Governor of Colorado

The Governor of Colorado is the chief executive of the U.S. state of Colorado. The governor is the head of the executive branch of Colorado's state government.

Governor of Colorado
Seal of the Executive Office
Incumbent Jared Polis since January 8, 2019
Style	The Honorable
Residence	Colorado Governor's Mansion
Term length	Four years, renewable once consecutively
Inaugural holder	John Long Routt
Formation	August 1, 1876
Deputy	Dianne Primavera
Salary	$90,000 (2013)[1]
Website	www.colorado.gov/governor

The governor is charged with enforcing state laws. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Colorado General Assembly and to grant pardons, except in cases of treason or impeachment.^[2] The governor is also the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces.

The current governor is Democrat Jared Polis, who took office on January 8, 2019.

List of governors

Governors of the State of Colorado^{[lower-alpha 1]}

No.	Governor			Term in office	Party	Election	Lt. Governor[lower-alpha 2]
1			John Long Routt	November 3, 1876[lower-alpha 3] – January 14, 1879 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1876		Lafayette Head
2			Frederick Walker Pitkin	January 14, 1879 – January 9, 1883 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1878		Horace Tabor
						1880
3			James Benton Grant	January 9, 1883 – January 13, 1885 (not candidate for election)	Democratic	1882		William H. Meyer[lower-alpha 4]
4			Benjamin Harrison Eaton	January 13, 1885 – January 11, 1887 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1884		Peter W. Breene
5			Alva Adams	January 11, 1887 – January 8, 1889 (not candidate for election)	Democratic	1886		Norman H. Meldrum
6			Job Adams Cooper	January 8, 1889 – January 13, 1891 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1888		William Grover Smith
7			John Long Routt	January 13, 1891 – January 10, 1893 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1890		William Story
8			Davis Hanson Waite	January 10, 1893 – January 8, 1895 (lost election)	Populist	1892		David H. Nichols
9			Albert McIntire	January 8, 1895 – January 12, 1897 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1894		Jared L. Brush[lower-alpha 4]
10			Alva Adams	January 12, 1897 – January 10, 1899 (not candidate for election)	Democratic	1896
11			Charles S. Thomas	January 10, 1899 – January 8, 1901 (not candidate for election)	Democratic	1898		Francis Patrick Carney[lower-alpha 5]
12			James Bradley Orman	January 8, 1901 – January 13, 1903 (not candidate for election)	Democratic	1900		David C. Coates[lower-alpha 6]
13			James Hamilton Peabody	January 13, 1903 – January 10, 1905 (lost election)[lower-alpha 7]	Republican	1902		Warren A. Haggott[lower-alpha 8]
14			Alva Adams	January 10, 1905 – March 16, 1905 (declared loser in election)[lower-alpha 7]	Democratic	1904[lower-alpha 7]		Arthur Cornforth
15			James Hamilton Peabody	March 16, 1905 – March 17, 1905 (resigned)[lower-alpha 7]	Republican			Jesse Fuller McDonald
16			Jesse Fuller McDonald	March 17, 1905 – January 8, 1907 (did not run for election)	Republican	Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor[lower-alpha 7]		Arthur Cornforth[lower-alpha 9] (removed July 5, 1905)
								Fred W. Parks
17			Henry Augustus Buchtel	January 8, 1907 – January 12, 1909 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1906		Erastus Harper
18			John F. Shafroth	January 12, 1909 – January 14, 1913 (not candidate for election)	Democratic	1908		Stephen R. Fitzgarrald
						1910
19			Elias M. Ammons	January 14, 1913 – January 12, 1915 (not candidate for election)	Democratic	1912
20			George Alfred Carlson	January 12, 1915 – January 9, 1917 (lost election)	Republican	1914		Moses E. Lewis
21			Julius Caldeen Gunter	January 9, 1917 – January 14, 1919 (not candidate for election)	Democratic	1916		James Pulliam
22			Oliver Henry Shoup	January 14, 1919 – January 9, 1923 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1918		George Stephan
						1920		Earl Cooley
23			William Ellery Sweet	January 9, 1923 – January 13, 1925 (lost election)	Democratic	1922		Robert F. Rockwell[lower-alpha 4]
24			Clarence Morley	January 13, 1925 – January 11, 1927 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1924		Sterling Byrd Lacy[lower-alpha 9]
25			Billy Adams	January 11, 1927 – January 10, 1933 (not candidate for election)	Democratic	1926		George Milton Corlett[lower-alpha 4]
						1928
						1930		Edwin C. Johnson
26			Edwin C. Johnson	January 10, 1933 – January 1, 1937 (resigned)[lower-alpha 10]	Democratic	1932		Ray Herbert Talbot
						1934
27			Ray Herbert Talbot	January 1, 1937 – January 12, 1937 (successor took office)	Democratic	Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor	Vacant
28			Teller Ammons	January 12, 1937 – January 10, 1939 (lost election)	Democratic	1936		Frank Hayes
29			Ralph Lawrence Carr	January 10, 1939 – January 12, 1943 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1938		John Charles Vivian
						1940
30			John Charles Vivian	January 12, 1943 – January 14, 1947 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1942		William Eugene Higby
						1944
31			William Lee Knous	January 14, 1947 – April 15, 1950 (resigned)[lower-alpha 11]	Democratic	1946		Homer L. Pearson
						1948		Walter Walford Johnson
32			Walter Walford Johnson	April 15, 1950 – January 9, 1951 (lost election)	Democratic	Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor		Charles P. Murphy[lower-alpha 4]
33			Daniel I. J. Thornton	January 9, 1951 – January 11, 1955 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1950		Gordon Allott
						1952
34			Edwin C. Johnson	January 11, 1955 – January 8, 1957 (not candidate for election)	Democratic	1954		Stephen McNichols
35			Stephen McNichols	January 8, 1957 – January 8, 1963 (lost election)	Democratic	1956		Frank L. Hays[lower-alpha 4]
						1958 [lower-alpha 12]		Robert Lee Knous
36			John Arthur Love	January 8, 1963 – July 16, 1973 (resigned)[lower-alpha 13]	Republican	1962
						1966		Mark Anthony Hogan[lower-alpha 9]
						1970		John D. Vanderhoof
37			John D. Vanderhoof	July 16, 1973 – January 14, 1975 (lost election)[12]	Republican	Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor		Ted L. Strickland
38			Richard Lamm	January 14, 1975 – January 13, 1987 (not candidate for election)	Democratic	1974		George L. Brown
						1978		Nancy E. Dick
						1982
39			Roy Romer	January 13, 1987 – January 12, 1999 (term limited)	Democratic	1986		Mike Callihan (resigned May 10, 1994)
						1990
							Vacant
								Samuel H. Cassidy (took office May 11, 1994)
						1994		Gail Schoettler
40			Bill Owens	January 12, 1999 – January 9, 2007 (term limited)	Republican	1998		Joe Rogers
						2002		Jane E. Norton
41			Bill Ritter	January 9, 2007 – January 11, 2011 (not candidate for election)	Democratic	2006		Barbara O'Brien
42			John Hickenlooper	January 11, 2011 – January 8, 2019 (term limited)	Democratic	2010		Joseph García (resigned May 12, 2016)
						2014
								Donna Lynne
43			Jared Polis	January 8, 2019 – present[lower-alpha 14]	Democratic	2018		Dianne Primavera

Notes

1. Data is sourced from the National Governors Association, unless supplemental references are required.
2. Lieutenant governors represented the same party as their governor unless noted.
3. The state was admitted on August 1, but Routt was formally inaugurated as state governor on November 3.^[3]
4. Represented the Republican Party.
5. Represented the Populist Party.
6. The Colorado State Archives labels Coates a Democrat;^[4] however, a contemporary New York Times article describes him as a Populist elected on a fusion ticket, and that he had renounced all other parties and become a Socialist.^[5]
7. The 1904 election was rife with fraud and controversy. Alva Adams won election, but soon after he took office the Republican legislature declared James Peabody to be the actual winner, on the condition that Peabody immediately tender his resignation, postdated to the next day. Peabody's lieutenant governor, Jesse McDonald, then succeeded to the governorship.^[6]
8. The Colorado State Archives says Haggott served from 1902 to 1903; however, multiple sources say he served with Peabody^[7] well into 1904,^[8] so it is assumed the Archives are in error.
9. Represented the Democratic Party.
10. Johnson resigned to take an elected seat in the United States Senate.^[9]
11. Knous resigned to take a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.^[10]
12. First term under a 1956 constitutional amendment, which lengthened terms to four years.
13. Love resigned to be Director of the Office of Energy Policy.^[11]
14. Polis' first term expires on January 10, 2023.

References

1. "CSG Releases 2013 Governor Salaries". The Council of State Governments. June 25, 2013. Archived from the original on October 22, 2014. Retrieved November 23, 2014.
2. CO Const. art IV
3. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. J. T. White Company. 1896. p. 450. Retrieved December 13, 2018.
4. "Lieutenant Governors of Colorado". Colorado State Archives. Retrieved October 25, 2009.
5. "General Notes". The New York Times. July 13, 1902. Retrieved October 25, 2009.
6. Powe, Lucas A. (1992). The Fourth Estate and the Constitution: Freedom of the Press in America. University of California Press. pp. 2–3. ISBN 978-0-520-08038-6. Retrieved December 14, 2018.
7. Goodspeed, Weston Arthur (1904). The Province and the States: Missouri, Kansas, Colorado. The Weston historical association. p. 481. Retrieved October 25, 2009.
8. "Shots Fired from Windows". The New York Times. June 6, 1904. Retrieved October 25, 2009.
9. "Edwin Carl Johnson". National Governors Association. Retrieved December 14, 2018.^{[permanent dead link]}
10. "William Lee Knous". National Governors Association. Retrieved December 14, 2018.^{[permanent dead link]}
11. "John Arthur Love". National Governors Association. Retrieved December 14, 2018.^{[permanent dead link]}
12. "Former Colorado Gov. Vanderhoof dies at 91". [[The Gazette (Colorado Springs)|]]. Colorado Springs, Colorado. Associated Press. September 23, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2018.