Governor of Oregon
Seal of Oregon
State flag
Incumbent Tina Kotek since January 9, 2023
Government of Oregon
Style	The Honorable
Residence	Mahonia Hall
Term length	Four years, renewable once in a 12-year period
Inaugural holder	John Whiteaker
Formation	February 14, 1859 (Constitution of Oregon)
Succession	Line of succession
Salary	$98,600 (2018)[1]
Website	Official website

Thegovernor of Oregon is thehead of government ofOregon and serves as thecommander-in-chief of the state'smilitary forces. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during theprovisional andU.S. territorial governments.

The current governor of Oregon isTina Kotek, who took office on January 9, 2023. The governor's salary as of 2018 is $98,600.^[1]

Article V of theOregon State Constitution sets up the legal framework of the Oregon Executive Branch.^[2][3]

Article V, Section 1 states that the governor must be a U.S. citizen, at least 30 years of age, and a resident of Oregon for at least three years before the candidate's election. Section 2 extends ineligibility as follows:

No member of Congress, or person holding any office under the United States, or under this State, or under any other power, shall fill the Office of Governor, except as may be otherwise provided in this Constitution.^[2]

Section 1 further sets the maximum number of consecutive years a governor may serve, specifying that

no person shall be eligible to such office more than Eight, in any period of twelve years.^[2]

There is no specified limit on the number of total terms.John Kitzhaber is the only governor to have served non-consecutive terms.Kate Brown, who completed Kitzhaber's final term after his resignation, was elected to an additional four-year term but was ineligible to run for a second term due to the restriction on serving more than eight years in a twelve-year span.^[4]

Sections 4-7 of Article V outline the formal gubernatorial election procedures such as publishing the winner, ties, disputed elections, and terms of office.

The formal process of certification of results of a gubernatorial election ends when the Secretary of State delivers the results to the Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives. The Speaker then will publish the results to a joint session of theOregon Legislative Assembly.

Where an election results in a tie, a joint session of the next legislative session will vote on the two candidates, and declare the winner governor. Legally contested elections are also decided by the full legislature in whichever manner other laws may prescribe.

The gubernatorial line of succession was modified in 1920, 1946, and 1972.^[2][5] The current list is designated as Article V, Section 8a. It defines who may become or act as the governor of Oregon upon the incapacity, death, resignation, or removal from office of a sitting governor. The new governor (or acting governor) will serve out the remainder of the previous governor's or incapacitated governor's term. A special gubernatorial election is required, if there's more than two years remaining in the previous governor's or incapacitated governor's term. Unlike many states, Oregon does not have aLieutenant Governor (though in 2007, legislation was proposed to establish such an office.)^[6] The current order is:

Four governors have died in office, and five governors have resigned.

• AfterLa Fayette Grover resigned in 1877 to become aUnited States Senator, Secretary of StateStephen F. Chadwick took office; he completed Grover's term and did not seek re-election.
• AfterGeorge Chamberlain resigned in 1909 to become aUnited States Senator, Secretary of StateFrank W. Benson took office.
• After Benson fell ill in 1910, he transferred his powers to President of the SenateJay Bowerman, who was sworn in as Acting Governor.^[7] Bowerman then became governor upon Benson's resignation,^[8] and was defeated in the 1910 gubernatorial election.
• After the death ofJames Withycombe in 1919,^[9] Secretary of State Ben W. Olcott took office; he completed Withycombe's term and was defeated in the 1922 general election.
• After the death ofIsaac L. Patterson in 1929, President of the SenateA. W. Norblad took office; he completed Patterson's term and was defeated in the 1930 Republican primary.
• After the death ofEarl Snell in 1947, Speaker of the HouseJohn H. Hall took office; he lost a special election in 1948 and did not complete the term.

  

• AfterDouglas McKay resigned in 1952 to becomeUnited States Secretary of the Interior, President of the SenatePaul L. Patterson took office; he completed McKay's term and was elected in his own right in 1954.
• After Patterson's death in 1956, President of the SenateElmo Smith took office; he lost a special election later that year and did not complete the term.
• AfterJohn Kitzhaber resigned in 2015 amid a growing ethics scandal, Secretary of StateKate Brown took office; she won a special election in 2016 and was re-elected in 2018.

The governor is the commander-in-chief of theOregon Military Department. Power is granted to the governor to mobilize and deploy state military forces.

The power to grant pardons and reprieves and to commute sentences is granted to the governor, with limitations placed upon cases of treason. Additionally, the governor can remit fines and forfeitures. Any use of these powers, however, must be reported to the legislature.

In treason cases, the governor may only grant reprieves. The final matter of pardons, commuting of sentencing, or further reprieves is referred to the legislature in these cases.

The governor has the power to veto legislation, which can be overridden by a two-thirds majority in both houses of the legislature, and can veto particular items from an appropriations or emergency bill while leaving others intact (seeline item veto).

If needed, the governor may convene a special session of the legislature by proclamation and is empowered to call for special elections to fill vacant seats. Between the vacancy and special election, the governor is able to appoint a replacement if the appropriate county boards are unable to do so within the designated time period.

Annually, the governor addresses the legislature in theirState of the State address. In this speech the governor outlines the current conditions of the state, and makes recommendations to the assembly as to what the government's priorities ought to be.

If the legislature is out of session, the governor may appoint replacements to fill state offices until elections are held or the legislature reconvenes (seerecess appointment).

Mahonia Hall inSalem is the official governor's mansion.^[10]The house was built in 1924 for hops growerThomas A. Livesley. It was named Mahonia Hall after citizens raised funds in 1988 to purchase it as Oregon's first official governors' mansion.^[11]

Before the purchase of Mahonia Hall, whatever house the governor rented became the "Governor's mansion".^[12] GovernorsAtiyeh andMcCall lived in the 1929 Stiff-Jarman House, anEnglish cottage-style (also characterized asArts and Crafts style)^[13] residence in the North Capitol Mall Historic Redevelopment area.^[14][15] After the end of Atiyeh's term, the Stiff-Jarman House became the headquarters of theOregon Department of Environmental Quality.^[13] Today the building houses rented offices.^[14]

Meetings at Champoeg led up to the first constitution of theOregon Country, and a petition for U.S. territorial status. The resulting acts also created this body as aprovisional government for the region. The first executives of this government were a three-person, elected committee known as theExecutive Committee. In 1845, elections for a chief executive were held. The first person in Oregon to hold the title of governor wasGeorge Abernethy, a prominent businessman.^[16]

Timeline of Oregon governors

• List of governors of Oregon

• Governor of Oregon
• 1859 establishments in Oregon

• Pages using the EasyTimeline extension
• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from January 2023