Governors

Colonial governors were mostly appointed by the Crown and became symbols of royal power, so the first state constitutions of 1776 created weak governors, often chosen by legislatures for one-year terms. Over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries governors gained popular election, longer terms, the veto, and control of budgets and agencies. Today every state elects its governor, all for four-year terms except New Hampshire and Vermont, which use two-year terms. Most states limit governors to two consecutive or lifetime terms.

Governors propose the state budget, sign or veto legislation, and in 44 states can veto individual items in spending bills, a power the President lacks. They appoint agency heads and, in many states, judges and officials to fill vacancies, including temporary appointments to the U.S. Senate where state law allows. They command their state's National Guard when it is not in federal service, may grant pardons or commutations alone or with a board, issue executive orders, and declare emergencies, powers that drew intense debate during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Because most state officials are elected separately, a governor's control of the executive branch is often weaker than the President's, and governors must work with legislatures that may be controlled by the other party. Governors have frequently gone on to national office, and seventeen Presidents served as governors first. The National Governors Association, founded after a 1908 conference called by Theodore Roosevelt, represents them collectively, and governors have increasingly acted on national issues, including through lawsuits and interstate agreements, sometimes in opposition to the federal government.