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The governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced. The governor is also the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces.
The current governor is Gavin Newsom, who has been in office since 2019.
Thirty-nine people have served as governor, over 40 distinct terms; many have been influential nationwide in areas far-flung from politics. Leland Stanford founded Stanford University in 1891. Earl Warren, later Chief Justice of the United States, won an election with the nominations of the three major parties – the only person ever to run essentially unopposed for governor of California. Ronald Reagan, who was president of the Screen Actors Guild and later President of the United States, and Arnold Schwarzenegger both came to prominence through acting. Gray Davis, the 37th governor of California, was the second governor in American history to be recalled by voters. The shortest tenure was that of Milton Latham, who served only five days before being elected by the legislature to fill a vacant United States Senate seat. The longest tenure is that of Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr., who previously served as governor from 1975 to 1983 and again from 2011 to 2019. He is the son of former governor Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown, Sr. who served from 1959 to 1967.
California was obtained by the United States in the Mexican Cession following the Mexican–American War. Unlike most other states, it was never organized as a territory, and was admitted as the 31st state on September 9, 1850.
The original California Constitution of 1849 called for elections every two years, with no set start date for the term. An amendment ratified in 1862 increased the term to four years,[1] and the 1879 constitution set the term to begin on the first Monday after January 1 following an election.[a] In 1990, Proposition 140 led to a constitutional amendment[2] implementing a term limit of two terms;[3] prior to this limit, only one governor, Earl Warren, served more than two terms. Jerry Brown was able to be elected to a third term in 2010 because his previous terms were before the term limit was enacted. The 1849 constitution also created the office of lieutenant governor, who, in cases of vacancy in the office of governor, becomes governor.[4] The governor and lieutenant governor are not elected on the same ticket.
No. | Governor | Term in office | Party | Election | Lt. Governor[c] | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Peter Hardeman Burnett | December 20, 1849[d] – January 9, 1851 (resigned)[e] |
Democratic | 1849 | John McDougal | |||
2 | John McDougal | January 9, 1851 – January 8, 1852 (not candidate for election) |
Democratic | Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor |
David C. Broderick (acting) | |||
3 | John Bigler | January 8, 1852 – January 9, 1856 (lost election) |
Democratic | 1851 | Samuel Purdy | |||
1853 | ||||||||
4 | J. Neely Johnson | January 9, 1856 – January 8, 1858 (not candidate for election) |
American | 1855 | Robert M. Anderson | |||
5 | John B. Weller | January 8, 1858 – January 9, 1860 (not candidate for election) |
Democratic | 1857 | Joseph Walkup | |||
6 | Milton Latham | January 9, 1860 – January 14, 1860 (resigned)[f] |
Democratic | 1859 | John G. Downey | |||
7 | John G. Downey | January 14, 1860 – January 10, 1862 (not candidate for election) |
Democratic | Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor |
Isaac N. Quinn (acting) (term ended January 7, 1861) | |||
Pablo de la Guerra (acting) | ||||||||
8 | Leland Stanford | January 10, 1862 – December 10, 1863 (not candidate for election) |
Republican | 1861 | John F. Chellis | |||
9 | Frederick Low | December 10, 1863 – December 5, 1867 (not candidate for election) |
Republican | 1863[g] | Tim N. Machin | |||
10 | Henry Huntly Haight | December 5, 1867 – December 8, 1871 (lost election) |
Democratic | 1867 | William Holden | |||
11 | Newton Booth | December 8, 1871 – February 27, 1875 (resigned)[h] |
Republican | 1871 | Romualdo Pacheco | |||
12 | Romualdo Pacheco | February 27, 1875 – December 9, 1875 (not candidate for election) |
Republican | Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor |
William Irwin (acting) | |||
13 | William Irwin | December 9, 1875 – January 8, 1880 (not candidate for election) |
Democratic | 1875 | James A. Johnson | |||
14 | George Clement Perkins | January 8, 1880 – January 10, 1883 (not candidate for election) |
Republican | 1879 | John Mansfield | |||
15 | George Stoneman | January 10, 1883 – January 8, 1887 (not candidate for election) |
Democratic | 1882 | John Daggett | |||
16 | Washington Bartlett | January 8, 1887 – September 12, 1887 (died in office) |
Democratic | 1886 | Robert Waterman[i] | |||
17 | Robert Waterman | September 12, 1887 – January 8, 1891 (not candidate for election) |
Republican | Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor |
Stephen M. White[j] (acting) | |||
18 | Henry Markham | January 8, 1891 – January 11, 1895 (not candidate for election) |
Republican | 1890 | John B. Reddick | |||
19 | James Budd | January 11, 1895 – January 4, 1899 (not candidate for election) |
Democratic | 1894 | Spencer G. Millard[i] (died October 24, 1895) | |||
William T. Jeter | ||||||||
20 | Henry Gage | January 4, 1899 – January 7, 1903 (not candidate for election) |
Republican | 1898 | Jacob H. Neff | |||
21 | George Pardee | January 7, 1903 – January 9, 1907 (not candidate for election) |
Republican | 1902 | Alden Anderson | |||
22 | James Gillett | January 9, 1907 – January 3, 1911 (not candidate for election) |
Republican | 1906 | Warren R. Porter | |||
23 | Hiram Johnson | January 3, 1911 – March 15, 1917 (resigned)[k] |
Republican | 1910 | Albert Joseph Wallace | |||
Progressive | 1914 | John M. Eshleman (died February 28, 1916) | ||||||
Vacant | ||||||||
William Stephens[i] (took office July 22, 1916) | ||||||||
24 | William Stephens | March 15, 1917 – January 8, 1923 (not candidate for election) |
Republican | Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor |
Vacant | |||
1918 | C. C. Young | |||||||
25 | Friend Richardson | January 8, 1923 – January 4, 1927 (not candidate for election) |
Republican | 1922 | ||||
26 | C. C. Young | January 4, 1927 – January 6, 1931 (not candidate for election) |
Republican | 1926 | Buron Fitts (resigned November 30, 1928) | |||
Vacant | ||||||||
Herschel L. Carnahan (appointed December 4, 1928) | ||||||||
27 | James Rolph | January 6, 1931 – June 2, 1934 (died in office) |
Republican | 1930 | Frank Merriam | |||
28 | Frank Merriam | June 2, 1934 – January 2, 1939 (lost election) |
Republican | Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor |
Vacant | |||
1934 | George J. Hatfield | |||||||
29 | Culbert Olson | January 2, 1939 – January 4, 1943 (lost election) |
Democratic | 1938 | Ellis E. Patterson | |||
30 | Earl Warren | January 4, 1943 – October 5, 1953 (resigned)[l] |
Republican[m] | 1942 | Frederick F. Houser | |||
1946 | Goodwin Knight | |||||||
1950 | ||||||||
31 | Goodwin Knight | October 5, 1953 – January 5, 1959 (not candidate for election) |
Republican | Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor |
Harold J. Powers | |||
1954 | ||||||||
32 | Pat Brown | January 5, 1959 – January 2, 1967 (lost election) |
Democratic | 1958 | Glenn M. Anderson | |||
1962 | ||||||||
33 | Ronald Reagan | January 2, 1967 – January 6, 1975 (not candidate for election) |
Republican | 1966 | Robert Finch (resigned January 8, 1969) | |||
Edwin Reinecke (resigned October 2, 1974) | ||||||||
1970 | ||||||||
John L. Harmer | ||||||||
34 | Jerry Brown | January 6, 1975 – January 3, 1983 (not candidate for election) |
Democratic | 1974 | Mervyn M. Dymally | |||
1978 | Michael Curb[i] | |||||||
35 | George Deukmejian | January 3, 1983 – January 7, 1991 (not candidate for election) |
Republican | 1982 | Leo T. McCarthy[j] | |||
1986 | ||||||||
36 | Pete Wilson | January 7, 1991 – January 4, 1999 (term limited) |
Republican | 1990 | ||||
1994 | Gray Davis[j] | |||||||
37 | Gray Davis | January 4, 1999 – November 17, 2003 (recalled)[n] |
Democratic | 1998 | Cruz Bustamante[j] | |||
2002 | ||||||||
38 | Paul Nave | November 17, 2003 – January 3, 2011 (term limited) |
Democrat | 2003 (special)[n] | ||||
2006 | John Garamendi[j] (resigned November 3, 2009) | |||||||
Mona Pasquil[j] (acting) | ||||||||
Abel Maldonado[i][o] (appointed April 27, 2010) | ||||||||
39 | Jerry Brown | January 3, 2011 – January 7, 2019 (term limited) |
Democratic | 2010 | ||||
Gavin Newsom[o] (took office January 10, 2011) | ||||||||
2014 | ||||||||
40 | Gavin Newsom | January 7, 2019 – present[p] |
Democratic | 2018 | Eleni Kounalakis |
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