| Post: | Lieutenant Governor |
| Body: | Arkansas |
| Insignia: | Seal of Arkansas.svg |
| Insigniasize: | 110px |
| Insigniacaption: | State seal |
| Incumbent: | Leslie Rutledge |
| Department: | Government of Arkansas |
| Seat: | State Capitol, Little Rock, Arkansas |
| Termlength: | Four years, renewable once |
| Constituting Instrument: | Constitution of Arkansas |
| Inaugural: | Calvin C. Bliss |
The lieutenant governor of Arkansas presides over the Senate of the U.S. state of Arkansas with a tie-breaking vote, serves as acting governor of Arkansas when the governor is out of state and assumes the governorship in cases of impeachment, removal from office, death or inability to discharge the office's duties. The position is elected separately from the Arkansas Governor.
The position of Lieutenant Governor was created by the Sixth Amendment to the Arkansas Constitution in 1914, but was not filled until 1927. The Amendment was approved by the electorate in 1914, with returns showing 45,567 in favor and 45,206 opposed. The Speaker of the House declared the measure lost because it had not received a majority of the highest total vote, which was 135,517. In 1925, it was discovered that the Initiative and Referendum of 1910 had amended this majority requirement so that only a majority of those voting on a specific question was required. So, in 1926, the 1914 initiative was declared to be valid and Harvey Parnell was elected Arkansas' first lieutenant governor.
Two recent incumbents, Winthrop Paul Rockefeller and Mike Huckabee, began their respective tenures in the midst of regular term periods, due to the elevation of their predecessors to the governorship. Jim Guy Tucker succeeded Bill Clinton as governor in December 1992, upon Clinton's resignation days before assuming his office as President of the United States, creating the need for a special election to fill the lieutenant governor's office. When Tucker was convicted of conspiracy and mail fraud charges in 1996, Huckabee succeeded him as governor, paving the way for the November 1996 special election of Rockefeller as lieutenant governor.
The current lieutenant governor is Leslie Rutledge, since January 10, 2023.
The U.S. state of Arkansas had no office of lieutenant governor under its original constitution. Amidst the American Civil War in 1864, a new constitution was ratified and a pro-Union government was installed which included a lieutenant governor to be, like several other state officials, popularly elected to serve four-year terms.[1] Calvin C. Bliss was the first person to hold the office. The position was preserved in the new constitution ratified by the state in 1868, but eliminated in the constitution of 1874.[2]
In 1914, an amendment to the constitution to reestablish the office of lieutenant governor was subject to a popular referendum. While the item received more affirmative than negative votes,[3] the Arkansas Supreme Court held that only a majority of the votes of all the citizens who had participated in that year's referenda could constitute a passing margin. In 1925, the court reversed its decision, ruling that the office be filled in the state elections occurring in 1926. Harvey Parnell was subsequently elected to the office.[3] The lieutenant governor held office for a term of two years until 1986, when the term was expanded to four years. The constitution was amended in 1992 to provide for term limits. The first woman to hold the office, Leslie Rutledge, was sworn in on January 10, 2023.[4]
The lieutenant governor is one of seven executive constitutional officers in the state of Arkansas.[5] The main responsibilities of the lieutenant governor are to serve as the president of the Arkansas Senate and to succeed to the governorship should it become vacant. In the event of the governor's temporary absence from the state, the lieutenant governor exercises the powers of the governor. They are constitutionally restricted to serving a maximum of two terms.
They collect an annual salary of $48,105.[5]
| Lieutenant Governor | Term in office | Party | Election | Governor | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | data-sort-value="Bliss, Calvin" | Calvin C. Bliss | - July 2, 1868 | Republican | 1864 | ||||
| 2 | data-sort-value="Johnson, James" | James M. Johnson | - March 14, 1871 | Republican | 1868 | ||||
| - | Vacant | - January 6, 1873 | |||||||
| 3 | data-sort-value="Smith, Volney" | Volney V. Smith | - November 12, 1874 | Republican | 1872 | ||||
| Office did not exist from November 12, 1874, to January 11, 1927 | |||||||||
| 4 | data-sort-value="Parnell, Harvey" | Harvey Parnell | - March 14, 1928 | Democratic | 1926 | ||||
| - | Vacant | - January 14, 1929 | |||||||
| 5 | data-sort-value="Cazort, Lee" | Lee Cazort | - January 12, 1931 | Democratic | 1928 | ||||
| 6 | data-sort-value="Wilson, Lawrence" | Lawrence Elery Wilson | - January 10, 1933 | Democratic | 1930 | ||||
| 7 | Lee Cazort | - January 12, 1937 | Democratic | 1932 | |||||
| 1934 | |||||||||
| 8 | Robert B. Bailey | - January 12, 1943 | Democratic | 1936 | |||||
| 1938 | |||||||||
| 1940 | |||||||||
| 9 | James L. Shaver | - January 14, 1947 | Democratic | 1942 | |||||
| 1944 | |||||||||
| 10 | Nathan Green Gordon | - January 10, 1967 | Democratic | 1946 | |||||
| 1948 | |||||||||
| 1950 | |||||||||
| 1952 | |||||||||
| 1954 | |||||||||
| 1956 | |||||||||
| 1958 | |||||||||
| 1960 | |||||||||
| 1962 | |||||||||
| 1964 | |||||||||
| 11 | Maurice Britt | - January 12, 1971 | Republican | 1966 | |||||
| 1968 | |||||||||
| 12 | Bob C. Riley | - January 3, 1975 | Democratic | 1970 | |||||
| 1972 | |||||||||
| - | Vacant | - January 14, 1975 | |||||||
| 13 | Joe Purcell | - January 3, 1979 | Democratic | 1974 | |||||
| 1976 | |||||||||
| - | Vacant | - January 9, 1979 | |||||||
| 13 | data-sort-value="Purcell, Joe" | Joe Purcell | - January 19, 1981 | Democratic | 1978 | ||||
| 14 | Winston Bryant | - January 15, 1991 | Democratic | 1980 | |||||
| 1982 | |||||||||
| 1984 | |||||||||
| 1986 | |||||||||
| 15 | data-sort-value="Tucker, Jim" | Jim Guy Tucker | - December 12, 1992 | Democratic | 1990 | ||||
| - | Vacant | - November 20, 1993 | |||||||
| 16 | Mike Huckabee | - July 15, 1996 | Republican | 1993 | |||||
| 1994 | |||||||||
| - | Vacant | - November 19, 1996 | |||||||
| 17 | Winthrop Paul Rockefeller | - July 16, 2006 | Republican | 1996 | |||||
| 1998 | |||||||||
| 2002 | |||||||||
| - | Vacant | - January 9, 2007 | |||||||
| 18 | data-sort-value="Halter, Bill" | Bill Halter | - January 11, 2011 | Democratic | 2006 | ||||
| 19 | data-sort-value="Darr, Mark" | Mark Darr | - February 1, 2014 | Republican | 2010 | ||||
| - | Vacant | - January 13, 2015 | |||||||
| 20 | Tim Griffin | - January 10, 2023 | Republican | 2014 | |||||
| 2018 | |||||||||
| 21 | data-sort-value="Rutledge, Leslie" | Leslie Rutledge | – Incumbent | Republican | 2022 | ||||