List of governors of Kansas

The Governor of Kansas is the head of the executive branch of Kansas'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 Kansas Legislature,[4] to convene the legislature at any time,[5] and to grant pardons.[6]

Governor of Kansas
State Seal
Standard of the Governor
Incumbent Laura Kelly since January 14, 2019
Residence	Cedar Crest
Term length	Four years, renewable once
Inaugural holder	Charles L. Robinson
Formation	February 9, 1861
Salary	$99,636 (2017)[1]
Website	governor.kansas.gov

The governor has a 4-year term, commencing on the second Monday of January after election.[7] The governor originally had a 2-year term; this was changed to four years by a constitutional amendment in 1974. The lieutenant governor is elected at the same time as the governor.[7] When the office of governor becomes vacant for any reason, the lieutenant governor becomes governor for the remainder of the term.[8]

Since becoming a state, Kansas has had 47 governors. The state's longest-serving governors were Robert Docking, John W. Carlin, and Bill Graves, each of whom served 8 years and 4 days (Docking served four two-year terms; Carlin and Graves each served 2 4-year terms). The shortest-serving governor was John McCuish, who served only 11 days after the resignation of Fred Hall.

The current governor is Democrat Laura Kelly, who took office on January 14, 2019.

History

The office was created in 1861 when Kansas was officially admitted to the United States as the 34th state. Prior to statehood in 1861, the office was preceded by a Presidential appointed Governor of Kansas Territory with similar powers.

Despite being an executive branch official, the Governor also possesses legislative and judicial powers. The Governor's responsibilities include making yearly "State of the State" addresses to the Kansas Legislature, submitting the budget, ensuring that state laws are enforced, and that the peace is preserved.

Gubernatorial term of office and requirements for running

Flag of the Governor prior to 1961. It is unclear when the Governor's flag was first created

There is no lifetime limit on the number of times he or she may be elected, but a governor who has been elected to two consecutive terms must be out of office for at least one election cycle before being eligible once again for re-election. Elections occur at the same time as the Congressional midterm elections, and each term begins on the second Monday of January following the election. The lieutenant governor is subject to the same limitations and runs on a combined ticket with the governor.[9] From the establishment of the state in 1859 with the Wyandotte Constitution until 2018, there was neither an age requirement nor a residency requirement to run for the office; as of 2017 three Kansan teenagers were doing so.[10] In 2018, a law was passed establishing the age to run for Governor and Lieutenant Governor at 25, beginning with the 2022 election.[11]

If the governor becomes incapacitated, the lieutenant governor assumes the duties of the governor. However, if both offices become vacant, the line of succession is determined by the legislature. Under present law, the President of the Senate would be next in line to assume the governorship, followed by the Speaker of the House.

Residence

Since 1962, the Governor of Kansas has resided in the governor's mansion, known as Cedar Crest. It was designed by the architect firm Wight and Wight. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Succession

Main article: Gubernatorial lines of succession in the United States § Kansas

Governors

Governors of Kansas Territory

• The area that became Kansas was part of Louisiana Territory, later renamed Missouri Territory, until 1821, and unorganized until it became its own territory on May 30, 1854; see List of Governors of Missouri for the period from 1805 to 1821.
• A small part of Kansas was once claimed as part of the Republic of Texas (see List of Presidents of the Republic of Texas, and before that, was part of Mexico (see Spanish governors of New Mexico).

Governors of the Territory of Kansas

No.	Governor		Term in office	Appointed by
1		Andrew Horatio Reeder	July 7, 1854 – August 16, 1855	Franklin Pierce
2		Wilson Shannon	September 5, 1855 – August 18, 1856
3		John W. Geary	September 9, 1856 – March 20, 1857
4		Robert J. Walker	May 27, 1857 – December 15, 1857	James Buchanan
5		James W. Denver	December 1857 – November 1858
6		Samuel Medary	December 1858 – December 1860

Governors of Kansas

The eastern bulk of Kansas Territory was admitted to the Union as Kansas on January 29, 1861; the remainder become unorganized territory which would shortly be assigned to Colorado Territory. The Kansas Constitution provided that a governor and lieutenant governor be elected every 2 years.[12] An amendment in 1972 increased terms to four years,[13], and provided that the governor and lieutenant governor are elected on the same ticket. In the original constitution, should the office of governor be vacant, the powers would devolve upon the lieutenant governor, who nonetheless would remain in that office;[14] an amendment in 1972 changed that so that, in such an event, the lieutenant governor becomes governor, and relies on the legislature to provide for succession after that.[15]

Governors of the State of Kansas

No.	Governor			Term in office	Party	Election	Lt. Governor[lower-alpha 1]
1			Charles L. Robinson	February 9, 1861 – January 12, 1863 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1860		Joseph Pomeroy Root
2			Thomas Carney	January 12, 1863 – January 9, 1865 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1862		Thomas A. Osborn
3			Samuel J. Crawford	January 9, 1865 – November 4, 1868 (resigned)[lower-alpha 2]	Republican	1864		James McGrew
						1866		Nehemiah Green
4			Nehemiah Green	November 4, 1868 – January 11, 1869 (successor took office)	Republican	Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor	Vacant
5			James M. Harvey	January 11, 1869 – January 13, 1873 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1868		Charles Vernon Eskridge
						1870		Peter Percival Elder
6			Thomas A. Osborn	January 13, 1873 – January 8, 1877 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1872		Elias S. Stover
						1874		Melville J. Salter
7			George T. Anthony	January 8, 1877 – January 13, 1879 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1876
								Lyman U. Humphrey
8			John St. John	January 13, 1879 – January 8, 1883 (lost election)	Republican	1878
						1880		David Wesley Finney[lower-alpha 3]
9			George Washington Glick	January 8, 1883 – January 12, 1885 (lost election)	Democratic	1882
10			John Martin	January 12, 1885 – January 14, 1889 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1884		Alexander P. Riddle
						1886
11			Lyman U. Humphrey	January 14, 1889 – January 8, 1893 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1888		Andrew Jackson Felt
						1890
12			Lorenzo D. Lewelling	January 8, 1893 – January 14, 1895 (lost election)	Populist	1892		Percy Daniels
13			Edmund Needham Morrill	January 14, 1895 – January 11, 1897 (lost election)	Republican	1894		James Armstrong Troutman
14			John W. Leedy	January 11, 1897 – January 9, 1899 (lost election)	Populist	1896		Alexander Miller Harvey
15			William Eugene Stanley	January 9, 1899 – January 12, 1903 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1898		Harry E. Richter
						1900
16			Willis J. Bailey	January 12, 1903 – January 9, 1905 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1902		David John Hanna
17			Edward W. Hoch	January 9, 1905 – January 11, 1909 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1904
						1906		William James Fitzgerald
18			Walter R. Stubbs	January 11, 1909 – January 13, 1913 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1908
						1910		Richard Joseph Hopkins
19			George H. Hodges	January 13, 1913 – January 11, 1915 (lost election)	Democratic	1912		Sheffield Ingalls[lower-alpha 3]
20			Arthur Capper	January 11, 1915 – January 13, 1919 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1914		William Yoast Morgan
						1916
21			Henry Justin Allen	January 13, 1919 – January 8, 1923 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1918		Charles Solomon Huffman
						1920
22			Jonathan M. Davis	January 8, 1923 – January 12, 1925 (lost election)	Democratic	1922		Benjamin S. Paulen[lower-alpha 3]
23			Benjamin S. Paulen	January 12, 1925 – January 14, 1929 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1924		De Lanson Alson Newton Chase
						1926
24			Clyde M. Reed	January 14, 1929 – January 12, 1931 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1928		Jacob W. Graybill[lower-alpha 3]
25			Harry Hines Woodring	January 12, 1931 – January 9, 1933 (lost election)	Democratic	1930
26			Alf Landon	January 9, 1933 – January 11, 1937 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1932		Charles W. Thompson
						1934
27			Walter A. Huxman	January 11, 1937 – January 9, 1939 (lost election)	Democratic	1936		William M. Lindsay
28			Payne Ratner	January 9, 1939 – January 11, 1943 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1938		Carl E. Friend
						1940
29			Andrew Frank Schoeppel	January 11, 1943 – January 13, 1947 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1942		Jess C. Denious
						1944
30			Frank Carlson	January 13, 1947 – November 28, 1950 (resigned)[lower-alpha 4]	Republican	1946		Frank L. Hagaman
						1948
31			Frank L. Hagaman	November 28, 1950 – January 8, 1951 (successor took office)	Republican	Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor	Vacant
32			Edward F. Arn	January 8, 1951 – January 10, 1955 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1950		Fred Hall
						1952
33			Fred Hall	January 10, 1955 – January 3, 1957 (resigned)[lower-alpha 5]	Republican	1954		John McCuish
34			John McCuish	January 3, 1957 – January 14, 1957 (successor took office)	Republican	Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor	Vacant
35			George Docking	January 14, 1957 – January 9, 1961 (lost election)	Democratic	1956		Joseph W. Henkle Sr.
						1958
36			John Anderson Jr.	January 9, 1961 – January 11, 1965 (not candidate for election)	Republican	1960		Harold H. Chase
						1962
37			William H. Avery	January 11, 1965 – January 9, 1967 (lost election)	Republican	1964		John Crutcher[lower-alpha 3]
38			Robert Docking	January 9, 1967 – January 13, 1975 (term limited)	Democratic	1966
						1968		James H. DeCoursey Jr.
						1970		Reynolds Shultz[lower-alpha 3]
						1972		Dave Owen[lower-alpha 3]
39			Robert Frederick Bennett	January 13, 1975 – January 8, 1979 (lost election)	Republican	1974[lower-alpha 6]		Shelby Smith
40			John W. Carlin	January 8, 1979 – January 12, 1987 (term limited)	Democratic	1978		Paul Dugan
						1982		Thomas Docking
41			Mike Hayden	January 12, 1987 – January 14, 1991 (lost election)	Republican	1986		Jack D. Walker
42			Joan Finney	January 14, 1991 – January 9, 1995 (not candidate for election)	Democratic	1990		Jim Francisco
43			Bill Graves	January 9, 1995 – January 13, 2003 (term limited)	Republican	1994		Sheila Frahm (resigned June 11, 1996)
							Vacant
								Gary Sherrer (appointed July 18, 1996)
						1998
44			Kathleen Sebelius	January 13, 2003 – April 28, 2009 (resigned)[lower-alpha 7]	Democratic	2002		John E. Moore
						2006		Mark Parkinson
45			Mark Parkinson	April 28, 2009 – January 10, 2011 (not candidate for election)	Democratic	Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor	Vacant
								Troy Findley (appointed May 15, 2009)
46			Sam Brownback	January 10, 2011 – January 31, 2018 (resigned)[lower-alpha 8]	Republican	2010		Jeff Colyer
						2014
47			Jeff Colyer	January 31, 2018 – January 14, 2019 (lost primary)	Republican	Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor		Tracey Mann (appointed February 14, 2018)
48			Laura Kelly	January 14, 2019 – present[lower-alpha 9]	Democratic	2018		Lynn Rogers

See also

• List of Kansas state legislatures

Notes

1. Lieutenant governors represented the same party as their governor unless noted.
2. Crawford resigned to take command of the 19th Kansas Infantry.
3. Represented the Republican Party
4. Carlson resigned to take an elected seat in the United States Senate.
5. Hall resigned so that his successor would appoint him to the Kansas Supreme Court.
6. First term under a 1972 constitutional amendment which lengthened terms to four years.
7. Sebelius resigned to become United States Secretary of Health and Human Services.
8. Brownback resigned on January 31, 2018, to become United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom.
9. Kelly's first term expires on January 9, 2023.

References

General

• "Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson." State of Kansas. Retrieved September 7, 2009.
• "Governors of Kansas." National Governors Association. Retrieved September 7, 2009.
• "Kansas Governors by Terms in Office." Kansas State Historical Society. Retrieved September 7, 2009.

Constitutions

• "Constitution of the State of Kansas" (1859). State Library of Kansas. Retrieved September 7, 2009.

Specific

1. "Kansas Government Employee Payroll List". Retrieved January 14, 2019.
2. KS Const. art. I, § 3.
3. KS Const. art. VIII, § 4.
4. KS Const. art. II, § 14.
5. KS Const. art. I, § 5.
6. KS Const. art. I, § 7.
7. KS Const. art. I, § 1.
8. KS Const. art. I, § 11.
9. Constitution of the State of Kansas Archived November 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
10. Woodall, Hunter (September 28, 2017). "As third teen joins Kansas governor race, consider this: No rule says a dog can't run". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
11. KWCH (May 18, 2018). "New law sets minimum age for Kansas governor candidates". KWCH.
12. 1861 Const. art. I, § 1
13. KS Const. art. 1, § 1
14. 1861 Const. art I, § 11
15. KS Const. art I, § 11

External links

• Office of the Governor of Kansas website