The lieutenant governor of North Dakota is a political office in

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

. The lieutenant governor's duty is to preside as

President of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for e ...

, and is responsible for legislative relations, the state budget and

agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit w ...

development. In the event the office of 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 ...

becomes vacant, the lieutenant governor assumes that office and appoints a replacement lieutenant. The current lieutenant governor is

Brent Sanford Brent Sanford (born December 23, 1971) is an American politician serving as the 38th lieutenant governor of North Dakota since 2016. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was Mayor of Watford City from 2010 to 2016. Career Sanford gr ...

, having been elected and re-elected with Governor Doug Burgum. Before 1974, the lieutenant governor of North Dakota was elected separately from the governor. To avoid hostile relations between a lieutenant governor and governor from different parties, the process was changed to where the governor and lieutenant governor are elected together on a joint ballot and are of the same party.

Lieutenant governors of North Dakota

;Parties

Living former lieutenant governors of North Dakota

, six former lieutenant governors of North Dakota were alive, the oldest being

Rosemarie Myrdal Rosemarie Myrdal (born May 20, 1929) is a North Dakota Republican Party politician who served as the second female, and 35th Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota from 1993 to 2001 under Governor of North Dakota Ed Schafer in 1992. She also served ...

(served 1992–2000, born 1929). The most recent death of a former lieutenant governor of North Dakota was that of

Ernest Sands Ernest M. Sands (April 30, 1922 – April 9, 2012) was a North Dakota Republican Party politician who served as the 32nd Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota from 1981 to 1985. Sands also served in the North Dakota Senate from 1967 to 1970 and from ...

(served 1981–1985, born 1922), on April 9, 2012. The most recent serving lieutenant governor to die was

Ruth Meiers Ruth Meiers (November 6, 1925 – March 19, 1987) was the first female Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota. She became the 33rd Lieutenant Governor in 1985. Meiers was diagnosed with lung and brain cancer in 1986 and died in office six months late ...

(served 1985–1987, born 1925), who died in office on March 19, 1987.

References

External links

Biography of the North Dakota Lieutenant Governor
{{Years in North Dakota *

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

Lieutenant governors A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...