The lieutenant governor of Virginia is a constitutional officer of the

Commonwealth of Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United Stat ...

. The lieutenant governor is elected every four years along with the

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

and

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

. The office is currently held by

Winsome Earle Sears Winsome Sears (née Earle; born March 11, 1964) is a Jamaican Americans, Jamaican-born American politician serving as the 42nd Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, lieutenant governor of Virginia. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Rep ...

, who was elected in

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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 (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. 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 King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

, 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 Albemarle County is a county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is Charlottesville, which is an independent city and enclave entirely surrounded by the county. Albemarle County is part of the Char ...

, 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

Living former lieutenant governors

, 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 John Henry Hager (August 28, 1936August 23, 2020) was an American politician who served as the 37th Lieutenant Governor of Virginia from 1998 to 2002. He was the first person with a disability to be elected to that office. He proceeded to act as ...

(served 1998–2002, born 1936) on August 23, 2020.

References

External links

Lieutenant Governor of Virginia's websiteList of past Lieutenant Governors
{{Lists of lieutenant governors by U.S. state