Lieutenant Governor of California

The **lieutenant governor of California** is a constitutional office in the executive branch of the U.S. state of California. It is the second highest-ranking official in the state government. The lieutenant governor ranks first in the gubernatorial line of succession and is also the officer of the legislative branch, president of the Senate and the presiding officer of the Senate.

Eleni Kounalakis is the 50th and current lieutenant governor of California, in office since January 2019.

## Constitutional roles and duties

The lieutenant governor presides as the president of the California State Senate and has all the powers of the governor to perform when the governor is out of the state.

The lieutenant governor often signing or vetoing legislation, or making political appointments, whenever the governor leaves the state. The lieutenant governor only presides over the Senate when needed by the president pro tempore or in order to **cast a tie-breaking vote**.

The lieutenant governor also is in charge of duties such as higher education, natural resources, economic development.

## Eligibility and requirements

Section 5 of the state's constitution states for a person to serve as governor must:

- be at least eighteen years old.
- be a permanent resident in California and the United States for at least five years.

## Election process

The lieutenant governor is elected by the people through the popular election to a four-year term, along with the gubernatorial candidate or the incumbent governor as their running mate. The gubernatorial candidate or incumbent governor must have the majority of the popular vote in order to win the election.

## Line of succession

The lieutenant governor is first in the line of succession to become governor if the governor dies resigns, or is impeached from office.

## List of lieutenant governors

|scope="col" data-sort-type="number"||colspan="3" scope="colgroup"|Lieutenant Governor|scope="col"|Term in office|scope="col"|Party|scope="col"|Election|colspan="2" scope="colgroup"|Governor||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|data-sort-value="McDougal, John"||rowspan="4" style="background:;"||**John McDougal**|– January 9, 1851|Democratic|1849|rowspan="4" style="background:;"|||||||
|data-sort-value="Broderick, David"||**David C. Broderick**|– January 8, 1852|Democratic|style="background:#EEEEEE;"||||||||||
|rowspan="2" data-sort-value="Purdy, Samuel"||rowspan="2"|**Samuel Purdy**|rowspan="2"|– January 9, 1856|rowspan="2"|Democratic|1851|rowspan="2"||||||
|1853|||||||||||||||
|data-sort-value="Anderson, Robert"||style="background:;"||**Robert M. Anderson**|– January 8, 1858|American|1855|style="background:;"|||||||
|data-sort-value="Walkup, Joseph"||rowspan="4" style="background:;"||**Joseph Walkup**|– January 9, 1860|Democratic|1857|rowspan="4" style="background:;"|||||||
|data-sort-value="Downey, John"||**John G. Downey**|– January 20, 1860|Democratic|1859||||||||||
|data-sort-value="Quinn, Isaac"||**Isaac N. Quinn**|– January 7, 1861|Democratic|style="background:#EEEEEE;"||rowspan="2"||||||||
|data-sort-value="de la Guerra, Pablo"||**Pablo de la Guerra**|– January 10, 1862|Democratic|style="background:#EEEEEE;"||||||||||
|data-sort-value="Chellis, John"||rowspan="2" style="background:;"||**John F. Chellis**|– December 10, 1863|Republican|1861|rowspan="2" style="background:;"|||||||
|data-sort-value="Machin, Tim"||**Tim N. Machin**|– December 5, 1867|Republican|1863||||||||||
|data-sort-value="Holden, William"||style="background:;"||**William Holden**|– December 8, 1871|Democratic|1867|style="background:;"|||||||
|data-sort-value="Pacheco, Romualdo"||style="background:;"||**Romualdo Pacheco**|– February 27, 1875|Republican|1871|rowspan="2" style="background:;"|||||||
|data-sort-value="Irwin, William"||rowspan="2" style="background:;"||**William Irwin**|– December 9, 1875|Democratic|style="background:#EEEEEE;"||||||||
|data-sort-value="Johnson, James"||**James A. Johnson**|– January 8, 1880|Democratic|1875|style="background:;"|||||||||
|data-sort-value="Mansfield, John"||style="background:;"||**John Mansfield**|– January 10, 1883|Republican|1879|style="background:;"|||||||
|data-sort-value="Daggett, John"||style="background:;"||**John Daggett**|– January 8, 1887|Democratic|1882|rowspan="2" style="background:;"|||||||
|data-sort-value="Waterman, Robert"||style="background:;"||**Robert Waterman**|– September 13, 1887|Republican|1886||||||||
|data-sort-value="White, Stephen"||style="background:;"||**Stephen M. White**|– January 8, 1891|Democratic|style="background:#EEEEEE;"||rowspan="2" style="background:;"||||||
|data-sort-value="Reddick, John"||rowspan="2" style="background:;"||**John B. Reddick**|– January 11, 1895|Republican|1890||||||||
|data-sort-value="Millard, Spencer"||**Spencer G. Millard**|– October 24, 1895|Republican|1894|rowspan="3" style="background:;"||rowspan="3"|||||||
|colspan="3" style="background:#EEEEEE;"|_Vacant_|__ _–_ _October 26, 1895_|colspan="2" style="background:#EEEEEE;"||||||||||||
|data-sort-value="Jeter, William"||style="background:;"||**William T. Jeter**|– January 3, 1899|Democratic|style="background:#EEEEEE;"||||||||
|data-sort-value="Neff, Jacob"||rowspan="4" style="background:;"||**Jacob H. Neff**|– January 6, 1903|Republican|1898|rowspan="4" style="background:;"|||||||
|data-sort-value="Anderson, Alden"||**Alden Anderson**|– January 8, 1907|Republican|1902||||||||||
|data-sort-value="Porter, Warren"||**Warren R. Porter**|– January 3, 1911|Republican|1906||||||||||
|data-sort-value="Wallace, Albert"||**Albert Joseph Wallace**|– January 5, 1915|Republican|1910|rowspan="4"|||||||||
|data-sort-value="Eshleman, John"||style="background:;"||**John Morton Eshleman**|– February 28, 1916|Progressive|1914|rowspan="3" style="background:;"|||||||
|colspan="3" style="background:#EEEEEE;"|_Vacant_|__ _—_ _July 22, 1916_|colspan="2" style="background:#EEEEEE;"||||||||||||
|data-sort-value="Stephens, William"||style="background:;"||**William Stephens**|– March 15, 1917|Republican|style="background:#EEEEEE;"||||||||
|colspan="3" style="background:#EEEEEE;"|_Vacant_|__ _—_ _January 6, 1919_|colspan="2" style="background:#EEEEEE;"||rowspan="9" style="background:;"||rowspan="2"||||||||
|rowspan="2" data-sort-value="Young, C. C."||rowspan="3" style="background:;"||rowspan="2"|**C. C. Young**|rowspan="2"|– January 4, 1927|rowspan="2"|Republican|1918|||||
|1922|||||||||||||||
|data-sort-value="Fitts, Buron"||**Buron Fitts**|– November 30, 1928|Republican|1926|rowspan="3"|||||||||
|colspan="3" style="background:#EEEEEE;"|_Vacant_|__ _—_ _December 4, 1928_|colspan="2" style="background:#EEEEEE;"||||||||||||
|data-sort-value="Carnahan, Herschel"||rowspan="2" style="background:;"||**Herschel L. Carnahan**|– January 6, 1931|Republican|style="background:#EEEEEE;"||||||||
|data-sort-value="Merriam, Frank"||**Frank Merriam**|– June 2, 1934|Republican|1930||||||||||
|colspan="3" style="background:#EEEEEE;"|_Vacant_|__ _—_ _January 7, 1935_|colspan="2" style="background:#EEEEEE;"||rowspan="2"||||||||||
|data-sort-value="Hatfield, George"||style="background:;"||**George J. Hatfield**|– January 2, 1939|Republican|1934||||||||
|data-sort-value="Patterson, Ellis"||style="background:;"||**Ellis E. Patterson**|– January 4, 1943|Democratic|1938|style="background:;"|||||||
|data-sort-value="Houser, Frederick"||rowspan="5" style="background:;"||**Frederick F. Houser**|– January 6, 1947|Republican|1942|rowspan="5" style="background:;"||rowspan="3"|||||
|rowspan="2" data-sort-value="Knight, Goodwin"||rowspan="2"|**Goodwin Knight**|rowspan="2"|– October 4, 1953|rowspan="2"|Republican|1946|||||||
|1950|||||||||||||||
|rowspan="2" data-sort-value="Powers, Harold"||rowspan="2"|**Harold J. Powers**|rowspan="2"|– January 5, 1959|rowspan="2"|Republican|style="background:#EEEEEE;"||rowspan="2"|||||
|1954|||||||||||||||
|rowspan="2" data-sort-value="Anderson, Glenn"||rowspan="2" style="background:;"||rowspan="2"|**Glenn M. Anderson**|rowspan="2"|– January 2, 1967|rowspan="2"|Democratic|1958|rowspan="2" style="background:;"||rowspan="2"||
|1962|||||||||||||||
|data-sort-value="Finch, Robert"||rowspan="4" style="background:;"||**Robert Finch**|– January 8, 1969|Republican|1966|rowspan="4" style="background:;"||rowspan="4"|||||
|rowspan="2" data-sort-value="Reinecke, Edwin"||rowspan="2"|**Edwin Reinecke**|rowspan="2"|– October 2, 1974|rowspan="2"|Republican|style="background:#EEEEEE;"|||||||
|1970|||||||||||||||
|data-sort-value="Harmer, John"||**John L. Harmer**|– January 6, 1975|Republican|style="background:#EEEEEE;"||||||||||
|data-sort-value="Dymally, Mervyn"||style="background:;"||**Mervyn Dymally**|– January 8, 1979|Democratic|1974|rowspan="2" style="background:;"||rowspan="2"|||||
|data-sort-value="Curb, Mike"||style="background:;"||**Mike Curb**|– January 3, 1983|Republican|1978||||||||
|rowspan="3" data-sort-value="McCarthy, Leo"||rowspan="9" style="background:;"||rowspan="3"|**Leo T. McCarthy**|rowspan="3"|– January 3, 1995|rowspan="3"|Democratic|1982|rowspan="4" style="background:;"||rowspan="2"||
|1986|||||||||||||||
|1990|rowspan="2"||||||||||||||
|data-sort-value="Davis, Gray"||**Gray Davis**|– January 4, 1999|Democratic|1994||||||||||
|rowspan="3" data-sort-value="Bustamante, Cruz"||rowspan="3"|**Cruz Bustamante**|rowspan="3"|– January 7, 2007|rowspan="3"|Democratic|1998|rowspan="2" style="background:;"||rowspan="2"||||
|rowspan="2"|2002||||||||||||||
|rowspan="4" style="background:;"||rowspan="4"|||||||||||||
|data-sort-value="Garamendi, John"||**John Garamendi**|– November 3, 2009|Democratic|2006||||||||||
|data-sort-value="Pasquil, Mona"||**Mona Pasquil**|– April 27, 2010|Democratic|style="background:#EEEEEE;"||||||||||
|rowspan="2" data-sort-value="Maldonado, Abel"||rowspan="2" style="background:;"||rowspan="2"|**Abel Maldonado**|rowspan="2"|– January 10, 2011|rowspan="2"|Republican|style="background:#EEEEEE;"|||||
|rowspan="2"|2010|rowspan="5" style="background:;"||rowspan="3"|||||||||||
|rowspan="2" data-sort-value="Newsom, Gavin"||rowspan="4" style="background:;"||rowspan="2"|**Gavin Newsom**|rowspan="2"|– January 7, 2019|rowspan="2"|Democratic||||||
|2014|||||||||||||||
|rowspan="2" data-sort-value="Kounalakis, Eleni"||rowspan="2"|**Eleni Kounalakis**|rowspan="2"|– Incumbent|rowspan="2"|Democratic|2018|rowspan="2"||||||
|2022|||||||||||||||

## Infobox (political post)

- **post**: Lieutenant Governor
- **body**: California
- **insignia**: Seal of California.svg
- **insigniacaption**: Seal of the State of California
- **flag**: Flag of California.svg
- **flagborder**: yes
- **flagcaption**: Flag of State of California
- **image**: File:Eleni Kounalakis in 2021.jpg
- **incumbent**: Eleni Kounalakis
- **incumbentsince**: January 7, 2019
- **style**: Madam Lieutenant Governor
 (Informal)
 The Honorable
 (Formal)
Mr. President (title), Madam President
(When presiding over California Senate)
- **termlength**: Four years, renewable once
- **salary**: $130,490
- **inaugural**: John McDougal
1849
- **residence**: None official
- **seat**: Sacramento, California
 California State Capitol
- **appointer**: Popular vote
- **constituting instrument**: Constitution of California
- **succession**: Gubernatorial lines of succession in the United States, First
 (gubernatorial line of succession)
- **insigniasize**: 100px
- **flagsize**: 130px
- **department**: California State Senate
Government of California