The office of lieutenant governor of Kentucky has existed under the last three of Kentucky's four constitutions, beginning in 1797. The lieutenant governor serves as governor of Kentucky

Governor of Kentucky

The Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of the executive branch of government in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Fifty-six men and one woman have served as Governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; since 1992, incumbents have been able to seek re-election once...

 under circumstances similar to the Vice President of the United States

Vice President of the United States

The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...

 assuming the powers of the presidency. The current Lieutenant Governor is Democrat

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 Daniel Mongiardo

Daniel Mongiardo

Frank Daniel Mongiardo is an American physician and politician from Kentucky. Mongiardo is a Democrat and has been Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky since 2007. He was a member of the Kentucky State Senate from 2001 to 2007. He also ran for the U.S...

.

Changes by 1992 amendment

The role and powers of the Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky were greatly altered by a 1992 amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky. Prior to that 1992 amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky the lieutenant governor became acting governor at any time that the governor was outside of the commonwealth. Lieutenant governors Thelma Stovall

Thelma Stovall

Thelma Hawkins Stovall was a pioneering female Southern politician who won several statewide elective offices in Kentucky, capping her career as Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky under the administration of her fellow Democrat, Governor Julian Carroll.Stovall was born in Munfordville, Kentucky. She...

 (1975–1979) and Happy Chandler

Happy Chandler

Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, Sr. was a politician from the US state of Kentucky. He represented the state in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions, he also served as the second Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1945 to 1951 and...

 (1931–1935) engaged in high profile use of their powers as acting governor when the elected governor was out of the commonwealth.

Also prior to the 1992 amendment of the Constitution of Kentucky, the lieutenant governor of Kentucky presided over the Kentucky Senate

Kentucky Senate

The Kentucky Senate is the upper house of the Kentucky General Assembly. The Kentucky Senate is composed of 38 members elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. There are no term limits for Kentucky Senators...

, casting a vote only in the event of a tie. The 1992 constitutional amendment supplanted the office of President pro tempore of the Kentucky Senate

President Pro Tempore of the Kentucky Senate

President Pro Tempore of the Kentucky Senate was the title of highest ranking member of the Kentucky Senate prior to enactment of a 1992 amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky....

 with the new office of President of the Kentucky Senate

President of the Kentucky Senate

President of the Kentucky Senate is an office created by a 1992 amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky. The President of the Senate is the highest ranking officer of that body and presides over the Senate.-History of the office:...

 as presiding officer and abolished the lieutenant governor's duties involving the Senate. As a result, the lieutenant governor has no ongoing constitutional duties, and his or her traditional use of the Old Governor's Mansion

Old Governor's Mansion (Frankfort, Kentucky)

The Old Governor's Mansion, also known as Lieutenant Governor's Mansion, is located at 420 High Street, Frankfort, Kentucky. It is reputed to be the oldest official executive residence officially still in use in the United States, as the mansion is the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor...

 as an official residence has been phased out.

Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor in Kentucky run together on party slates. This is the result of the same 1992 constitutional amendment; prior to that the candidates for both offices ran separately and, as a result, sometimes the two elected to those offices were not allies and did not work together. This was famously highlighted when then-Lt. Gov. A. B. "Happy" Chandler

Happy Chandler

Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, Sr. was a politician from the US state of Kentucky. He represented the state in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions, he also served as the second Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1945 to 1951 and...

 in 1935 and then-Lt. Gov. Thelma Stovall

Thelma Stovall

Thelma Hawkins Stovall was a pioneering female Southern politician who won several statewide elective offices in Kentucky, capping her career as Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky under the administration of her fellow Democrat, Governor Julian Carroll.Stovall was born in Munfordville, Kentucky. She...

 in 1978 called the Kentucky General Assembly into session to enact legislation that was not advocated by the governors at the time (Ruby Laffoon

Ruby Laffoon

Ruby Laffoon was a politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He was the state's 43rd governor, serving from 1931 to 1935. At age 17, Laffoon moved to Washington, D.C. to live with his uncle, U.S. Representative Polk Laffoon...

 and Julian Carroll

Julian Carroll

Julian Morton Carroll is a politician from the US state of Kentucky. A Democrat, he is presently a member of the Kentucky Senate, representing Anderson, Franklin, Woodford, and part of Fayette counties. From 1974 to 1979, he served as the 54th Governor of Kentucky, succeeding Wendell H. Ford, who...

, respectively). In 1967 a Republican, Louie Nunn

Louie B. Nunn

Louie Broady Nunn was the 52nd governor of Kentucky. Elected in 1967, he was the first Republican elected to that office since Simeon Willis in 1943 and the last to hold it until the election of Ernie Fletcher in 2003....

, was elected governor and a Democrat, Wendell H. Ford

Wendell H. Ford

Wendell Hampton Ford is a retired politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He served for twenty-four years in the U.S. Senate and was the 53rd Governor of Kentucky. He was the first person to be successively elected lieutenant governor, governor, and U.S. senator in Kentucky history...

, was elected lieutenant governor; they served together in that way for four years.

List of Lieutenant Governors of Kentucky

1. Alexander Scott Bullitt
   Alexander Scott Bullitt
   Alexander Scott Bullitt was an American pioneer and statesman who was an early settler in Kentucky. He was a political leader in the early days of Kentucky statehood....
   
    1800-04
2. John Caldwell
   John Caldwell (Kentucky politician)
   John Caldwell was a Kentucky Politician, State Senator, and the second Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky.He was elected to the Kentucky State Senate in 1792, and was later elected the 2nd Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, elected in 1804, and died while presiding over the State Senate in his first...
   
    1804
3. Thomas Posey
   Thomas Posey
   Thomas Posey was an officer in the American Revolution, a general during peacetime, the third Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, Governor of the Indiana Territory, and a Louisiana Senator.-Family and background:...
   
    1806-08
4. Gabriel Slaughter
   Gabriel Slaughter
   Gabriel Slaughter was the seventh Governor of Kentucky and was the first person to ascend to that office upon the death of the sitting governor. His family moved to Kentucky from Virginia when he was very young. He became a member of the Kentucky militia, serving throughout his political career...
   
    1808-12, 1816
5. Richard Hickman
   Richard Hickman
   Richard Hickman was the fifth Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, serving in that capacity from 1812 to 1816 under Isaac Shelby during Shelby's second term as governor....
   
    1812-16
6. William T. Barry
   William T. Barry
   William Taylor Barry was an American statesman and jurist.-History:Born near Lunenburg, Virginia, he moved to Fayette County, Kentucky, in 1796 with his parents John Barry, an American Revolutionary War veteran, and Susannah Barry...
   
    1820-24
7. Robert B. McAfee
   Robert B. McAfee
   Robert Breckinridge McAfee was a Kentucky politician, and was the eighth Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky serving from 1824 to 1828....
   
    1824-28
8. John Breathitt
   John Breathitt
   John Breathitt was the 11th Governor of Kentucky. He was the first Democrat to hold this office and was the second Kentucky governor to die in office. Shortly after his death, Breathitt County, Kentucky was created and named in his honor.Early in life, Breathitt was appointed a deputy surveyor in...
   
    1828-32
9. James T. Morehead
   James Turner Morehead (Kentucky)
   James Turner Morehead was a United States Senator and the 12th Governor of Kentucky. He was the first native-born Kentuckian to hold the governorship of the state...
   
    1832-34
10. Charles A. Wickliffe
    Charles A. Wickliffe
    Charles Anderson Wickliffe was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky. He also served as Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives, the 14th Governor of Kentucky, and was appointed Postmaster General by President John Tyler...
    
     1836-39
11. Manlius Valerius Thomson
    Manlius Valerius Thomson
    Manlius Valerius Thomson was a lawyer and politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. From 1840 to 1844, he served as Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky....
    
     1840-44
12. Archibald Dixon
    Archibald Dixon
    Archibald Dixon was a U.S. Senator from Kentucky. He represented the Whig Party in both houses of the Kentucky General Assembly, and was elected the 12th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky in 1844, serving under Governor William Owsley. In 1851, the Whigs nominated him for governor, but he lost to...
    
     1844-48
13. John LaRue Helm 1848-50
14. John Burton Thompson
    John Burton Thompson
    John Burton Thompson was a United States Representative and Senator from Kentucky.Born near Harrodsburg, Kentucky, Thompson completed preparatory studies and studied law. He was admitted to the bar and practiced in Harrodsburg, becoming the Commonwealth's Attorney...
    
     1852-53
15. James Greene Hardy
    James Greene Hardy
    James Greene Hardy was a politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky who belonged to the American or Know-Nothing Party. Prior to being elected Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, he was a prominent surveyor and teacher for many years.-Early life and family:Hardy was born in Lunenburg County, Virginia...
    
     1855-56
16. Linn Boyd
    Linn Boyd
    Linn Boyd was a prominent U.S. politician of the 1840s and 1850s, and served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1851 to 1855. Boyd was elected to the House as a Democrat from Kentucky from 1835 to 1837 and again from 1839 to 1855, serving seven terms in the House...
    
     1859
17. Richard Taylor Jacob
    Richard Taylor Jacob
    Richard Taylor Jacob was 17th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky .-Background and Early Life:Richard Taylor Jacob was born in Oldham County, Kentucky into a locally influential family...
    
     1863-64
18. John White Stevenson 1867
19. Preston H. Leslie 1867-71
20. John G. Carlisle 1871-75
21. John C. Underwood
    John C. Underwood
    John Cox Underwood was the 20th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky serving in that capacity from 1875 to 1879....
    
     1875-79
22. James E. Cantrill
    James E. Cantrill
    James Edwards Cantrill was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky. He served as a Captain in the Confederate States Army Cavalry as a portion of Morgan's Men...
    
     1879-83
23. James Robert Hindman
    James R. Hindman
    James Robert Hindman was Lieutenant Governor of KentuckyHe was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky in 1839. In 1883, he ran for, and was elected Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, serving a full four year term under Governor J...
    
     1883-87
24. James William Bryan
    James William Bryan
    James William Bryan was Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky.He was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky in 1853. In 1887, he ran for, and was elected Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, serving a full four year term under Governor Simon B. Buckner....
    
     1887-91
25. Mitchell Cary Alford
    Mitchell Cary Alford
    Mitchell Cary Alford was Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky.-Early life:Mitchell Alford was born in Fayette County, Kentucky on July 10, 1856. He enrolled at Kentucky University , and graduated in 1877. He began studying law the following year, and earned a law degree with honors at Kentucky...
    
     1891-95
26. William Jackson Worthington
    William Jackson Worthington
    William Jackson Worthington served as Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky under Governor William O. Bradley from 1895-1899. He was born in Pennsylvania and died in Boyd County, Kentucky.-References:...
    
     1895-99
27. John Marshall
    John Marshall (Kentucky)
    John Marshall served as Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky under Governor William S. Taylor from 1899–1900. Both Governor Taylor and Lieutenant Governor Marshall were removed from office by a Supreme Court decision that ruled that William Goebel had rightly been elected governor in the...
    
     1899-1900
28. J. C. W. Beckham
    J. C. W. Beckham
    John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham was the 35th Governor of Kentucky and a United States Senator from Kentucky...
    
     1900
29. William P. Thorne
    William P. Thorne
    William Pryor Thorne served as Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky under Governor J. C. W. Beckham from 1903–1907. He was born in Shelby County, Kentucky and died in 1928.-References:...
    
     1903-07
30. William Hopkinson Cox 1907-11
31. Edward J. McDermott
    Edward J. McDermott
    Edward John McDermott was an American politician, who served as the Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky from 1911 to 1915, under Governor James B. McCreary....
    
     1911-15
32. James D. Black
    James D. Black
    James Dixon Black was the 39th Governor of Kentucky, serving for seven months in 1919. He ascended to the office when Governor Augustus O. Stanley was elected to the U.S. Senate....
    
     1915-19
33. S. Thruston Ballard
    S. Thruston Ballard
    Samuel Thruston Ballard was an American politician, who served as the Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky from 1919 to 1923, under Governor Edwin P. Morrow.-External links:...
    
     1919-23
34. Henry Denhardt
    Henry Denhardt
    Henry H. Denhardt was a Democratic American politician, who served as the Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky from 1923 to 1927, under Governor William J. Fields....
    
     1923-27
35. James Breathitt, Jr.
    James Breathitt, Jr.
    James Breathitt, Jr. was an American politician from Kentucky.Breathitt was born on December 14, 1890 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.Breathitt was educated at Centre College....
    
     1927-31
36. Happy Chandler
    Happy Chandler
    Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, Sr. was a politician from the US state of Kentucky. He represented the state in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions, he also served as the second Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1945 to 1951 and...
    
     1931-35
37. Keen Johnson
    Keen Johnson
    Keen Johnson was the 45th Governor of Kentucky, serving from 1939 to 1943. He remains the only journalist to have served in that capacity. After serving in World War I, Johnson purchased and edited the Elizabethtown Mirror...
    
     1935-39
38. Rodes K. Myers
    Rodes K. Myers
    Rodes Kirby Myers was an active Kentucky Democrat and served as Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky 1939-1943.Myers' hometown was Bowling Green, Kentucky. Myers was a Kentucky delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1936, 1940, 1944, 1948 and 1956.In 1939 Myers ran for Lieutenant Governor...
    
     1939-43
39. Kenneth H. Tuggle
    Kenneth H. Tuggle
    Kenneth H. Tuggle , a Republican, served as Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, 1943-1947. It was 53 years before another Republican was elected Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky....
    
     1943-47
40. Lawrence Wetherby
    Lawrence Wetherby
    Lawerence Winchester Wetherby was a politician from the US state of Kentucky. After graduating from the University of Louisville, he rose through the judicial system of Jefferson County and was elected lieutenant governor in 1947, serving under Governor Earle C. Clements...
    
     1947-50
41. Emerson Beauchamp
    Emerson Beauchamp
    Emerson "Doc" Beauchamp served as Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky under Governor Lawrence Wetherby."Doc" Beauchamp was from Logan County, Kentucky. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I and World War II. He served in the Kentucky Senate from 1944 through 1946. He was elected Lieutenant...
    
     1951-55
42. Harry Lee Waterfield
    Harry Lee Waterfield
    Harry Lee Waterfield , a Democrat, served twice as Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky and unsuccessfully sought election as Governor of Kentucky....
    
     1955-59
43. Wilson W. Wyatt
    Wilson W. Wyatt
    Wilson Watkins Wyatt served as Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky from 1941 to 1945 and as Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky from 1959 to 1963. He was a member of the Democratic Party....
    
     1959-63
44. Harry Lee Waterfield
    Harry Lee Waterfield
    Harry Lee Waterfield , a Democrat, served twice as Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky and unsuccessfully sought election as Governor of Kentucky....
    
     1963-67
45. Wendell H. Ford
    Wendell H. Ford
    Wendell Hampton Ford is a retired politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He served for twenty-four years in the U.S. Senate and was the 53rd Governor of Kentucky. He was the first person to be successively elected lieutenant governor, governor, and U.S. senator in Kentucky history...
    
     1967-71
46. Julian M. Carroll 1971-74
47. Thelma Stovall
    Thelma Stovall
    Thelma Hawkins Stovall was a pioneering female Southern politician who won several statewide elective offices in Kentucky, capping her career as Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky under the administration of her fellow Democrat, Governor Julian Carroll.Stovall was born in Munfordville, Kentucky. She...
    
     1975-79
48. Martha Layne Collins
    Martha Layne Collins
    Martha Layne Collins is a politician from the US state of Kentucky. From 1983 to 1987 she was the 56th Governor of Kentucky, having served the previous four years as lieutenant governor. She was Kentucky's first and only female governor to date...
    
     1979-83
49. Steve Beshear
    Steve Beshear
    Steven Lynn "Steve" Beshear is an American politician who is the 61st Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A Democrat, Beshear previously served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1974 to 1979, was the state's Attorney General from 1980 to 1983, and was Lieutenant Governor from...
    
     1983-87
50. Brereton C. Jones 1987-1991
51. Paul E. Patton
    Paul E. Patton
    Paul Edward Patton was the 59th governor of Kentucky, serving from 1995 to 2003. Because of a 1992 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution, he was the first governor eligible to succeed himself in office since James Garrard in 1800...
    
     1991-95
52. Steve Henry
    Steve Henry (politician)
    Steve Henry was a Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky from 1995 through 2003. He twice ran unsuccessfully in statewide elections, finishing third in Democratic primaries for the United States Senate in 1998 and for Governor of Kentucky in 2007....
    
     1995-2003
53. Steve Pence
    Steve Pence
    Stephen B. Pence was the Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He took office with fellow Republican Ernie Fletcher in December 2003.-Education:...
    
     2003-2007
54. Daniel Mongiardo
    Daniel Mongiardo
    Frank Daniel Mongiardo is an American physician and politician from Kentucky. Mongiardo is a Democrat and has been Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky since 2007. He was a member of the Kentucky State Senate from 2001 to 2007. He also ran for the U.S...
    
     2007-

Some accounts also indicate that Kentucky's Confederate government

Confederate government of Kentucky

The Confederate government of Kentucky was a shadow government established for the Commonwealth of Kentucky by a self-constituted group of Confederate sympathizers during the American Civil War. The shadow government never replaced the elected government in Frankfort, which had strong Union...

 had one lieutenant governor, Horatio F. Simrall

Horatio F. Simrall

Horatio F. Simrall was chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court. Some accounts also indicate that he served as lieutenant governor of Kentucky's Confederate government.-Early life:...

, who was elected at the Russellville Convention in 1861. Simrall fled to Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

shortly thereafter.