Lieutenant Governor of Arizona

Lieutenant Governor of Arizona
Lieutenant Governor of Arizona
	Great Seal of the State of Arizona
	Flag of Arizona
Style	The Honorable
Residence	None official
Appointer	Direct election
Term length	Four years
Inaugural holder	TBD
Succession	First
Salary	$165,000 (2026)

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 be established on January 4, 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

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 the legislatively referred proposition 100, which would have created the office of lieutenant governor to be elected on a joint ticket with the governor, with 65.3% of voters being against the measure. In 2010, proposition 111, a similar legislatively referred measure, failed with 59.2% of voters being against the measure. In 2022 Arizona voters approved the legislatively referred proposition 131 establishing the position with 55.16% of voters voting for the amendment and 44.84% of voters voting against it.

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]

In the event the office of lieutenant governor becomes vacant the governor of Arizona appoints a new person to serve in the position subject to majority approval of each house of the Arizona state legislature.^[2]