head of the executive branch of the state government of the state of Pennsylvania From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the head of the executive branch of Pennsylvania's government[2] and the commander-in-chief of the state's military.[3]
Governor of Pennsylvania | |
---|---|
Residence | Governor's Residence |
Term length | Four years, can succeed self once |
Inaugural holder | Thomas Mifflin |
Formation | December 21, 1790 |
Deputy | Jim Cawley |
Salary | $174,914 (2010)[1] |
Website | governor.state.pa.us |
The job of the governor is to enforce state laws and to approve or veto bills passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature.[4] The governor may grant pardons except in cases of impeachment.[5]
There have been seven presidents and 46 governors of Pennsylvania. Two governors serving non-consecutive terms. There have been a total of 55 terms in both offices. The longest term was that of the first governor, Thomas Mifflin. He served three full terms as governor and two years as president. The shortest term belonged to John Bell. He served only 19 days as acting governor after Edward Martin resigned. The current governor is Josh Shapiro. His term began on January 17, 2023.
Pennsylvania was one of the first thirteen colonies. It became a state on December 12, 1787.
The first constitution in 1776 created the Supreme Executive Council as the executive branch. The President was the leader of the Council.[6] The president was picked each year by the council.[7]
The 1776 constitution created the position of "vice-president" but it did not say what should happen if the president left office. This happened four times. Sources from that time still listed the chief executive as the vice president when that person acted as the president. One acting president, George Bryan, has since been recognized as a governor. This is because he acted as president for over six months.
# | President | Took office | Left office | Vice President |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Thomas Wharton Jr. | March 5, 1777 | May 23, 1778 [note 1] |
George Bryan |
2 | George Bryan | May 23, 1778 | December 1, 1778 | acting as president [note 2] |
3 | Joseph Reed | December 1, 1778 | November 15, 1781 | George Bryan [note 3] |
Matthew Smith [note 3] | ||||
William Moore | ||||
4 | William Moore | November 15, 1781 | November 7, 1782 | James Potter |
5 | John Dickinson | November 7, 1782 | October 18, 1785 | James Ewing |
James Irvine [note 3] | ||||
Charles Biddle | ||||
6 | Benjamin Franklin | October 18, 1785 | November 5, 1788 | Charles Biddle |
Peter Muhlenberg [note 3] | ||||
David Redick | ||||
7 | Thomas Mifflin | November 5, 1788 | December 21, 1790 | George Ross |
The 1790 constitution ended the council. It replaced the president with a governor,[8] and created a three-year term for governor. This term started on the third Tuesday of the December after the election. A governors could not serve more than nine out of any twelve years.[9] The 1838 constitution moved the start of the term to the third Tuesday of the January after the election. It allowed governors to only serve six out of any nine years.[10] The 1874 constitution lengthened the term to four years. It said that governors could not succeed themselves (be elected to another term while still in office).[11] The current constitution of 1968 changed this to allow governors to serve two consecutive terms.[12] There are no limits on the number of terms a governor may serve in total as long as there is a four year break after a second term.
If the governor dies, resigns or is impeached, the lieutenant governor becomes governor for the rest of the term. If the governor becomes unable to act as governor because of disability, the lieutenant governor only acts out the duties of governor.[13] Should both offices be vacant, the president pro tempore of the state senate becomes governor.[14] The position of lieutenant governor was created in the 1874 constitution. Before this, the speaker of the senate would act as governor in cases of vacancy. At first, the lieutenant governor could only act as governor. It was not until the 1968 constitution that the lieutenant governor could actually become governor. The office of governor has been vacant for an extended period of time once. There was a 17-day time period in 1848 between the death of Francis R. Shunk and the swearing in of William F. Johnston. Governors and lieutenant governors are elected on the same ticket.[15]
Anti-Masonic (1) Democratic (13) Democratic-Republican (6) None (1) Republican (26) Whig (2)
# | Governor | Took office | Left office | Party | Lt. Governor [note 4] |
Terms [note 5] | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Thomas Mifflin | December 21, 1790 | December 17, 1799 | None [note 6] |
None | 3 [note 7] | ||
2 | Thomas McKean | December 17, 1799 | December 20, 1808 | Democratic- Republican |
3 | |||
3 | Simon Snyder | December 20, 1808 | December 16, 1817 | Democratic- Republican |
3 | |||
4 | William Findlay | December 16, 1817 | December 19, 1820 | Democratic- Republican |
1 | |||
5 | Joseph Hiester | December 19, 1820 | December 16, 1823 | Democratic- Republican |
1 | |||
6 | John Andrew Shulze | December 16, 1823 | December 15, 1829 | Democratic- Republican |
2 | |||
7 | George Wolf | December 15, 1829 | December 15, 1835 | Democratic- Republican |
2 | |||
8 | Joseph Ritner | December 15, 1835 | January 15, 1839 | Anti-Masonic | 1 [note 8] | |||
9 | David R. Porter | January 15, 1839 | January 21, 1845 | Democratic | 2 [note 9] | |||
10 | Francis R. Shunk | January 21, 1845 | July 9, 1848 | Democratic | 1 1⁄2 [note 10] | |||
— | Office vacant | July 9, 1848 | July 26, 1848 | — | — [note 11] | |||
11 | William F. Johnston | July 26, 1848 | January 20, 1852 | Whig | 1 1⁄2 [note 12] | |||
12 | William Bigler | January 20, 1852 | January 16, 1855 | Democratic | 1 | |||
13 | James Pollock | January 16, 1855 | January 19, 1858 | Whig | 1 | |||
14 | William F. Packer | January 19, 1858 | January 15, 1861 | Democratic | 1 | |||
15 | Andrew Gregg Curtin | January 15, 1861 | January 15, 1867 | Republican | 2 | |||
16 | John W. Geary | January 15, 1867 | January 21, 1873 | Republican | 2 | |||
17 | John F. Hartranft | January 21, 1873 | January 21, 1879 | Republican | None | 2 [note 13] | ||
John Latta | ||||||||
18 | Henry M. Hoyt | January 21, 1879 | January 16, 1883 | Republican | Charles Warren Stone | 1 | ||
19 | Robert E. Pattison | January 16, 1883 | January 18, 1887 | Democratic | Chauncey Forward Black | 1 | ||
20 | James A. Beaver | January 18, 1887 | January 20, 1891 | Republican | William T. Davies | 1 | ||
19 | Robert E. Pattison | January 20, 1891 | January 15, 1895 | Democratic | Louis Arthur Watres | 1 | ||
21 | Daniel H. Hastings | January 15, 1895 | January 17, 1899 | Republican | Walter Lyon | 1 | ||
22 | William A. Stone | January 17, 1899 | January 20, 1903 | Republican | John P. S. Gobin | 1 | ||
23 | Samuel W. Pennypacker | January 20, 1903 | January 15, 1907 | Republican | William M. Brown | 1 | ||
24 | Edwin Sydney Stuart | January 15, 1907 | January 17, 1911 | Republican | Robert S. Murphy | 1 | ||
25 | John K. Tener | January 17, 1911 | January 19, 1915 | Republican | John Merriman Reynolds | 1 | ||
26 | Martin Grove Brumbaugh | January 19, 1915 | January 21, 1919 | Republican | Frank B. McClain | 1 | ||
27 | William Cameron Sproul | January 21, 1919 | January 16, 1923 | Republican | Edward E. Beidleman | 1 | ||
28 | Gifford Pinchot | January 16, 1923 | January 18, 1927 | Republican | David J. Davis | 1 | ||
29 | John Stuchell Fisher | January 18, 1927 | January 20, 1931 | Republican | Arthur James | 1 | ||
28 | Gifford Pinchot | January 20, 1931 | January 15, 1935 | Republican | Edward C. Shannon | 1 | ||
30 | George Howard Earle III | January 15, 1935 | January 17, 1939 | Democratic | Thomas Kennedy | 1 | ||
31 | Arthur James | January 17, 1939 | January 19, 1943 | Republican | Samuel S. Lewis | 1 | ||
32 | Edward Martin | January 19, 1943 | January 2, 1947 | Republican | John C. Bell, Jr. | 1⁄2 [note 14] | ||
33 | John C. Bell, Jr. | January 2, 1947 | January 21, 1947 | Republican | vacant | 1⁄2 [note 15] | ||
34 | James H. Duff | January 21, 1947 | January 16, 1951 | Republican | Daniel B. Strickler | 1 | ||
35 | John S. Fine | January 16, 1951 | January 18, 1955 | Republican | Lloyd H. Wood | 1 | ||
36 | George M. Leader | January 18, 1955 | January 20, 1959 | Democratic | Roy E. Furman | 1 | ||
37 | David L. Lawrence | January 20, 1959 | January 15, 1963 | Democratic | John Morgan Davis | 1 | ||
38 | William Scranton | January 15, 1963 | January 17, 1967 | Republican | Raymond P. Shafer | 1 | ||
39 | Raymond P. Shafer | January 17, 1967 | January 19, 1971 | Republican | Raymond J. Broderick | 1 | ||
40 | Milton Shapp | January 19, 1971 | January 16, 1979 | Democratic | Ernest P. Kline | 2 [note 16] | ||
41 | Dick Thornburgh | January 16, 1979 | January 20, 1987 | Republican | William Scranton, III | 2 | ||
42 | Robert P. Casey | January 20, 1987 | January 17, 1995 | Democratic | Mark Singel | 2 [note 17] | ||
43 | Tom Ridge | January 17, 1995 | October 5, 2001 | Republican | Mark S. Schweiker | 1 1⁄2 [note 18] | ||
44 | Mark S. Schweiker | October 5, 2001 | January 21, 2003 | Republican | Robert Jubelirer | 1⁄2 [note 19] | ||
45 | Ed Rendell | January 21, 2003 | January 18, 2011 | Democratic | Catherine Baker Knoll[note 20] | 2 | ||
Joe Scarnati[note 21] | ||||||||
46 | Tom Corbett | January 18, 2011 | January 20, 2015 | Republican | Jim Cawley | 1 | ||
47 | Tom Wolf | January 20, 2015 | January 17, 2023 | Democratic | Michael J. Stack III | 2 | ||
John Fetterman | ||||||||
48 | Josh Shapiro | January 17, 2023 | Incumbent | Democratic | Austin Davis | 1 |
As of 17 January 2023[update], five former governors are alive. The most recent death of a former governor was that of Dick Thornburgh (1979–1987), on December 31, 2020.
Name | Gubernatorial term | Date of birth |
---|---|---|
Tom Ridge | 1995–2001 | August 26, 1945 |
Mark Schweiker | 2001–2003 | January 31, 1953 |
Ed Rendell | 2003–2011 | January 5, 1944 |
Tom Corbett | 2011−2015 | June 17, 1949 |
Tom Wolf | 2015−2023 | November 17, 1948 |
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