List of Governors of Arizona

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Number of Governors of Arizona by party affiliation
Party Governors
Democratic 16
Republican 9

The following is a list of Governors of the State of Arizona and Arizona Territory.

The governor's powers are established by Article 5 of the Arizona Constitution. They are elected for four year terms, but may not serve more than two consecutive terms (part of a term counts as a full term). The governor must be at least 25 years old, have been a US citizen for ten years and an Arizona citizen for five years. The governor has a line-item veto on money appropriations, but otherwise the veto power and procedure is the same as for the president of the United States. (However, they can not veto emergency measures or bills that were voted for by the people in a referendum.) In the event of a vacancy in the office, the Arizona secretary of state, if elected, succeeds to the office (otherwise the next elected state officer succeeds). If impeached the governor is suspended, and the next elected officer in the line of succession becomes acting governor.

The Governor of Arizona is limited to eight years in office.

There have been 21 people who have served as governor, in 25 distinct terms. Arizona is one of only two states to have elected women of both parties to the governorship, is the only state where a woman has succeeded a woman as governor, and has had the most female governors in the country with three.

  • Arizona was part of New Mexico Territory from 1850 to 1863; see List of Governors of New Mexico. The Confederate Territory of Arizona, south of the 34th parallel, existed from March 1861 to July 1862. From March to August 1861 Dr. Lewis Owings of Mesilla was the Governor of the Confederate Territory of Arizona. From August 1861 to July 1862 Lt. Colonel John Baylor was the Governor of the Confederate Territory of Arizona. Owings was reappointed the Governor of the Confederate Territory of Arizona following the defeat at the Battle of Glorietta Pass and served, in exile, from San Antonio until the end of the war.

Contents

[edit] Governors of Arizona Territory

Arizona Territory was formed on February 24, 1863 from New Mexico Territory.

Name Term Party Notes
John Noble Goodwin 1863-1866 Republican [1][2]
Richard Cunningham McCormick 1866-1868 Republican [2]
James P.T. Carter 1868-1869 Republican [3]
Anson P.K. Safford 1869-1877 Republican
John Philo Hoyt 1877-1878 Republican [4]
John Charles Frémont 1878-1881 Republican [5]
John J. Gosper 1881 Republican [6]
Frederick Augustus Tritle 1882-1885 Republican [7]
C. Meyer Zulick 1885-1889 Democratic
Lewis Wolfley 1889-1890 Republican [8]
John Nichol Irwin 1890-1892 Republican [9]
Nathan Oakes Murphy 1892-1893 Republican
Louis Cameron Hughes 1893-1896 Democratic
Charles Morelle Bruce 1896 Democratic [3]
Benjamin Joseph Franklin 1896-1897 Democratic
Myron Hawley McCord 1897-1898 Republican [10]
Nathan Oakes Murphy 1898-1902 Republican [8]
Alexander Oswald Brodie 1902-1905 Republican [11]
William Francis Nichols 1905 Republican [3]
Joseph Henry Kibbey 1905-1909 Republican
Richard Elihu Sloan 1909-1912 Republican

[edit] Governors of Arizona

The State of Arizona was admitted to the union on February 14, 1912.

# Name Took office Left office Party Notes
1 George W.P. Hunt February 14, 1912 January 1, 1917 Democratic
2 Thomas Edward Campbell January 1, 1917 December 25, 1917 Republican [12]
3 George W.P. Hunt December 25, 1917 January 6, 1919 Democratic
4 Thomas Edward Campbell January 6, 1919 January 29, 1923 Republican
5 George W.P. Hunt January 29, 1923 January 7, 1929 Democratic
6 John Calhoun Phillips January 7, 1929 January 5, 1931 Republican
7 George W.P. Hunt January 5, 1931 January 2, 1933 Democratic
8 Benjamin Baker Moeur January 2, 1933 January 4, 1937 Democratic
9 Rawghlie Clement Stanford January 4, 1937 January 2, 1939 Democratic
10 Robert Taylor Jones January 2, 1939 January 6, 1941 Democratic
11 Sidney Preston Osborn January 6, 1941 May 25, 1948 Democratic [13]
12 Dan Edward Garvey May 25, 1948 January 1, 1951 Democratic [14]
13 John Howard Pyle January 1, 1951 January 3, 1955 Republican
14 Ernest W. McFarland January 3, 1955 January 5, 1959 Democratic
15 Paul Jones Fannin January 5, 1959 January 4, 1965 Republican
16 Samuel Pearson Goddard, Jr. January 4, 1965 January 2, 1967 Democratic
17 Jack Richard Williams January 2, 1967 January 6, 1975 Republican
18 Raul Hector Castro January 6, 1975 October 20, 1977 Democratic [15]
19 Wesley Bolin October 20, 1977 March 4, 1978 Democratic [16][13]
20 Bruce Babbitt March 4, 1978 January 5, 1987 Democratic [17]
21 Evan Mecham January 5, 1987 April 4, 1988 Republican [18]
22 Rose Perica Mofford April 4, 1988 March 6, 1991 Democratic [16]
23 Fife Symington March 6, 1991 September 8, 1997 Republican [19]
24 Jane Dee Hull September 8, 1997 January 6, 2003 Republican [14]
25 Janet Napolitano January 6, 2003 Incumbent Democratic [20]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Appointed to replace original appointee John Addison Gurley, who died before taking office.
  2. ^ a b Elected to United States House of Representatives as delegate.
  3. ^ a b c Acting governor.[citation needed]
  4. ^ Resigned to take appointed office as Governor of Idaho Territory.
  5. ^ Governor Frémont resigned in part due to negative feelings over him spending much of his time in the East, instead of in Arizona.
  6. ^ Acting governor.[1]
  7. ^ Resigned to accept new appointment.
  8. ^ a b Resigned.
  9. ^ Resigned; Irwin was out of the state for an extended period attending to family business; the Secretary of the Territory asked him to resume his duties or resign, and he chose resignation.
  10. ^ Resigned when denied a leave of absence by President William McKinley so he could serve in the Spanish-American War.
  11. ^ Resigned to re-enter the United States Army.
  12. ^ Campbell's election win was overturned by the state supreme court, and awarded to George W.P. Hunt.
  13. ^ a b Died in office.
  14. ^ a b As state secretary of state, filled unexpired term, and was later elected in their own right.
  15. ^ Resigned to take post as Ambassador to Argentina.
  16. ^ a b As state secretary of state, filled unexpired term.
  17. ^ As state attorney general, filled unexpired term, since the office of secretary of state was vacant, and was later elected in his own right.
  18. ^ Impeached and removed from office on charges of obstruction of justice and misuse of government funds.
  19. ^ Resigned after being convicted of bank fraud, since state law does not allow felons to hold office; the conviction was later overturned and he was pardoned by President Bill Clinton.
  20. ^ Governor Napolitano's present term expires in 2011; she is term limited.

[edit] Confederate governors

During the Civil War, the Confederate States of America created their own Arizona Territory in the southern halves of present-day Arizona and New Mexico. The territory was formed on April 1, 1861 and seceded from the Union, with the capital located in Mesilla in present-day New Mexico. Lewis Owings was elected governor, and served until August 1, 1861, when Confederate forces led by John Baylor won decisive control of the territory, and Baylor proclaimed himself permanent governor. Baylor was relieved of his post and commission after Confederate President Jefferson Davis learned of his order to exterminate the Apache, and Owings again took office, while in exile in San Antonio, Texas, until the end of the war on April 9, 1865. The date that Baylor's commission was revoked is unclear, except that it was in late 1862, as it took that long for Baylor's March 2 extermination order to each Davis.[2]

[edit] Other high offices held

This is a table of congressional seats, other federal offices, and other governorships held by governors.[A] All representatives and senators mentioned represented Arizona except where noted. * denotes those offices which the governor resigned to take.

Name Gubernatorial term Other offices held
John Noble Goodwin 1863–1866 (territorial) Territorial Delegate*, U.S. Representative from Maine
Richard Cunningham McCormick 1866–1868 (territorial) Territorial Delegate*
John Philo Hoyt 1877–1878 (territorial) Governor of Idaho Territory* but later declined the post, finding his predecessor was wrongly removed.
John C. Frémont 1878–1881 (territorial) U.S. Senator from California, Military Governor of California
Nathan Oakes Murphy 1892–1893, 1898–1902 (territorial) Territorial Delegate
Benjamin Joseph Franklin 1896–1897 (territorial) U.S. Representative from Missouri
George W.P. Hunt 1912–1917, 1917–1919, 1923–1929, 1931–1933 President of Arizona Constitutional Convention, Ambassador to Siam
Ernest W. McFarland 1955–1959 U.S. Senator (including as majority leader)
Paul Jones Fannin 1959–1965 U.S. Senator
Raúl Héctor Castro 1975–1977 Ambassador to El Salvador, Ambassador to Bolivia, Ambassador to Argentina*
Bruce Babbitt 1978–1987 U.S. Secretary of the Interior

In addition, one Confederate governor, John Baylor, served as a Confederate Congressman from Texas.

[edit] Living former governors

As of February 2008, five former governors were alive, the oldest being Raúl Héctor Castro (1975–1977, born 1916). The most recent governor to die was Evan Mecham (1987-1988), on February 21, 2008.

Name Gubernatorial term Date of birth
Raúl Héctor Castro 1975–1977 June 12, 1916
Bruce Babbitt 1978–1987 June 27, 1938
Rose Perica Mofford 1988–1991 June 10, 1922
Fife Symington III 1991–1997 August 12, 1945
Jane Dee Hull 1997–2003 August 8, 1935

[edit] References


[edit] External links

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