State Executive Officials

State executive elections by position and year:

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There were 30lieutenant gubernatorial seats on the ballot in 2022. Before the elections, these offices were held by 15 Republicans and 15 Democrats.

The partisan control of three lieutenant governors' offices changed:

• One incumbent lieutenant governor was defeated in 2022, resulting in a switch from Republican to Democrat.Stavros S. Anthony (R) defeatedLisa Cano (D) inNevada.

• In two states—Maryland andMassachusetts—the partisan control of the lieutenant governor's office changed from Democrat to Republican. The governor and lieutenant governor were elected on a joint ticket in both states. InMaryland,Aruna Miller (D) succeeded incumbentBoyd Rutherford (R), and inMassachusetts,Kim Driscoll (D) succeeded incumbentKaryn Polito (R).

The process for selecting a lieutenant governor varies from state to state. InTennessee andWest Virginia, the member of the state Senate chosen to serve as its president becomes the lieutenant governor. In the other 43 states with lieutenant governors, the officeholder is elected—this election is separate from the gubernatorial election in 17 states and is held on a joint ticket in the other 26.

In 45 states, thelieutenant governor is the second-highest executive office, behind thegovernor. Although the powers and duties of the lieutenant governor vary from state to state, lieutenant governors are responsible for filling vacancies in the office of governor. In many states, lieutenant governors often sit on boards or commissions and are often involved in the proceedings of the state Senate.

After the 2022 elections, the partisan composition of the 45 lieutenant governors was 25 Republicans and 20 Democrats.

The gubernatorial elections held in 2022 were inAlabama,Alaska,Arkansas,California,Colorado,Connecticut,Florida,Georgia,Hawaii,Idaho,Illinois,Iowa,Kansas,Maryland,Massachusetts,Michigan,Minnesota,Nebraska,Nevada,New Mexico,New York,Ohio,Oklahoma,Pennsylvania,Rhode Island,South Carolina,South Dakota,Texas,Vermont, andWisconsin.

In addition,three U.S. territories held lieutenant gubernatorial elections in 2022:Guam, theNorthern Mariana Islands, and theU.S. Virgin Islands.

Partisan balance

The following chart displays the number of lieutenant gubernatorial offices held by each party as of the 2022 elections and immediately after the elections took place.

List of lieutenant gubernatorial elections

There were 15 Republican and 15 Democratic seats up for election in 2022. These statistics do not include elections in the U.S. territories. The table below show which states held lieutenant gubernatorial elections in 2022. Click [show] on the table below to view information about these elections.

Table last updated December 20, 2022.

Lieutenant gubernatorial elections, 2022
State	Incumbent	Incumbent running?	Separate election from governor?	Election winner	Last time office flipped	2020 presidential result	2018 lieutenant gubernatorial result[1]	2022 election result
Alabama	Will Ainsworth	Yes	Yes	Will Ainsworth	2010	R+25.4	R+22.6	R+68.6
Alaska	Kevin Meyer	No	No	Nancy Dahlstrom	2018	R+10.0	R+7.0	R+26.1
Arkansas	Tim Griffin	No	Yes	Leslie Rutledge	2010	R+27.6	R+31.2	R+32.1
California	Eleni Kounalakis	Yes	Yes	Eleni Kounalakis	2010	D+29.2	D+13.2	D+19.4
Colorado	Dianne Primavera	Yes	No	Dianne Primavera	2006	D+13.5	D+10.6	D+19.3
Connecticut	Susan Bysiewicz	Yes	No	Susan Bysiewicz	2010	D+20.1	D+3.2	D+12.8
Florida	Jeanette Nuñez	Yes	No	Jeanette Nuñez	1998	R+3.3	R+0.4	R+19.4
Georgia	Geoff Duncan	No	Yes	Burt Jones	2006	D+0.2	R+3.2	R+5.0
Hawaii	Joshua Green	No	No	Sylvia Luke	2010	D+29.4	D+29.0	D+26.4
Idaho	Janice McGeachin	No	Yes	Scott Bedke	1978	R+30.7	R+19.4	R+33.9
Illinois	Juliana Stratton	Yes	No	Juliana Stratton	2018	D+17.0	D+15.7	D+12.0
Iowa	Adam Gregg	Yes	No	Adam Gregg	2010	R+8.2	R+2.8	R+18.6
Kansas	David Toland	Yes	No	David Toland	2018	R+14.6	D+5.0	D+2.1
Maryland	Boyd Rutherford	No	No	Aruna Miller	2014	D+33.2	R+11.9	D+32.5
Massachusetts	Karyn Polito	No	No	Kim Driscoll	2014	D+33.5	R+32.5	D+29.1
Michigan	Garlin Gilchrist II	Yes	No	Garlin Gilchrist II	2018	D+2.8	D+9.6	D+10.6
Minnesota	Peggy Flanagan	Yes	No	Peggy Flanagan	2018	D+7.1	D+11.4	D+7.7
Nebraska	Mike Foley	No	No	Joe Kelly	1998	R+19.1	R+18.0	R+23.4
Nevada	Lisa Cano	Yes	Yes	Stavros S. Anthony	2018	D+2.4	D+6.7	R+3.6
New Mexico	Howie Morales	Yes	No	Howie Morales	2018	D+10.8	D+14.4	D+6.4
New York	Antonio Delgado	Yes	No	Antonio Delgado	2008	D+23.2	D+23.4	D+5.8
Ohio	Jon Husted	Yes	No	Jon Husted	2010	R+8.1	R+3.7	R+25.6
Oklahoma	Matt Pinnell	Yes	Yes	Matt Pinnell	2010	R+33.1	R+27.4	R+33.9
Pennsylvania	John Fetterman	No	No	Austin Davis	2014	D+1.2	D+17.1	D+14.8
Rhode Island	Sabina Matos	Yes	Yes	Sabina Matos	1998	D+20.8	D+32.8	D+8.1
South Carolina	Pamela Evette	Yes	No	Pamela Evette	2014	R+11.7	R+8.1	R+17.4
South Dakota	Larry Rhoden	Yes	No	Larry Rhoden	1978	R+26.2	R+3.4	R+26.8
Texas	Dan Patrick	Yes	Yes	Dan Patrick	1998	R+5.6	R+4.8	R+10.3
Vermont	Molly Gray	No	Yes	/David Zuckerman	2016	D+35.1	D+7.2	VPP+11.3
Wisconsin	Mandela Barnes	No	No	Sara Rodriguez	2018	D+0.7	D+1.1	D+3.4

Incumbents defeated

One incumbent lieutenant governor was defeated in 2022.

Lieutenant gubernatorial incumbents defeated, 2022
State	Incumbent	Separate election from governor?	Winner
Nevada	Lisa Cano	Yes	Stavros S. Anthony

Incumbents not seeking re-election

Eleven lieutenant governors did not seek re-election in 2022: four Democrats and seven Republicans.

Lieutenant governors who did not seek re-election, 2022
State	Incumbent	Separate election from governor?	Winner
Alaska	Kevin Meyer	No	Nancy Dahlstrom
Arkansas	Tim Griffin	Yes	Leslie Rutledge
Georgia	Geoff Duncan	Yes	Burt Jones
Hawaii	Joshua Green	No	Sylvia Luke
Idaho	Janice McGeachin	Yes	Scott Bedke
Maryland	Boyd Rutherford	No	Aruna Miller
Massachusetts	Karyn Polito	No	Kim Driscoll
Nebraska	Mike Foley	No	Joe Kelly
Pennsylvania	John Fetterman	No	Austin Davis
Vermont	Molly Gray	Yes	/David Zuckerman
Wisconsin	Mandela Barnes	No	Sara Rodriguez

Historical control

In 1977, theDemocratic Party held a total of 34 lieutenant governorships to theRepublican Party's 10. The Democratic lead in lieutenant governorships would be maintained until the midterm elections of 1994, which gave the Republican Party control of 23 lieutenant governorships to the Democrats' 21. The midterm elections of 2006 led to the Democratic Party regaining its lead in lieutenant governorships, with 23 to the Republicans' 21. However, the Republican Party regained its lead in the 2008 elections. After that election, lieutenant governorships trended Republican until the 2018 elections, with the party reaching a high of 32 lieutenant governorships to Democrats' 13 in 2015 and 2016. In2018, Democrats and Republicans each won 15 of the 30 seats up for election, narrowing the gap in seats but keeping the Republican lead in place. In2019, Democrats gained Kentucky's lieutenant governorship, giving Democrats 21 seats to Republicans' 24. Republicans gained a net one lieutenant governorship each in2020 and2021.

Important dates and deadlines

The table below lists important dates throughout the 2022 election cycle, including filing deadlines and primary dates.

The table below lists changes made to election dates and deadlines in the 2022 election cycle. Items are listed in reverse chronological order by date of change, with the most recent change appearing first.

About the office

See also:Lieutenant Governor (state executive office)

Selection process

In 27 states, the lieutenant governor is selected on a ticket with the governor, meaning that lieutenant gubernatorial candidates serve as running mates to gubernatorial candidates, with the winning gubernatorial candidate's running mate becoming lieutenant governor. In seven of these states, there are separate primaries for governor and lieutenant governor, with the winning candidate in each primary appearing on the general election ticket. In the remaining 20 states, gubernatorial candidates may pick their own running mates in a similar fashion to presidential candidates. In 17 states, the lieutenant governor is elected separately from the governor. InTennessee andWest Virginia, the title of lieutenant governor is given to the president of the state Senate.^[4]

• Lt. gov. nominated in separate primary and elected in separate general election (17): Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington
• Lt. gov. nominated in separate primary but runs on a single ticket with gubernatorial nominee in general election (7): Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin
• Lt. gov. chosen by gubernatorial candidate before primary and runs on a single ticket with gubernatorial candidate in both the primary and general election (9): Alaska, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah
• Lt. gov. chosen by gubernatorial nominee after primary and runs on a single ticket with gubernatorial nominee in the general election (11): Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, South Carolina, South Dakota
• Lt. gov. is a member of the legislature (2): Tennessee, West Virginia
• Lt. gov. office does not exist in state (4): Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, Wyoming

Partisan affiliation

There are currently a total of 30Republican lieutenant governors and 14Democratic lieutenant governors, includingDavid Zuckerman ofVermont, whose primary affiliation is with theVermont Progressive Party. The position oflieutenant governor of Alabama is vacant followingKay Ivey's (R) promotion to the governorship in April 2017.

Compensation

According to compensation figures for 2017 compiled by the Council of State Governments in theBook of the States, the highest salary for a lieutenant governor is $162,673 inPennsylvania while the lowest is $9,612 inTexas. To view the compensation of a specific lieutenant governor, hover your mouse over the state.^[5]

Legislative powers

In 27 states, the lieutenant governor is involved with the legislative process as the presiding officer of the state Senate. In 24 of those states, the lieutenant governor also has the power to cast a tiebreaking vote in the Senate, although some states limit this ability to votes on specific issues.^[6]

Gubernatorial delegation

In 24 states, the governor may formally transfer a portion of their power to the lieutenant governor.^[6]

Acting governor

In 29 states, the lieutenant governor serves as acting governor while the governor is out of the state; three of these states place limits on this role.^[6]

Term limits

To view term limits for a particular state, hover your mouse over that state.

Analysis of state elections

In 2022, 44 states held elections forexecutive,legislative, orjudicial seats, including elections for88 of the nation's99 state legislative chambers,36 gubernatorial offices, and32 state supreme court seats.

State legislative elections

See also:State legislative elections, 2022

On November 8, 2022, members in 88 of the country's 99 state legislative chambers were up for election across 46 states. These elections were for 6,278 of the country's 7,383 state legislative seats (85%).

Heading into the election,Democrats controlled 36 chambers andRepublicans controlled 62. Abipartisan coalition controlled theAlaska House.

As a result of the election:

• Democrats gained control of four chambers—the Michigan House and Senate, Minnesota Senate, and Pennsylvania House—bringing their total to 40.^[7] Wins in Minnesota and Michigan created new Democratic trifectas in those states. Both had previously been divided governments.
• In Alaska, abipartisan coalition gained control of the Senate. The coalition in the House changed from being made primarily of Democrats and independents to one made primarily of Republicans.
• Republicans lost control of five chambers, bringing their total to 57.

Featured analysis

• State legislative seats that changed party control in 2022: As a result of the Nov. 8, 2022, elections, partisan composition of all 7,386 state legislative seats changed by less than half a percentage point.Democrats had a net loss of six seats, representing 0.1% of all state legislative seats.Republicans had a net gain of 28 seats, representing 0.4% of all state legislative seats.^[8]Independents and minor party officeholders had a net loss of20 seats, representing 0.2% of all state legislative seats.
• Annual State Legislative Competitiveness Report: Vol. 12, 2022: Competitiveness refers to the presence of choice throughout the election cycle. A greater level of competitiveness means voters have the ability to make more decisions. A lower level of competitiveness equals fewer choices. State legislative competitiveness in 2022 reached its highest level compared to all even-year election cycles since 2010. In 2022, the nationwide State Legislative Competitiveness Index is 36.2, beating out 2018 (36.1) and the 2012 post-redistricting cycle (35.2).

More related articles

• State legislative special elections
• Impact of term limits
• Open seats
• Contested primaries
• Incumbents in contested primaries
• Data on incumbents defeated
• Summaries of incumbents defeated in primaries
• Incumbent win rates by state
• Pivot counties in state legislative elections
• Trifecta vulnerability in the 2022 elections
• Rematches in 2022 general elections
• Elections without a Democratic or Republican candidate
• States with two or more statewide offices up for election
• Wave election analysis
• Seats that changed party control
• Veto-proof state legislatures with opposing party governors
• Ballotpedia's Top 15 elections to watch, 2022
• Candidates with the same last names, 2022
• Trends in the margins of victory for incumbents of three or more terms, 2018-2024

State executive elections

See also:State executive official elections, 2022

State executive offices up for election in 2022 included36gubernatorial seats,30lieutenant gubernatorial seats,30attorney general seats, and27secretary of state seats. Including down-ballot races, there were307 state executive seats up for election across 44 states in 2022.^[9]

Of the 36 that held elections forgovernor, four offices changed party hands. Partisan control changed from Republican to Democratic inArizona,Maryland, andMassachusetts. Partisan control changed from Democratic to Republican inNevada, where incumbent GovernorSteve Sisolak (D) was the only incumbent governor to lose re-election in 2022.

The partisan control of three lieutenant governors' offices changed. The office switched from Democrat to Republican in Nevada and from Republican to Democrat in Maryland and Massachusetts.

The partisan control of two secretary of State offices changed from Republican to Democrat.

In three states—Arizona, Iowa, and Vermont—the office of attorney general changed party control, resulting in a net gain of one office for Democrats and a net loss of one office for Republicans.

Featured analysis

• Trifecta vulnerability in the 2022 elections: Thirteen state government trifectas were vulnerable in the 2022 elections, according to Ballotpedia's annual trifecta vulnerability ratings. Democrats defended seven vulnerable trifectas and Republicans defended six. A state government trifecta occurs when one party holds the governorship and majorities in both chambers of the state legislature. At the time of the 2022 elections, there were 37state government trifectas: 23 Republican trifectas and 14 Democratic trifectas. The remaining 13 states had a divided government where neither party had a trifecta.
• State government triplexes: Heading into the November 8 elections, there were 23 Republican triplexes, 18 Democratic triplexes, and 9 divided governments where neither party held triplex control. A state government triplex is a term to describe when one political party holds the following three positions in a state's government:governor,attorney general, andsecretary of state.^[10] In states where the attorney general or secretary of state are appointed by the governor, Ballotpedia considers the office to be held by the governor's party for the purposes of defining triplexes.^[11]
• Annual State Executive Competitiveness Report: Ballotpedia's 2022 study of competitiveness instate executive official elections found that 37.1% of incumbents did not seek re-election, leaving those offices open. This was higher than in 2020 (35.6%) and 2014 (32.7%) but lower than in 2018 (38.6%) and 2016 (45.2%). The decade average for open offices was 37.8%.

More related articles

• State executive official elections overview
• Gubernatorial elections
• Secretary of State elections
• Attorney General elections
• Historical and potential changes in trifectas
• State government trifectas
• Impact of term limits on state executive elections
• Rematches in 2022 general elections
• Elections without a Democratic or Republican candidate
• Wave election analysis
• Veto-proof state legislatures and opposing party governors
• Democratic Party battleground primaries
• Republican Party battleground primaries
• Ballotpedia's Top 15 elections to watch, 2022

State judicial elections

See also:State judicial elections, 2022

A total of382 appellate court seats were up for election in 2022. This included84 supreme court seats and298 intermediate appellate court seats.

In addition, in theU.S. Territories, theNorthern Mariana Islands heldretention elections for two judges on theNorthern Mariana Islands Superior Court in 2022.

Ballotpedia provided coverage ofsupreme court andintermediate appellate court elections, as well aslocal trial court elections for judges within the100 largest cities in the United States as measured by population.

Featured analysis

• Partisanship of state supreme court judges: In June 2020, Ballotpedia conducted a study into the partisanship of state supreme court justices. The study placed each justice into one of five categories indicating confidence in their affiliations with either the Democratic or Republican Parties. These categories were Strong Democratic, Mild Democratic, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.

More related articles

• State supreme court elections, 2022
• State judicial elections, 2022

See also

Gubernatorial elections

Attorney General elections

Secretary of State elections

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

v • e Lieutenant Governors Current Lieutenant Governors Alabama •Alaska •American Samoa •Arkansas •California •Colorado •Connecticut •Delaware •Florida •Georgia •Guam •Hawaii •Idaho •Illinois •Indiana •Iowa •Kansas •Kentucky •Louisiana •Maryland •Massachusetts •Michigan •Minnesota •Mississippi •Missouri •Montana •Nebraska •Nevada •New Jersey •New Mexico •New York •North Carolina •North Dakota •Northern Mariana Islands •Ohio •Oklahoma •Pennsylvania •Rhode Island •South Carolina •South Dakota •Tennessee •Texas •U.S. Virgin Islands •Utah •Vermont •Virginia •Washington •West Virginia •Wisconsin Elections 2025 •2024 •2023 •2022 •2021 •2020 •2019 •2018 •2017 •2016 •2015 •2014 •2012 •2011 •2010 Features States with gubernatorial term limits •Election of lieutenant governors •How gubernatorial vacancies are filled •States with gubernatorial recall provisions •Gubernatorial impeachment procedures •Comparison of lieutenant gubernatorial salaries