Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky

The lieutenant governor of Kentucky was created under the state's second constitution, which was ratified in 1799. The inaugural officeholder was Alexander Scott Bullitt, who took office in 1800 following his election to serve under James Garrard in 1799. The lieutenant governor becomes governor of Kentucky under circumstances similar to those under which the vice president of the United States assumes the presidency. The current lieutenant governor is Democrat Jacqueline Coleman, who has been office since December 10, 2019.

Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky
Commonwealth seal
Incumbent Jacqueline Coleman since December 10, 2019
Government of Kentucky
Style	The Honorable
Term length	Four years, renewable once
Inaugural holder	Alexander Scott Bullitt (1800)
Formation	Kentucky Constitution
Salary	$139,724.88
Website	http://ltgovernor.ky.gov

Duties of the Kentucky lieutenant governor

As specified in Kentucky Revised Statute 11.400, it states:

11.400 Duties of Lieutenant Governor. (1) In addition to the duties prescribed for the office by the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the duties of the Lieutenant Governor shall be as follows: (a) To serve as vice chairman of the State Property and Buildings Commission as prescribed by KRS 56.450; (b) To serve as vice chairman of the Kentucky Turnpike Authority as prescribed in KRS 175.430; (c) To serve as a member of the Kentucky Council on Agriculture in accordance with KRS 247.417; (d) To appoint one (1) member of the Public Officials' Compensation Commission as provided in KRS 64.742; (e) To serve as a member of the Board of the Kentucky Housing Corporation in accordance with KRS 198A.030; and (f) To serve as a member of Kentucky delegations on the following interstate compact commissions or boards: 1. The Southern Growth Policies Board as prescribed by KRS 147.585; 2. The Breaks Interstate Park Commission as provided in KRS 148.225; 3. The Falls of the Ohio Interstate Park Commission pursuant to KRS 148.242; 4. The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority pursuant to KRS 182.305; 5. The Interstate Water Sanitation Control Commissions as prescribed by KRS 224.18-710; and 6. The Kentucky Mining Advisory Council for the Interstate Mining Compact as provided by KRS 350.310. (2) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the Governor and Lieutenant Governor from agreeing upon additional duties within the executive branch of the state government to be performed by the Lieutenant Governor. Effective: June 26, 2007

Changes by 1992 amendment

The role and powers of the lieutenant governor of Kentucky were altered by a 1992 amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky. Prior to that 1992 amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky the lieutenant governor became acting governor at any time that the governor was outside of the commonwealth. Lieutenant governors Thelma Stovall (1975–1979) and Happy Chandler (1931–1935) engaged in high-profile use of their powers as acting governor when the elected governor was out of the commonwealth.

Kentucky's first governor's mansion served as the lieutenant governor's official residence for many years.

Also prior to the 1992 amendment of the Constitution of Kentucky, the lieutenant governor of Kentucky presided over the Kentucky Senate, casting a vote only in the event of a tie. The 1992 constitutional amendment supplanted the office of President pro tempore of the Kentucky Senate with the new office of President of the Kentucky Senate as presiding officer and abolished the lieutenant governor's duties involving the Senate. As a result, the lieutenant governor has no ongoing constitutional duties, and his or her traditional use of the Old Governor's Mansion as an official residence has been phased out.

Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor in Kentucky run together on party slates. This is the result of the same 1992 constitutional amendment; prior to that the candidates for both offices ran separately and, as a result, sometimes the two elected to those offices were not allies and did not work together. This was famously highlighted when then-Lt. Gov. A. B. "Happy" Chandler in 1935 and then-Lt. Gov. Thelma Stovall in 1978 called the Kentucky General Assembly into session to enact legislation that was not advocated by the governors at the time (Ruby Laffoon and Julian Carroll, respectively). In 1967 a Republican, Louie Nunn, was elected governor and a Democrat, Wendell H. Ford, was elected lieutenant governor; they served together in that way for four years.

List of lieutenant governors

  Democratic (29)   Democratic-Republican (5)   National Republican (1)   Free Soil (0)   Republican (7)   Whig (5)

#	Image	Name	Political party	Term	Governor(s) served under
1		Alexander Scott Bullitt		1800–1804	James Garrard
2		John Caldwell		1804	Christopher Greenup
3		Thomas Posey	Democratic-Republican	1806–1808	Christopher Greenup
4		Gabriel Slaughter	Democratic-Republican	1808–1812	Charles Scott
5		Richard Hickman		1812–1816	Isaac Shelby
6		Gabriel Slaughter	Democratic-Republican	1816	George Madison
Vacant 1816–1820					Gabriel Slaughter
7		William T. Barry	Democratic-Republican	1820–1824	John Adair
8		Robert B. McAfee	Democratic-Republican	1824–1828	Joseph Desha
9		John Breathitt	Democratic	1828–1832	Thomas Metcalfe
10		James T. Morehead	National Republican, Whig	1832–1834	John Breathitt
Vacant 1834–1836					James T. Morehead
11		Charles A. Wickliffe	Whig	1836–1839	James Clark
12		Manlius Valerius Thomson		1840–1844	Robert P. Letcher
13		Archibald Dixon	Whig	1844–1848	William Owsley
14		John LaRue Helm	Whig	1848–1850	John J. Crittenden
Vacant 1850–1851					John L. Helm
15		John Burton Thompson	Whig, Know Nothing	1851–1853	Lazarus W. Powell
16		James Greene Hardy	Know Nothing	1855–1856	Charles S. Morehead
Vacant 1856–1859
17		Linn Boyd	Democratic	1859	Beriah Magoffin
18		Richard Taylor Jacob	Democratic	1863–1864	Thomas E. Bramlette
Vacant 1864–1867					Thomas E. Bramlette
19		John W. Stevenson	Democratic	1867	John L. Helm
Vacant 1867–1871
20		John G. Carlisle	Democratic	1871–1875	Preston H. Leslie
21		John C. Underwood	Democratic	1875–1879	James B. McCreary
22		James E. Cantrill	Democratic	1879–1883	Luke P. Blackburn
23		James R. Hindman	Democratic	1883–1887	J. Proctor Knott
24		James W. Bryan	Democratic	1887–1891	Simon Bolivar Buckner
25		Mitchell C. Alford	Democratic	1891–1895	John Young Brown
26		William J. Worthington	Republican	1895–1899	William O. Bradley
27		John Marshall	Republican	1899–1900	William S. Taylor
28		J. C. W. Beckham	Democratic	1900	William Goebel
–		Newton Willard Utley (Acting)		1902–1903	J. C. W. Beckham
29		William P. Thorne	Democratic	1903–1907	J. C. W. Beckham
30		William H. Cox	Republican	1907–1911	Augustus E. Willson
31		Edward J. McDermott	Democratic	1911–1915	James B. McCreary
32		James D. Black	Democratic	1915–1919	Augustus O. Stanley
33		S. Thruston Ballard	Republican	1919–1923	James D. Black Edwin P. Morrow
34		Henry Denhardt	Democratic	1923–1927	William J. Fields
35		James Breathitt, Jr.	Democratic	1927–1931	Flem D. Sampson
36		Happy Chandler	Democratic	1931–1935	Ruby Laffoon
37		Keen Johnson	Democratic	1935–1939	Happy Chandler
38		Rodes K. Myers	Democratic	1939–1943	Keen Johnson
39		Kenneth H. Tuggle	Republican	1943–1947	Simeon Willis
40		Lawrence W. Wetherby	Democratic	1947–1950	Earle Clements
41		Emerson Beauchamp	Democratic	1951–1955	Lawrence W. Wetherby vacant
42		Harry Lee Waterfield	Democratic	1955–1959	Happy Chandler
43		Wilson W. Wyatt	Democratic	1959–1963	Bert Combs
44		Harry Lee Waterfield	Democratic	1963–1967	Ned Breathitt
45		Wendell Ford	Democratic	1967–1971	Louie Nunn
46		Julian Carroll	Democratic	1971–1974	Wendell Ford
Vacant 1974–1975
47		Thelma Stovall	Democratic	1975–1979	Julian Carroll
48		Martha Layne Collins	Democratic	1979–1983	John Y. Brown Jr.
49		Steve Beshear	Democratic	1983–1987	Martha Layne Collins
50		Brereton C. Jones	Democratic	1987–1991	Wallace Wilkinson
51		Paul E. Patton	Democratic	1991–1995	Brereton C. Jones
52		Steve Henry	Democratic	1995–2003	Paul E. Patton
53		Steve Pence	Republican	2003–2007	Ernie Fletcher
54		Daniel Mongiardo	Democratic	2007–2011	Steve Beshear
55		Jerry Abramson	Democratic	2011–2014	Steve Beshear
56		Crit Luallen	Democratic	2014–2015	Steve Beshear
57		Jenean Hampton	Republican	2015–2019	Matt Bevin
58		Jacqueline Coleman	Democratic	2019–present	Andy Beshear

Some accounts also indicate that Kentucky's Confederate government had one lieutenant governor, Horatio F. Simrall, who was elected at the Russellville Convention in 1861. Simrall fled to Mississippi shortly thereafter.

See also

• Governor of Kentucky