Lieutenant Governor of Arizona

Lieutenant Governor of Arizona
Lieutenant Governor of Arizona
	Great Seal of the State of Arizona
Style	The Honorable
Term length	Four years
Inaugural holder	TBD

The lieutenant governor of Arizona is a constitutional statewide elected office in the U.S. state of Arizona. The office was established following the passage of proposition 131 in the 2022 election, and will first be filled in January 2027 following the 2026 Arizona gubernatorial election. The position will be elected on a joint ticket with the governor.

History

The constitution of Arizona did not originally specify an office of lieutenant governor, making Arizona one of five states with this distinction. The constitution instead specified that the secretary of state, if holding office by election, would assume the office of governor in case of a vacancy in the office. Since 1912, there have been six instances in which this happened, although Bruce Babbitt acceded to the post while serving as attorney general, as Rose Mofford had only been appointed as Secretary of State due to the death of Wesley Bolin five months earlier. In 1994, Arizona voters rejected proposition 100, which would have created the office of lieutenant governor to be elected on a joint ticked with the governor, with 65.3% of voters being against the measure. In 2010, proposition 111, a similar measure, failed with 59.2% of voters being against the measure.

Powers and duties

The power of the lieutenant governor of Arizona derives from Article V, Section 1, of the Arizona Constitution, which provides that the lieutenant governor will be the first in line to succeed the governor when the governor dies, resigns, or is officially removed from office by impeachment, a role presently filled by the officially elected Secretary of State. Section 9 provides that the state legislature may prescribe further duties for the lieutenant governor. The proposition—through a law pre-passed by the Legislature—will also task the governor with assigning a job to her or his running mate, such as chief of staff, the director of the state Department of Administration, or "any position" to which the governor can appoint someone by law.^[1]