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| Governor of West Virginia | |
|---|---|
 Seal of the Governor | |
| Style |
|
| Status | |
| Residence | West Virginia Governor's Mansion |
| Term length | Four years, renewable once consecutively |
| Inaugural holder | Arthur I. Boreman |
| Formation | June 20, 1863 |
| Salary | $150,000 (2013) [1] |
| Website | Official website  |
The Governor of West Virginia is the head of the executive branch of West Virginia's state government [2] and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. [3] The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, [2] and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the West Virginia Legislature, [4] to convene the legislature at any time, [5] and, except when prosecution has been carried out by the House of Delegates, to grant pardons and reprieves. [6]
The Government of West Virginia is modeled after the Government of the United States, with three branches: the executive, consisting of the Governor of West Virginia and the other elected constitutional officers; the legislative, consisting of the West Virginia Legislature which includes the Senate and the House of Delegates; and the judicial, consisting of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and lower courts.
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are currently 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory and shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders. Four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names.
The West Virginia National Guard is a part of the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety. It comprises the West Virginia Army National Guard and the West Virginia Air National Guard.
Contents
- List of Governors
- Other high offices held
- Living former governors of West Virginia
- Notes
- References
- External links
Since West Virginia was admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863, during the American Civil War, 34 men have served as governor. Two, Arch A. Moore Jr. (West Virginia's 28th and 30th governor) and Cecil H. Underwood (West Virginia's 25th and 32nd governor), served two nonconsecutive terms in office. The longest-serving governor was Moore, who served for three terms over twelve years. The state's first governor after admission into the Union, Arthur I. Boreman, served the most consecutive terms, resigning a week before the end of his third term. Before the state's admission, Francis H. Pierpont, the, "Father of West Virginia," [7] was elected governor during the Wheeling Convention of 1861. Daniel D.T. Farnsworth was Senate President at the time; he filled the last seven days of Boreman's term and remains the shortest-serving governor. Underwood has the unusual distinction of being both the youngest person to be elected as governor (age 34 upon his first term in 1957) and the oldest to both be elected and serve (age 74 upon his second term in 1997; age 78 at the end of his second term in 2001).
The Admission to the Union Clause of the United States Constitution, often called the New States Clause, found at Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1, authorizes the Congress to admit new states into the United States beyond the thirteen already in existence at the time the Constitution went into effect.
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865, between the North and the South. The most studied and written about episode in U.S. history, the Civil War began primarily as a result of the long-standing controversy over the enslavement of black people. War broke out in April 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina shortly after Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated as the President of the United States. The loyalists of the Union in the North proclaimed support for the Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States in the South, who advocated for states' rights to uphold slavery.
Arch Alfred Moore Jr. was an American lawyer and Republican politician from West Virginia. He began his political career as a state legislator in 1952. He was elected the 28th and 30th Governor of West Virginia, serving from 1969 until 1977 and again from 1985 until 1989.
The current governor is Republican Jim Justice, who assumed office on January 16, 2017. West Virginia's 36th governor, Justice was elected as a Democrat, but switched to the Republican Party on August 4 of that year. [8]
The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major political parties in the United States; the other is its historic rival, the Democratic Party.
James Conley Justice II is an American coal mining and agriculture businessman and politician serving as the 36th Governor of West Virginia since 2017. With a net worth of around $1.9 billion, he is the wealthiest person in West Virginia. He inherited a coal mining business from his father and successfully built a massive business empire with over 50 companies, including The Greenbrier, a luxury resort.
The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party.
To serve as governor, a person must be at least 30 years old, and must have been a citizen of West Virginia for at least five years at the time of inauguration. [9] Under the current Constitution of West Virginia, ratified in 1872, the governor serves a four-year term commencing on the Monday after the second Wednesday in the January following an election. [9] The original constitution of 1863 only called for a two-year term. [10] He may be reelected any number of times, but not more than twice in a row. [11] Any partial term served counts toward the limit of two consecutive terms. [11]
The constitution makes no mention of a lieutenant governor; if the governorship becomes vacant, the Senate President acts as governor. If more than one year remains in the governor's term at the time of vacancy, a new election is held; otherwise, the Senate President acts as governor for the remainder of the term. [12] A bill passed in 2000 grants the Senate President the honorary title of Lieutenant Governor, [13] but this title is rarely used in practice and the terms of the Senate President do not correspond with governorships. The same bill states that the line of succession after the Senate President will be the Speaker of the House of Delegates, followed by the state attorney general, the state auditor and former governors, in inverse order of term, that are in residence in the state at the time of the vacancy. [13]
In the United States, 45 of the 50 states have an office of lieutenant governor. In two of the 45 states, the speaker of the upper house of the state legislature serves in such a capacity. In most cases, the lieutenant governor is the highest officer of state after the governor, standing in for that officer when they are absent from the state or temporarily incapacitated. In the event a governor dies, resigns or is removed from office, the lieutenant governor typically becomes governor.
The West Virginia House of Delegates is the lower house of the West Virginia Legislature. Only three states—Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia—refer to their lower house as the House of Delegates.
