 Jan 1959	15 Jan 1963	David Leo Lawrence	Democratic
15 Jan 1963	17 Jan 1967	William Warren Scranton	Republican
17 Jan 1967	19 Jan 1971	Raymond Philip Shafer	Republican
19 Jan 1971	16 Jan 1979	Milton Jerrold Shapp (Shapiro)	Democratic	First Gov. under Constitution of 1968
16 Jan 1979	20 Jan 1987	Richard Lewis "Dick" Thornburgh	Republican
20 Jan 1987	17 Jan 1995	Robert Patrick Casey	Democratic
14 Jun 1993	13 Dec 1993	Mark S. Singel	Democratic	Acting Governor; see below.
17 Jan 1995	05 Oct 2001	Thomas Joseph Ridge	Republican	Resigned; see below.
05 Oct 2001	21 Jan 2003	Mark Stephen Schweiker	Republican	Acted as Governor, 13 Sep - 05 Oct, 2001
21 Jan 2003	- current -	Edward G. Rendell	Democratic

• - Following Governor Shunk's resignation due to illness, an interregnum of 17 days occurred before Governor Johnston was sworn in, during which time the office was vacant. Under the state's constitution of the time, the Speaker of the Senate should have become Governor upon Shunk's resignation. Johnston however was not officially notified until six days after Shunk's death (17 days following his resignation).
• - Governor Martin resigned to take a seat in the United States Senate.
• - At 5 a.m. on June 14, 1993, Governor Casey transferred executive authority to Lieutenant Governor Mark Singel, and later that day underwent a heart-liver transplant operation. Singel acted as Governor until Casey resumed the powers and duties of the office on the evening December 13, 1993.
• - On September 13, 2001, Governor Ridge was enlisted to aid in national homeland security efforts following the September 11th terrorist attacks, temporarily transferring his powers to Schweiker. He later resigned to accept the position of Director of Homeland Security (now Secretary of Homeland Security).