The governor of Arizona is the head of government of the U.S. state of Arizona. As the top elected official, the governor is the head of the

executive branch The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a State (polity), state. In poli ...

of the

Arizona state government Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

and is charged with faithfully executing state laws. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the

Arizona State Legislature The Arizona State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. Composed of 90 legislators, the s ...

; to convene the legislature; and to grant

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...

s, except in cases of

impeachment Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...

. The governor is also the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. Twenty-three people have served as governor over 27 distinct terms. All of the repeat governors were in the state's earliest years, when

George W. P. Hunt George Wylie Paul Hunt (November 1, 1859 – December 24, 1934) was an American politician and businessman. He was the List of Governors of Arizona, first governor of Arizona, serving a total of seven terms, along with President of the convent ...

and Thomas Edward Campbell alternated as governor for 17 years and, after a two-year gap, Hunt served another term. One governor, Evan Mecham, was successfully impeached, and one, Fife Symington, resigned upon being convicted of a felony. The longest-serving governor was Hunt, who was elected seven times and served just under fourteen years. The longest single stint was that of Bruce Babbitt, who was elected to two four-year terms after succeeding to the office following the death of his predecessor, Wesley Bolin, serving nearly nine years total. Bolin had the shortest tenure, dying less than five months after succeeding as governor. Four governors were actually born in Arizona: Campbell, Sidney Preston Osborn, Rose Mofford, and Babbitt. Arizona has had four female governors, the most in the United States, and was the first—and until 2019 (when Michelle Lujan Grisham succeeded Susana Martinez in neighboring New Mexico) the ''only''—state where female governors served consecutively. The current governor is Republican Doug Ducey, who took office on January 5, 2015. Democratic governor-elect Katie Hobbs will take office on January 2, 2023. Upon her inauguration five women will have served as governor, the most of any state.

Governors

Confederate Arizona

In Tucson between April 2 and April 5, 1860, a convention of settlers from the southern half of

New Mexico Territory The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912. It was created from the U.S. provisional government of New Mexico, as a result of ''Santa Fe de Nuevo México ...

drafted a provisional constitution for "Arizona Territory", three years before the United States would create such a territory. This proposed territory consisted of the part of New Mexico Territory south of 33° 40' north. On April 2, they elected a governor, Dr.

Lewis S. Owings Dr. Lewis S. Owings (September 6, 1820 – August 20, 1875) was an American politician, physician, and businessman from Tennessee who served as the 2nd Governor of Arizona Territory (Confederate), in exile, from 1862 to 1865. He had prev ...

. The provisional territory was to exist until such time as an official territory was created, but that proposal was rejected by the U.S. Congress at the time. On March 16, 1861, soon before the American Civil War broke out, a convention in Mesilla voted that the provisional territory should secede from the Union and join the

Confederacy Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between ...

. Dr. Lewis S. Owings remained on as the provisional governor of the territory. The Confederacy took ownership of the territory on August 1, 1861, when forces led by Lieutenant Colonel

John R. Baylor John R. Baylor (born John Robert Baylor; July 27, 1822 – February 6, 1894) was a US Indian agent, publisher and editor, politician, and a senior officer of the Confederate States Army. The

Arizona Territory The Territory of Arizona (also known as Arizona Territory) was a territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863, until February 14, 1912, when the remaining extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of ...

(

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between ...

) was formally organized on January 18, 1862. On March 20, 1862, Baylor issued an order to kill all the adult

Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...

and take their children into slavery. When

Confederate President The president of the Confederate States was the head of state and head of government of the Confederate States. The president was the chief executive of the federal government and was the commander-in-chief of the Confederate Army and the Confe ...

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...

learned of this order, he strongly disapproved and demanded an explanation. Baylor wrote a letter December 29, 1862, to justify his decision, and after this was received, Davis relieved Baylor of his post and commission, calling his letter an "avowal of an infamous crime". By that time, the Confederate government of Arizona Territory was

in exile In Exile may refer to: Film and television * ''In Exile'' (film) or ''Time Runner'', a 1993 science fiction film * ''In Exile'' (TV series), a 1998 UK sitcom Literature * "In Exile" (short story), an 1892 short story by Anton Chekhov *''In Exile'' ...

in San Antonio, Texas, as the territory had been effectively lost to Union forces in July 1862; no new governor was appointed.

Governors of the Territory of Arizona

was formed on February 24, 1863, from

, remaining a territory for 49 years.

Governors of the State of Arizona

The state of Arizona was admitted to the Union on February 14, 1912, the last of the

contiguous states The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...

to be admitted. The state constitution of 1912 called for the election of a governor every two years.AZ Const. art 5, § 1 The term was increased to four years by a 1968 amendment.Ralph E. Hughes v. Douglas K. Martin
(PDF), (Arizona Supreme Court 2002-08-20). “Nelson involved two allegedly conflicting amendments both approved by voters in the 1968 election, to Article 5 of the Arizona Constitution. ... The other amendment, proposition 104, extended the term of offices of the executive department, including the office of state auditor, from two years to four years.” The constitution originally included no term limit,AZ Const. art. 5, old § 1 but an amendment passed in 1992 allows governors to succeed themselves only once; before this, four governors were elected more than twice in a row. Gubernatorial terms begin on the first Monday in the January following the election. Governors who have served the two term limit can run again after four years out of office. Arizona is one of seven states which does not have a

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 ...

; instead, in the event of a vacancy in the office of governor, the secretary of state, if elected, succeeds to the office. If the secretary of state was appointed, rather than elected, or is otherwise ineligible to hold the office of governor, the first elected and eligible person in the line of succession assumes the office. The state constitution specifies the line of succession to be the Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Treasurer and Superintendent of Public Instruction, in that order. If the governor is out of the state or impeached, the next elected officer in the line of succession becomes acting governor until the governor returns or is cleared. In either case, any partial term counts toward the limit of two consecutive terms. To date, the line of succession has gone beyond the secretary of state only once, when Bruce Babbitt, as attorney general, became governor upon the death of Wesley Bolin; Rose Mofford, then serving as secretary of state, had been appointed to replace Bolin after Bolin succeeded to the governorship. Bolin had become governor when

Raúl Héctor Castro Raúl Héctor Castro (; June 12, 1916 – April 10, 2015) was a Mexican American politician, diplomat and judge. In 1964, Castro was selected to be U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, a position he held until 1968 when he was appointed U.S. Ambass ...

resigned to accept appointment as

U.S. Ambassador to Argentina The United States ambassador to Argentina is the official representative of the president of the United States to the head of state of Argentina. Argentina had declared its independence from Spain in 1816 and there followed a series of revolution ...

. Mofford later became acting governor after Evan Mecham was impeached by the House of Representatives, and succeeded to the governorship when Mecham was removed from office after his conviction by the Senate.

Notes

References

;General * * * * * ;Constitution * ;Specific

External links

Office of the Governor of Arizona
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arizona, List Of Governors Of Lists of state governors of the United States

* Governors Political history of Arizona