Lieutenant governor (United States) in the context of "Lieutenant governor"

In the United States, a governor serves as the chief executive and commander-in-chief in each of the fifty states and in the five permanently inhabited territories, functioning as head of state and head of government therein. While like all officials in the United States, checks and balances are placed on the office of the governor, significant powers may include ceremonial head of state (representing the state), executive (overseeing the state's government), legislative (proposing, and signing or vetoing laws), judicial (granting state law pardons or commutations), and military (overseeing the militia and organized armed forces of the state). As such, governors are responsible for implementing state laws and overseeing the operation of the state executive branch. As state leaders, governors advance and pursue new and revised policies and programs using a variety of tools, among them executive orders, executive budgets, and legislative proposals and vetoes. Governors carry out their management and leadership responsibilities and objectives with the support and assistance of department and agency heads, many of whom they are empowered to appoint. A majority of governors have the authority to appoint state court judges as well, in most cases from a list of names submitted by a nominations committee.

All with the exception of five states and one territory (Arizona, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, Puerto Rico, and Wyoming) have a lieutenant governor. The lieutenant governor succeeds to the gubernatorial office (the powers and duties but not the office, in Massachusetts and West Virginia), if vacated by impeachment, death, or resignation of the previous governor. Lieutenant governors also serve as unofficial acting state governors in case the incumbent governors are unable to fulfill their duties, and they often serve as presiding officers of the upper houses of state legislatures. In such cases, they cannot participate in political debates, and they have no vote whenever these houses are not equally divided.

The secretary of state of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Secretario de Estado de Puerto Rico) leads all efforts promoting the cultural, political, and economical relations between Puerto Rico and jurisdictions within the United States or foreign countries. It was created by Article IV of the Constitution of Puerto Rico, establishing the secretary as acting governor when the governor is unable to perform their duties—a post equivalent to that of a lieutenant governor. As such, the secretary of state is first in line of succession to the governorship of Puerto Rico.

Today, the post is similar to that of a foreign minister. The secretary is the officer in charge of Puerto Rico's foreign relations, albeit under the consent of Congress or the U.S. Department of State due to Puerto Rico's political status.

The secretary of state is an official in the state governments of 47 of the 50 states of the United States, as well as Puerto Rico and other U.S. possessions. In Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, this official is called the secretary of the commonwealth. In states that have one, the secretary of state is the chief administrative officer of the state and is often the primary custodian of important state records. In the states of Alaska, Hawaii, and Utah, there is no secretary of state; in those states many duties that a secretary of state might normally execute fall within the domain of the lieutenant governor. Like the lieutenant governor, in most states, the secretary of state is in the line of succession to succeed the governor, in most cases immediately behind the lieutenant governor. In three states with no lieutenant governor (Arizona, Oregon and Wyoming) as well as the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, the secretary of state is first in the line of succession in the event of a gubernatorial vacancy.

Currently, in 35 states, the secretary of state is elected, usually for a four-year term. In others, the secretary of state is appointed by the governor with confirmation with the state's respective Senate; Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia are among the states with this practice. In three states, the secretary of state is elected by the state legislature: the General Assembly of Tennessee meets in joint convention to elect the secretary of state to a four-year term, and the Maine Legislature and New Hampshire General Court also select their secretaries of state, but to two-year terms. The longest serving state secretary of state in history was Thad A. Eure of North Carolina, who served from 1936 until 1989.