Lieutenant Governor of Illinois explained

Post:	Lieutenant Governor
Body:	Illinois
Insignia:	Seal of Illinois.svg
Insigniasize:	100px
Insigniacaption:	Great Seal of the State of Illinois
Incumbent:	Juliana Stratton
Incumbentsince:	January 14, 2019
Department:	Government of Illinois
Termlength:	4 years, no term limits
Formation:	1818
Inaugural:	Pierre Menard
Salary:	$139,200^[1]

The lieutenant governor of Illinois is the second highest executive of the State of Illinois. In Illinois, the lieutenant governor and governor run on a joint ticket and are directly elected by popular vote. Gubernatorial candidates select their running mates when filing for office and appear on the primary election ballot together. When the governor of Illinois becomes unable to discharge the duties of that office, the lieutenant governor becomes acting governor. If the governor dies, resigns or is removed from office, the lieutenant governor becomes governor.^[2] ^[3] Under the Illinois Constitution, the Attorney General is next in line of succession to the Governor's office after the lieutenant governor, but does not succeed to the lieutenant governor's office. From the impeachment of Rod Blagojevich in 2009, until the inauguration of Sheila Simon in 2011, Attorney General Lisa Madigan would have become governor if Pat Quinn had vacated the office. Historically, the lieutenant governor has been from either the Democratic Party or Republican Party. The current lieutenant governor is Democrat Juliana Stratton.

Prior to the 1970 Constitution, governors and lieutenant governors were separately elected.^[4] The 1970 Constitution introduced joint elections for governor and lieutenant governor, though the candidates were nominated in separate primaries. Following the 1986 and 2010 elections, in which the Democratic nominees for Governor were forced to run with extreme or disfavored lieutenant-gubernatorial nominees, the Illinois General Assembly abolished the separate-primary requirement. The 2014 gubernatorial election was the first one to take place in which gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial candidates ran on the same ticket in the primary election.

Duties

The lieutenant governor of Illinois handles a variety of responsibilities which have been delegated to the office via statute. These duties include serving as Chairman of the Governor's Rural Affairs Council,^[5] Chairman of Rural Bond Bank of Illinois, head of the Illinois Main Street Program, and Chairman of the Illinois River Coordinating Council.

In addition to these duties, the lieutenant governor can take on other duties as assigned by the governor or initiate duties of his or her own. An example of this is work by former Lt. Gov. Corrine Wood on women's health issues. The lieutenant governor also serves as a surrogate speaker for the governor around the state and as a representative for state government. The lieutenant governor is a member of the National Lieutenant Governors Association.

Prior to the adoption of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, the lieutenant governor also served as the president of the Senate. Losing this position made the lieutenant governor's job less significant, and contributed to the "boredom" cited by Jim Thompson's first lieutenant governor, Dave O'Neal, who resigned from the office in 1981.^[6]

Under the Illinois state Constitution Article V section 7. "If the Lieutenant Governor fails to qualify or if his office becomes vacant, it shall remain vacant until the end of the term." Illinois thus had no lieutenant governor during the two-year interim between Pat Quinn's elevation to the governor's office upon Rod Blagojevich's impeachment conviction, and Sheila Simon's election and inauguration as lieutenant governor.

Like the governor, the lieutenant governor has suites of offices in both Springfield and Chicago.

Qualifications

The lieutenant governor of Illinois serves four-year terms. Inauguration takes place on the second Monday in January following a gubernatorial election. A lieutenant governor is

required to be at least twenty-five years old,
required to be a United States citizen,
required to have been a resident of Illinois for the three years previous to election,
barred from other government positions during the term.

List of lieutenant governors of Illinois

On three occasions, prior to a 1970 change to the state constitution, the lieutenant governor was of a different political party from the governor. In each instance a Democratic lieutenant governor served under a Republican governor. After the lieutenant governor comes the attorney general.

	Lt. governor	Party	Commission date	End date	Governor	Party	Term
1	Pierre Menard		Democratic-Republican	October 6, 1818	December 5, 1822	Shadrach Bond		Democratic-Republican	1818–1822
2	Adolphus Hubbard		Democratic-Republican	December 5, 1822	December 6, 1826	Edward Coles		Democratic-Republican	1822–1826
3	William Kinney		Democratic	December 6, 1826	December 9, 1830	Ninian Edwards		Democratic-Republican	1826–1830
4	Zadok Casey		Democratic	December 9, 1830	March 1, 1833	John Reynolds	Democratic	1830–1834
5	William Lee D. Ewing		Democratic	March 1, 1833	December 5, 1834	John Reynolds	Democratic	1830–1834
Office vacant: November 17 – December 5, 1834					William Lee Davidson Ewing		Democratic	1834
6	Alexander Jenkins		Democratic	December 5, 1834	December 9, 1836Resigned	Joseph Duncan	Democratic	1834–1838
7	William H. Davidson		Democratic	December 9, 1836Acting	December 7, 1838	Joseph Duncan	Democratic	1834–1838
8	Stinson Anderson		Democratic	December 7, 1838	December 8, 1842	Thomas Carlin		Democratic	1838–1842
9	John Moore		Democratic	December 8, 1842	December 9, 1846	Thomas Ford		Democratic	1842–1846
10	Joseph Wells		Democratic	December 9, 1846	January 8, 1849	Augustus C. French	Democratic	1846–1853
11	William McMurtry		Democratic	January 8, 1849	January 10, 1853	Augustus C. French	Democratic	1846–1853
12	Gustavus Koerner		Democratic	January 10, 1853	January 12, 1857	Joel Aldrich Matteson		Democratic	1853–1857
13	John Wood		Republican	January 12, 1857	March 20, 1860	William Henry Bissell		Republican	1857–1860
14	Thomas Marshall		Democratic	January 7, 1861	January 14, 1861	John Wood		Republican	1860–1861
15	Francis Hoffmann		Republican	January 14, 1861	January 16, 1865	Richard Yates		Republican	1861–1865
16	William Bross		Republican	January 16, 1865	January 11, 1869	Richard J. Oglesby		Republican	1865–1869
17	John Dougherty		Republican	January 11, 1869	January 13, 1873	John M. Palmer		Republican	1869–1873
18	John Lourie Beveridge		Republican	January 13, 1873	January 23, 1873Succeeded Oglesby	Richard J. Oglesby		Republican	1873
19	John Early		Republican	January 23, 1873Acting	January 8, 1875	John Lourie Beveridge		Republican	1873–1877
20	Archibald Glenn		Democratic	January 8, 1875Acting	January 8, 1877	John Lourie Beveridge		Republican	1873–1877
21	Andrew Shuman		Republican	January 8, 1877	January 10, 1881	Shelby Moore Cullom	Republican	1877–1883
22	John Marshall Hamilton		Republican	January 10, 1881	February 6, 1883Succeeded Cullom	Shelby Moore Cullom	Republican	1877–1883
23	William J. Campbell		Republican	February 6, 1883Acting	January 30, 1885	John Marshall Hamilton		Republican	1883–1885
24	John Smith		Republican	January 30, 1885	January 14, 1889	Richard J. Oglesby		Republican	1885–1889
25	Lyman Ray		Republican	January 14, 1889	January 10, 1893	Joseph W. Fifer		Republican	1889–1893
26	Joseph B. Gill		Democratic	January 10, 1893	January 11, 1897	John Peter Altgeld		Democratic	1893–1897
27	William Northcott	Republican	January 11, 1897	January 9, 1905	John R. Tanner		Republican	1897–1901
27	William Northcott	Republican	January 11, 1897	January 9, 1905	Richard Yates		Republican	1901–1905
28	Lawrence Sherman		Republican	January 9, 1905	January 18, 1909	Charles S. Deneen	Republican	1905–1913
29	John G. Oglesby		Republican	January 18, 1909	February 3, 1913	Charles S. Deneen	Republican	1905–1913
30	Barratt O'Hara		Democratic	February 3, 1913	January 8, 1917	Edward F. Dunne		Democratic	1913–1917
31	John G. Oglesby		Republican	January 8, 1917	January 10, 1921	Frank O. Lowden		Republican	1917–1921
32	Fred E. Sterling	Republican	January 10, 1921	January 9, 1933	Len Small		Republican	1921–1929
32	Fred E. Sterling	Republican	January 10, 1921	January 9, 1933	Louis L. Emmerson		Republican	1929–1933
33	Thomas Donovan		Democratic	January 9, 1933	January 4, 1937	Henry Horner	Democratic	1933–1940
34	John H. Stelle		Democratic	January 4, 1937	October 6, 1940Succeeded Horner	Henry Horner	Democratic	1933–1940
Office vacant: October 6, 1940 – January 13, 1941					John H. Stelle		Democratic	1940–1941
35	Hugh W. Cross		Republican	January 13, 1941	January 10, 1949	Dwight H. Green		Republican	1941–1949
36	Sherwood Dixon		Democratic	January 10, 1949	January 12, 1953	Adlai E. Stevenson II		Democratic	1949–1953
37	John William Chapman		Republican	January 12, 1953	January 9, 1961	William G. Stratton		Republican	1953–1961
38	Samuel H. Shapiro		Democratic	January 9, 1961	May 21, 1968Succeeded Kerner	Otto Kerner, Jr.		Democratic	1961–1968
Office vacant: May 21, 1968 – January 13, 1969					Samuel H. Shapiro		Democratic	1968–1969
39	Paul Simon		Democratic	January 13, 1969	January 8, 1973	Richard Buell Ogilvie		Republican	1969–1973
40	Neil Hartigan		Democratic	January 8, 1973	January 10, 1977	Dan Walker		Democratic	1973–1977
41	Dave O'Neal		Republican	January 10, 1977	July 31, 1981Resigned	James R. Thompson	Republican	1977–1991
Office vacant: July 31, 1981 – January 10, 1983
42	George H. Ryan		Republican	January 10, 1983	January 14, 1991
43	Bob Kustra		Republican	January 14, 1991	July 1, 1998Resigned	James Edgar	Republican	1991–1999
Office vacant: July 1, 1998 – January 11, 1999						James Edgar	Republican	1991–1999
44	Corinne Wood		Republican	January 11, 1999	January 13, 2003	George H. Ryan		Republican	1999–2003
45	Pat Quinn		Democratic	January 13, 2003	January 29, 2009Succeeded Blagojevich	Rod R. Blagojevich		Democratic	2003–2009
Office vacant: January 29, 2009 – January 10, 2011					Pat Quinn	Democratic	2009–2015
46	Sheila Simon		Democratic	January 10, 2011	Pat Quinn	Democratic	2009–2015	January 12, 2015
47	Evelyn Sanguinetti		Republican	January 12, 2015	January 14, 2019	Bruce Rauner		Republican	2015–2019
48	Juliana Stratton		Democratic	January 14, 2019	Incumbent	J. B. Pritzker		Democratic	2019–present

External links

Notes and References

Web site: The Book of the States | 2021 | Volume 53 by the Council of State Governments - Issuu . 7 January 2022 .
Web site: Constitution of the State of Illinois. Illinois General Assembly. August 22, 2019.
Web site: Illinois Compiled Statutes 15 ILCS 5 — Governor Succession Act.. Illinois General Assembly. August 23, 2019.
Yeargain. T. Quinn. 2021. One Vote, Two Winners: Team-Ticket Gubernatorial Elections and the Need for Further Reform. University of Miami Law Review. 75. 3. 377–78. October 15, 2022.
Web site: Governor's Rural Affairs Council . State of Illinois . 12 October 2020.
News: Candidates line up for lieutenant governor ... but why? . . January 9, 2010 . October 12, 2020 . Karen . Hawkins.