Lieutenant gubernatorial elections, 2025

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There were two lieutenant gubernatorial offices on the ballot in 2025. These elections were in New Jersey and Virginia.

As a result of these elections, Democrats gained one lieutenant governorship. In Virginia, Ghazala Hashmi (D) was elected to succeed incumbent Winsome Earle-Sears (R). Democrats retained the lieutenant governorship in New Jersey, where Dale Caldwell (D) was elected to succeed Tahesha Way (D). Following the elections, Republicans held 24 lieutenant governorships nationwide and Democrats held 21.

Way and Earle-Sears did not run for re-election. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) appointed Way on September 8, 2023, to replace Sheila Oliver (D), who died on August 1, 2023. Earle-Sears ran for governor instead of re-election.

New Jersey's lieutenant governor is elected on a joint ticket with the governor, and Virginia's lieutenant governor is separately elected. Ballotpedia identified both New Jersey's gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election and the lieutenant gubernatorial election in Virginia as battlegrounds. Click here to learn more.

In 45 states, the lieutenant governor is the second-highest executive office, behind the governor. Although the powers and duties of the lieutenant governor vary from state to state, lieutenant governors are responsible for filling vacancies in the office of the governor. In many states, lieutenant governors often sit on boards or commissions and are often involved in the proceedings of the state Senate.

The process for selecting a lieutenant governor varies from state to state. In Tennessee and West Virginia, the member of the state Senate chosen to serve as its president becomes the lieutenant governor. In the other 43 states with lieutenant governors, the officeholder is elected; this election is separate from the gubernatorial election in 17 states and is held on a joint ticket in the other 26.

In 2024, there were nine lieutenant gubernatorial seats on the ballot. These elections were in Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Utah, Vermont, and Washington. In four states (Indiana, Montana, North Dakota, and Utah), the lieutenant governor was elected on a joint ticket, and in five states (Delaware, Missouri, North Carolina, Vermont, and Washington), the lieutenant governor was elected separately. In two states, North Carolina and Vermont, the lieutenant governorship changed party hands. A Democrat won in North Carolina and a Republican won in Vermont.

In 2021, the last time the lieutenant gubernatorial offices in New Jersey and Virginia were up for election, Sheila Oliver (D) was re-elected in New Jersey and Winsome Earle-Sears (R) was elected to succeed Justin Fairfax (D) in Virginia.

Explore Ballotpedia's coverage of these elections:

Partisan balance
The partisan balance of U.S. lieutenant governors
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On the ballot
A list of elections and candidates on the ballot
Read more
Pre-election analysis
Analysis leading up to the 2025 gubernatorial elections
Read more
Important dates and deadlines
A list of important dates and deadlines for the 2025 election cycle
Read more
About the office
Information about lieutenant governors across all 50 states
Read more

Partisan balance

The following chart displays the number of lieutenant governors' offices held by each party before and after the 2025 elections.

U.S. lieutenant governors partisan breakdown
Party	As of December 2025	After the 2025 elections
Democratic	20	21
Republican	25	24
Total	45	45

The chart below shows historical partisan breakdown information for lieutenant governors.

On the ballot

Click the tabs below to view information about the elections in 2025. In this section, you will find:

A list of seats up for election
A list of candidates running
Ballotpedia's Sample Ballot Lookup Tool

Seats up for election

List of candidates

What's on your ballot?

There was one Democratic-held and one Republican-held office up for election in 2025. The table below displays more information about these races.

2025 Lieutenant Gubernatorial Races
2025 Lieutenant gubernatorial races
State	Current Incumbent	Incumbent ran?
New Jersey	Tahesha Way	No
Virginia	Winsome Earle-Sears	No

The table below contains a list of all candidates for lieutenant governor in 2025. The table is fully searchable by candidate, party and candidacy status. Depending on the size of your screen, you'll either see a menu to the left of the table or an arrow at the top right corner, which you can use to select a state.

New Jersey Lieutenant governor Candidates - 2025
candidate	party	office	status
Dale Caldwell	Democratic	Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey	Won General
James Gannon	Republican	Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey	Lost General
Bruno Pereira	Libertarian	Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey	Lost General
Craig Honts	Socialist Workers Party	Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey	Lost General

Virginia Lieutenant governor Candidates - 2025
candidate	party	office	status
Ghazala Hashmi	Democratic	Lieutenant Governor of Virginia	Won General
John Reid	Republican	Lieutenant Governor of Virginia	Lost General
Alex Bastani	Democratic	Lieutenant Governor of Virginia	Lost Primary
Babur Lateef	Democratic	Lieutenant Governor of Virginia	Lost Primary
Aaron Rouse	Democratic	Lieutenant Governor of Virginia	Lost Primary
Victor Salgado	Democratic	Lieutenant Governor of Virginia	Lost Primary
Levar Stoney	Democratic	Lieutenant Governor of Virginia	Lost Primary
Marlow Jones	Independent	Lieutenant Governor of Virginia	Lost (Write-in) General
John Curran	Republican	Lieutenant Governor of Virginia	Withdrew Primary
Pat Herrity	Republican	Lieutenant Governor of Virginia	Withdrew Primary

Pre-election analysis

Incumbents who did not seek re-election

Incumbent lieutenant governors Tahesha Way (D-N.J.) and Winsome Earle-Sears (R-Va.) did not run for re-election.

As of 2025, New Jersey's lieutenant governor was elected on a joint ticket with the governor. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) appointed Way on September 8, 2023, to replace Sheila Oliver (D), who died on August 1, 2023.

As of 2025, Virginia's lieutenant governor was popularly elected every four years by a plurality and, unlike the governor, could run for re-election. Earle-Sears ran for governor instead of re-election.

Important dates and deadlines

The table below lists important dates throughout the 2025 election cycle, including filing deadlines and primary dates.

Statewide filing deadlines
State	Election date	Filing deadline	Source
New Jersey	June 10, 2025	March 24, 2025 - New Jersey statewide primary candidate filing deadline	Source
Pennsylvania	May 20, 2025	March 11, 2025 - Pennsylvania statewide primary candidate filing deadline	Source
Virginia	June 17, 2025	April 3, 2025 - Virginia statewide primary candidate filing deadline	Source
Wisconsin	Feb. 18, 2025	Jan. 7, 2025 - Wisconsin statewide spring primary candidate filing deadline	Source

About the office

See also: Lieutenant Governor (state executive office)

In the United States, the office of lieutenant governor is the second-highest executive office in a state and is nominally subordinate to the governor. In the U.S., the main duty of the lieutenant governor is to act as governor should the governor be temporarily absent from the office. In addition, the lieutenant governor generally succeeds a governor who dies, resigns, or is removed by trial by the legislative branch. In most states, the lieutenant governor then becomes governor, with the title and its associated salary, office, and privileges. In a few states, like Massachusetts, the lieutenant governor instead becomes "acting governor" until the next election.

Other than this primary constitutional duty, most state constitutions do not prescribe the duties of the lieutenant governor in detail.

In Hawaii, the lieutenant governor serves concurrently as the secretary of state. In Tennessee and West Virginia, the president of the Senate also serves as lieutenant governor and is elected from within the legislature.

As of 2025, five states did not have a lieutenant governor position: Arizona, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Wyoming.

Selection process

Partisan affiliation

Compensation

Vacancy fill methods

Legislative powers

Gubernatorial delegation

Acting governor

Term limits

In 27 states, the lieutenant governor is selected on a ticket with the governor, meaning that lieutenant gubernatorial candidates serve as running mates to gubernatorial candidates, with the winning gubernatorial candidate's running mate becoming lieutenant governor. In seven of these states, there are separate primaries for governor and lieutenant governor, with the winning candidate in each primary appearing on the general election ticket. In the remaining 20 states, gubernatorial candidates may pick their own running mates in a similar fashion to presidential candidates. In 17 states, the lieutenant governor is elected separately from the governor. In Tennessee and West Virginia, the title of lieutenant governor is given to the president of the state Senate.^[1]

Lt. gov. nominated in separate primary and elected in separate general election (17): Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington
Lt. gov. nominated in separate primary but runs on a single ticket with gubernatorial nominee in general election (7): Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin
Lt. gov. chosen by gubernatorial candidate before primary and runs on a single ticket with gubernatorial candidate in both the primary and general election (9): Alaska, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah
Lt. gov. chosen by gubernatorial nominee after primary and runs on a single ticket with gubernatorial nominee in the general election (11): Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, South Carolina, South Dakota
Lt. gov. is a member of the legislature (2): Tennessee, West Virginia
Lt. gov. office does not exist in state (4): Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, Wyoming

Analysis of state elections

State legislative elections

See also: State legislative elections, 2025

As of December 3rd, 2025, Republicans controlled 55.31% of all state legislative seats nationally, while Democrats held 43.49%. Republicans held a majority in 57 chambers, and Democrats held the majority in 39 chambers. Two chambers (Alaska House and Alaska Senate) were organized under multipartisan, power-sharing coalitions. One chamber (Minnesota House of Representatives) was split evenly between both parties.