List of Governors of NJ

November 18, 2011

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Term length	Four years
Inaugural holder	William Livingston
Formation	August 31, 1776
Deputy	Kim Guadagno
Salary	$157,000 (2009)
Website	www.state.nj.us/governor

The Governor of New Jersey is the head of the executive branch of New Jersey‘s government and the commander-in-chief of the state‘s military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the New Jersey Legislature, to convene the legislature, and to grant pardons, except in cases of treason or impeachment.

There have been 55 official governors of New Jersey, with several others acting as governor for a time. In the official numbering, governors are counted only once each, and traditionally, only elected governors were included. However, legislation signed on January 10, 2006, allowed acting governors who had served at least 180 days to be considered full governors. The law was retroactive to January 1, 2001; it therefore changed the titles of Donald DiFrancesco and Richard Codey, affecting Jim McGreevey‘s numbering.The current governor is Chris Christie, who took office on January 19, 2010.

Governors

For the period before independence, see the list of colonial governors of New Jersey.

New Jersey was one of the original thirteen colonies and was admitted as a state on December 18, 1787. Prior to declaring its independence, New Jersey was a colony of the Kingdom of Great Britain.

The first New Jersey State Constitution, ratified in 1776, provided that a governor be elected annually by the state legislature, the members of which were selected by the several counties. Under this constitution, the governor was president of the upper house of the legislature, then called the Legislative Council.The 1844 constitution provided for a popular vote to elect the governor,who no longer presided over the upper house of the legislature, now called the Senate. The 1844 constitution also lengthened the governor’s term to three years, set to start on the third Tuesday in January following an election, and barred governors from succeeding themselves. The 1947 constitution extended terms to four years, and limits governors from being elected to more than two consecutive terms, though they can run again after a third term has passed.

The 1776 constitution provided that the vice-president of the Legislative Councilwould act as governor (who was president of the Council) should that office be vacant. The 1844 constitution placed the president of the Senate first in the line of succession, as did the subsequent 1947 constitution. A constitutional amendment in 2006 created the office of lieutenant governorto be elected on the same ticket for the same term as the governor,and if the office of governor is vacant, the lieutenant governor becomes governor. This office was first filled in 2010.

Federalist (4) Democratic-Republican (3) Democratic (27) Whig (4) Republican (17)

(official numbering, does not include repeat or acting governors)

#	Governor		Term start	Term end	Party	Lt. Governor ^[13]	Terms ^{[note 3]}
1		William Livingston	August 31, 1776	July 25, 1790	Federalist	None	13^Â 1â„₂ ^{[note 4]}
		Elisha Lawrence	July 25, 1790	October 29, 1790	Federalist		¹â„₂ ^{[note 5]}
2		William Paterson	October 29, 1790	March 30, 1793	Federalist		2^Â 1â„₂ ^{[note 6]} ^{[note 7]}
		Thomas Henderson	March 30, 1793	June 3, 1793	Federalist		¹â„₂ ^{[note 5]}
3		Richard Howell	June 3, 1793	October 31, 1801	Federalist		8 ^{[note 8]}
4		Joseph Bloomfield	October 31, 1801	October 28, 1802	Democratic- Republican		1
		John Lambert	October 28, 1802	October 29, 1803	Democratic- Republican		1 ^{[note 9]}
4		Joseph Bloomfield	October 29, 1803	October 29, 1812	Democratic- Republican		9 ^{[note 10]}
5		Aaron Ogden	October 29, 1812	October 29, 1813	Federalist		1
6		William Sanford Pennington	October 29, 1813	June 19, 1815	Democratic- Republican		1^Â 1â„₂ ^{[note 11]}
		William Kennedy	June 19, 1815	October 26, 1815	Democratic- Republican		¹â„₂ ^{[note 5]} ^{[note 12]}
7		Mahlon Dickerson	October 26, 1815	February 1, 1817	Democratic- Republican		1^Â 1â„₂ ^{[note 13]}
8		Isaac Halstead Williamson	February 6, 1817	October 30, 1829	Federalist		12^Â 1â„₂ ^{[note 14]} ^{[note 15]} ^{[note 16]}
		Garret D. Wall	â€”	â€”	Democratic		â€” ^{[note 17]}
9		Peter Dumont Vroom	November 6, 1829	October 26, 1832	Democratic		3
10		Samuel L. Southard	October 26, 1832	February 27, 1833	Whig		¹â„₂ ^{[note 13]}
12		Elias P. Seeley	February 27, 1833	October 25, 1833	Whig		¹â„₂ ^{[note 18]}
9		Peter Dumont Vroom	October 25, 1833	November 3, 1836	Democratic		3
12		Philemon Dickerson	November 3, 1836	October 27, 1837	Democratic		1
13		William Pennington	October 27, 1837	October 27, 1843	Whig		6
14		Daniel Haines	October 27, 1843	January 21, 1845	Democratic		1 ^{[note 19]}
15		Charles C. Stratton	January 21, 1845	January 18, 1848	Whig		1 ^{[note 20]}
14		Daniel Haines	January 18, 1848	January 21, 1851	Democratic		1
16		George F. Fort	January 21, 1851	January 17, 1854	Democratic		1
17		Rodman M. Price	January 17, 1854	January 20, 1857	Democratic		1
18		William A. Newell	January 20, 1857	January 17, 1860	Republican		1
19		Charles Smith Olden	January 17, 1860	January 20, 1863	Republican		1
20		Joel Parker	January 20, 1863	January 16, 1866	Democratic		1
21		Marcus Lawrence Ward	January 16, 1866	January 19, 1869	Republican		1
22		Theodore Fitz Randolph	January 19, 1869	January 16, 1872	Democratic		1
20		Joel Parker	January 16, 1872	January 19, 1875	Democratic		1
23		Joseph D. Bedle	January 19, 1875	January 15, 1878	Democratic		1
24		George B. McClellan	January 15, 1878	January 18, 1881	Democratic		1
25		George C. Ludlow	January 18, 1881	January 15, 1884	Democratic		1
26		Leon Abbett	January 15, 1884	January 18, 1887	Democratic		1
27		Robert Stockton Green	January 18, 1887	January 21, 1890	Democratic		1
26		Leon Abbett	January 21, 1890	January 17, 1893	Democratic		1
28		George Theodore Werts	January 17, 1893	January 21, 1896	Democratic		1
29		John W. Griggs	January 21, 1896	January 31, 1898	Republican		¹â„₃ ^{[note 21]}
		Foster MacGowan Voorhees	January 31, 1898	October 18, 1898	Republican		¹â„₃ ^{[note 22]}
		David Ogden Watkins	October 18, 1898	January 17, 1899	Republican		¹â„₃ ^{[note 23]}
30		Foster MacGowan Voorhees	January 17, 1899	January 21, 1902	Republican		1 ^{[note 24]}
31		Franklin Murphy	January 21, 1902	January 17, 1905	Republican		1 ^{[note 25]}
32		Edward C. Stokes	January 17, 1905	January 21, 1908	Republican		1
33		John Franklin Fort	January 21, 1908	January 17, 1911	Republican		1 ^{[note 26]}
34		Woodrow Wilson	January 17, 1911	March 1, 1913	Democratic		¹â„₃ ^{[note 27]} ^{[note 28]}
		James Fairman Fielder	March 1, 1913	October 28, 1913	Democratic		¹â„₃ ^{[note 29]}
		Leon R. Taylor	October 28, 1913	January 20, 1914	Democratic		¹â„₃ ^{[note 23]}
35		James Fairman Fielder	January 20, 1914	January 16, 1917	Democratic		1 ^{[note 30]} ^{[note 31]}
36		Walter Evans Edge	January 16, 1917	May 16, 1919	Republican		¹â„₃ ^{[note 13]} ^{[note 31]} ^{[note 32]}
		William Nelson Runyon	May 16, 1919	January 13, 1920	Republican		¹â„₃ ^{[note 33]}
		Clarence E. Case	January 13, 1920	January 20, 1920	Republican		¹â„₃ ^{[note 34]}
37		Edward I. Edwards	January 20, 1920	January 15, 1923	Democratic		1
38		George Sebastian Silzer	January 15, 1923	January 19, 1926	Democratic		1
39		A. Harry Moore	January 19, 1926	January 15, 1929	Democratic		1
40		Morgan Foster Larson	January 15, 1929	January 19, 1932	Republican		1
39		A. Harry Moore	January 19, 1932	January 3, 1935	Democratic		¹„₃ ^{[note 13]}
		Clifford Ross Powell	January 3, 1935	January 8, 1935	Republican		¹â„₃ ^{[note 33]}
		Horace Griggs Prall	January 8, 1935	January 15, 1935	Republican		¹â„₃ ^{[note 34]}
41		Harold G. Hoffman	January 15, 1935	January 18, 1938	Republican		1
39		A. Harry Moore	January 18, 1938	January 21, 1941	Democratic		1
42		Charles Edison	January 21, 1941	January 18, 1944	Democratic		1
36		Walter Evans Edge	January 18, 1944	January 21, 1947	Republican		1
43		Alfred E. Driscoll	January 21, 1947	January 19, 1954	Republican		2 ^{[note 35]}
44		Robert B. Meyner	January 19, 1954	January 16, 1962	Democratic	2
45		Richard J. Hughes	January 16, 1962	January 20, 1970	Democratic	2
46		William T. Cahill	January 20, 1970	January 15, 1974	Republican	1
47		Brendan Byrne	January 15, 1974	January 19, 1982	Democratic	2
48		Thomas Kean	January 19, 1982	January 16, 1990	Republican	2
49		James Florio	January 16, 1990	January 18, 1994	Democratic	1
50		Christine Todd Whitman	January 18, 1994	January 31, 2001	Republican	1^Â 1â„₅ ^{[note 36]}
51		Donald DiFrancesco	January 31, 2001	January 8, 2002	Republican	¹â„₅ ^{[note 33]} ^{[note 37]}
		John Farmer, Jr.	January 8, 2002	January 8, 2002	Republican	¹â„₅ ^{[note 38]}
		John O. Bennett	January 8, 2002	January 12, 2002	Republican	¹â„₅ ^{[note 39]}
		Richard Codey	January 12, 2002	January 15, 2002	Democratic	¹â„₅ ^{[note 39]}
52		Jim McGreevey	January 15, 2002	November 15, 2004	Democratic	¹â„₂ ^{[note 40]}
53		Richard Codey	November 15, 2004	January 17, 2006	Democratic	¹â„₂ ^{[note 34]} ^{[note 37]}
54		Jon Corzine	January 17, 2006	January 19, 2010	Democratic	1 ^{[note 41]}
55		Chris Christie	January 19, 2010	incumbent	Republican	Kim Guadagno	1^{[note 42]}