Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky

Template:Short description Template:Infobox Political post The lieutenant governor of Kentucky was created under the state's second constitution, which was ratified in 1799. The inaugural officeholder was Alexander Scott Bullitt, who took office in 1800 following his election to serve under James Garrard in 1799. The lieutenant governor becomes governor of Kentucky under circumstances similar to those under which the vice president of the United States assumes the presidency. The current lieutenant governor is Democrat Jacqueline Coleman, who has been office since December 10, 2019.

Duties of the Kentucky lieutenant governor

As specified in Kentucky Revised Statute 11.400, it states:

11.400 Duties of Lieutenant Governor. (1) In addition to the duties prescribed for the office by the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the duties of the Lieutenant Governor shall be as follows: (a) To serve as vice chairman of the State Property and Buildings Commission as prescribed by KRS 56.450; (b) To serve as vice chairman of the Kentucky Turnpike Authority as prescribed in KRS 175.430; (c) To serve as a member of the Kentucky Council on Agriculture in accordance with KRS 247.417; (d) To appoint one (1) member of the Public Officials' Compensation Commission as provided in KRS 64.742; (e) To serve as a member of the Board of the Kentucky Housing Corporation in accordance with KRS 198A.030; and (f) To serve as a member of Kentucky delegations on the following interstate compact commissions or boards: 1. The Southern Growth Policies Board as prescribed by KRS 147.585; 2. The Breaks Interstate Park Commission as provided in KRS 148.225; 3. The Falls of the Ohio Interstate Park Commission pursuant to KRS 148.242; 4. The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority pursuant to KRS 182.305; 5. The Interstate Water Sanitation Control Commissions as prescribed by KRS 224.18-710; and 6. The Kentucky Mining Advisory Council for the Interstate Mining Compact as provided by KRS 350.310. (2) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the Governor and Lieutenant Governor from agreeing upon additional duties within the executive branch of the state government to be performed by the Lieutenant Governor. Effective: June 26, 2007

Changes by 1992 amendment

The role and powers of the lieutenant governor of Kentucky were altered by a 1992 amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky. Prior to that 1992 amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky the lieutenant governor became acting governor at any time that the governor was outside of the commonwealth. Lieutenant governors Thelma Stovall (1975–1979) and Happy Chandler (1931–1935) engaged in high-profile use of their powers as acting governor when the elected governor was out of the commonwealth.

File:Old Kentucky Governor's Mansion.jpg

Kentucky's first governor's mansion served as the lieutenant governor's official residence for many years.

Also prior to the 1992 amendment of the Constitution of Kentucky, the lieutenant governor of Kentucky presided over the Kentucky Senate, casting a vote only in the event of a tie. The 1992 constitutional amendment supplanted the office of President pro tempore of the Kentucky Senate with the new office of President of the Kentucky Senate as presiding officer and abolished the lieutenant governor's duties involving the Senate. As a result, the lieutenant governor has no ongoing constitutional duties, and his or her traditional use of the Old Governor's Mansion as an official residence has been phased out.

Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor in Kentucky run together on party slates. This is the result of the same 1992 constitutional amendment; prior to that the candidates for both offices ran separately and, as a result, sometimes the two elected to those offices were not allies and did not work together. This was famously highlighted when then-Lt. Gov. A. B. "Happy" Chandler in 1935 and then-Lt. Gov. Thelma Stovall in 1978 called the Kentucky General Assembly into session to enact legislation that was not advocated by the governors at the time (Ruby Laffoon and Julian Carroll, respectively). In 1967 a Republican, Louie Nunn, was elected governor and a Democrat, Wendell H. Ford, was elected lieutenant governor; they served together in that way for four years.

List of lieutenant governors

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#	Image	Name	Political party	Term	Governor(s) served under
1		Alexander Scott Bullitt		1800–1804	James Garrard
2		John Caldwell		1804	Christopher Greenup
3	File:Thomas Posey Portrait.jpg	Thomas Posey	Democratic-Republican	1806–1808	Christopher Greenup
4	File:Gabriel Slaughter.jpg	Gabriel Slaughter	Democratic-Republican	1808–1812	Charles Scott
5		Richard Hickman		1812–1816	Isaac Shelby
6	File:Gabriel Slaughter.jpg	Gabriel Slaughter	Democratic-Republican	1816	George Madison
Office vacant from October 4, 1816 - August 29, 1820					Gabriel Slaughter
7	File:WBarry.jpg	William T. Barry	Democratic-Republican	1820-1824	George Madison
8	File:Robert-B.-McAfee.jpg	Robert B. McAfee	Democratic-Republican	1824–1828	Joseph Desha
9	File:John Breathitt.jpg	John Breathitt	Democratic	1828–1832	Thomas Metcalfe
10	File:JTMorehead-crop.jpg	James T. Morehead	National Republican, Whig	1832–1834	John Breathitt
Office vacant from September 2, 1834 - August 31, 1836					James T. Morehead
11	File:Charles-A.-Wickliffe.jpg	Charles A. Wickliffe	Whig	1836–1839	James Clark
12		Manlius Valerius Thomson		1840–1844	Robert P. Letcher
13	File:Archibald Dixon cropped.jpg	Archibald Dixon	Whig	1844–1848	William Owsley
14	File:John larue Helm.jpg	John LaRue Helm	Whig	1848–1850	John J. Crittenden
Office vacant from July 31, 1850 - September 2, 1851					John L. Helm
15	File:John Burton Thompson cropped.jpg	John Burton Thompson	Whig, Know Nothing	1851–1853	Lazarus W. Powell
16	File:JamesGreenHardy.jpg	James Greene Hardy	Know Nothing	1855–1856	Charles S. Morehead
Office vacant from July 16, 1856 - 1859
17	File:LinnBoyd.jpg	Linn Boyd	Democratic	1859	Beriah Magoffin
18	File:Col. Richard Taylor Jacob.png	Richard Taylor Jacob	Democratic	1863–1864	Thomas E. Bramlette
Office vacant from 1864 - September 3, 1867					Thomas E. Bramlette
19	File:John Stevenson.jpg	John W. Stevenson	Democratic	1867	John L. Helm
Office vacant from September 3, 1867 - September 5, 1871
20	File:John G. Carlisle (10507004143) (1).jpg	John G. Carlisle	Democratic	1871–1875	Preston H. Leslie
21	File:John Cox Underwood.jpg	John C. Underwood	Democratic	1875–1879	James B. McCreary
22		James E. Cantrill	Democratic	1879–1883	Luke P. Blackburn
23	File:James-R.-Hindman.jpg	James R. Hindman	Democratic	1883–1887	J. Proctor Knott
24	File:James Bryan cropped.jpg	James W. Bryan	Democratic	1887–1891	Simon Bolivar Buckner
25	File:Lt. Governor Mitchell Cary Alford.png	Mitchell C. Alford	Democratic	1891–1895	John Young Brown
26	File:William-Jackson-Worthington.jpg	William J. Worthington	Republican	1895–1899	William O. Bradley
27	File:LtGov-John-Marshall.jpg	John Marshall	Republican	1899–1900	William S. Taylor
28	File:BECKHAM, J.C.W. SENATOR LCCN2016858952 (cropped).jpg	J. C. W. Beckham	Democratic	1900	William Goebel
–	File:Newton Willard Utley.jpg	Newton Willard Utley (Acting)		1902–1903	J. C. W. Beckham
29	File:William Pryor Thorne.png	William P. Thorne	Democratic	1903–1907	J. C. W. Beckham
30	File:William-H.-Cox-oval.jpg	William H. Cox	Republican	1907–1911	Augustus E. Willson
31	File:Edward-J.-McDermott.jpg	Edward J. McDermott	Democratic	1911–1915	James B. McCreary
32	File:James-Dixon-Black.jpg	James D. Black	Democratic	1915–1919	Augustus O. Stanley
33	File:Lt. Governor of Kentucky Samuel Thruston Ballard (cropped).png	S. Thruston Ballard	Republican	1919–1923	James D. Black Edwin P. Morrow
34	File:HenryDenhardt.jpg	Henry Denhardt	Democratic	1923–1927	William J. Fields
35	File:James Breathitt Jr.png	James Breathitt, Jr.	Democratic	1927–1931	Flem D. Sampson
36	File:Albert B. Chandler Sr. (KY).jpg	Happy Chandler	Democratic	1931–1935	Ruby Laffoon
37	File:Keen Johnson.jpg	Keen Johnson	Democratic	1935–1939	Happy Chandler
38	File:Lt. Governor Rodes Kirby Myers.jpg	Rodes K. Myers	Democratic	1939–1943	Keen Johnson
39	File:Kenneth-Tuggle.jpg	Kenneth H. Tuggle	Republican	1943–1947	Simeon Willis
40	File:Lawrence-Wetherby (cropped).jpg	Lawrence W. Wetherby	Democratic	1947–1950	Earle Clements
41	File:Emerson Beauchamp, Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, State Treasurer, and Commissioner of Agriculture.png	Emerson Beauchamp	Democratic	1951–1955	Lawrence W. Wetherby vacant
42	File:Harry Lee Waterfield.jpg	Harry Lee Waterfield	Democratic	1955–1959	Happy Chandler
43	File:Wilson W. Wyatt 1946.jpg	Wilson W. Wyatt	Democratic	1959–1963	Bert Combs
44	File:Harry Lee Waterfield.jpg	Harry Lee Waterfield	Democratic	1963–1967	Ned Breathitt
45	File:Sen Wendell Ford.jpg	Wendell Ford	Democratic	1967–1971	Louie Nunn
46	File:Julian-Carroll.jpg	Julian Carroll	Democratic	1971–1974	Wendell Ford
Office vacant from December 28, 1974 - December 9, 1975
47	File:Stovall-KDLA-undated-BW.jpg	Thelma Stovall	Democratic	1975–1979	Julian Carroll
48	File:Lt. Governor Martha Layne Collins (cropped).jpg	Martha Layne Collins	Democratic	1979–1983	John Y. Brown Jr.
49	File:Steve Beshear (cropped).jpg	Steve Beshear	Democratic	1983–1987	Martha Layne Collins
50	File:Nate Morris Gov Jones (cropped).jpg	Brereton C. Jones	Democratic	1987–1991	Wallace Wilkinson
51	File:Paul E. Patton 2013 (cropped).jpg	Paul E. Patton	Democratic	1991–1995	Brereton C. Jones
52		Steve Henry	Democratic	1995–2003	Paul E. Patton
53		Steve Pence	Republican	2003–2007	Ernie Fletcher
54	File:Daniel Mongiardo by Gage Skidmore.jpg	Daniel Mongiardo	Democratic	2007–2011	Steve Beshear
55	File:Jerry E. Abramson (cropped).jpg	Jerry Abramson	Democratic	2011–2014	Steve Beshear
56	File:Crit Luallen.jpg	Crit Luallen	Democratic	2014–2015	Steve Beshear
57	File:Women for Lt. Governor Jenean Hampton.jpg	Jenean Hampton	Republican	2015–2019	Matt Bevin
58	File:Jacqueline Coleman.png	Jacqueline Coleman	Democratic	2019–present	Andy Beshear

Some accounts also indicate that Kentucky's Confederate government had one lieutenant governor, Horatio F. Simrall, who was elected at the Russellville Convention in 1861. Simrall fled to Mississippi shortly thereafter.

See also

• Governor of Kentucky