Governor of Colorado

Governor of the Territory of Jefferson

The self-proclaimed Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson was organized on November 7, 1859.^[3] Jefferson Territory included all of present-day Colorado, but extended about 3 miles (5 km) farther east, 138 miles (222 km) farther north, and about 50 miles (80 km) farther west.^[4] The territory was never recognized by the federal government in the tumultuous days before the American Civil War. The Jefferson Territory had only one governor, Robert Williamson Steele, a pro-union Democrat elected by popular vote. He proclaimed the territory dissolved on June 6, 1861, several months after the official formation of the Colorado Territory, but only days after the arrival of its first governor.^[5]

Governors of the Territory of Colorado

The Territory of Colorado was organized on February 28, 1861, from parts of the territories of New Mexico, Utah, and Nebraska, and the unorganized territory that was previously the western portion of Kansas Territory.^[6]

Governors of the Territory of Colorado

No.	Governor		Term in office	Appointed by
1		William Gilpin	March 25, 1861[7][lower-alpha 1] – March 26, 1862[lower-alpha 2]	Abraham Lincoln
2		John Evans	March 26, 1862[7] – October 17, 1865[lower-alpha 3]
3		Alexander Cummings	October 17, 1865[11] – April 24, 1867	Andrew Johnson
4		Alexander Cameron Hunt	April 24, 1867[11] – June 14, 1869
5		Edward M. McCook	June 14, 1869[12] – Sometime in 1873[lower-alpha 4]	Ulysses S. Grant
6		Samuel Hitt Elbert	April 4, 1873[13] – Sometime in 1874[lower-alpha 5]
7		Edward M. McCook	June 19, 1874[12] – March 29, 1875
8		John Long Routt	March 29, 1875[14] – August 1, 1876

Governors of the State of Colorado

The State of Colorado was admitted to the Union on August 1, 1876.

To serve as governor, one must be at least 30 years old, be a citizen of the United States, and have been a resident of the state for at least two years prior to election. The state constitution of 1876 originally called for election of the governor every two years, with their term beginning on the second Tuesday of the January following the election.^[15] An amendment passed in 1956, taking effect in 1959, increased terms to four years.^[16] Originally, there was no term limit applied to the governor; a 1990 amendment allowed governors to succeed themselves only once.^[17] There is however no limit on the total number of terms one may serve as long as one who has served the two term limit is out of office for four years.

Should the office of governor become vacant, the lieutenant governor becomes governor.^[18] If both the offices governor and lieutenant governor are vacant, the line of succession moves down through the senior members of the state senate and state house of representatives of the same party as the governor.^[19] The lieutenant governor was elected separately from the governor until a 1968 amendment to the constitution^[20] made it so that they are elected on the same ticket.^[21]

Governors of the State of Colorado

No.	Governor			Term in office	Party	Election	Lt. Governor[lower-alpha 6]
1			John Long Routt	August 1, 1876 – January 14, 1879	Republican	1876		Lafayette Head
2			Frederick Walker Pitkin	January 14, 1879 – January 9, 1883	Republican	1878		Horace Austin Warner Tabor
						1880
3			James Benton Grant	January 9, 1883 – January 13, 1885	Democratic	1882		William H. Meyer[lower-alpha 7]
4			Benjamin Harrison Eaton	January 13, 1885 – January 11, 1887	Republican	1884		Peter W. Breene
5			Alva Adams	January 11, 1887 – January 8, 1889	Democratic	1886		Norman H. Meldrum
6			Job Adams Cooper	January 8, 1889 – January 13, 1891	Republican	1888		William Grover Smith
7			John Long Routt	January 13, 1891 – January 10, 1893	Republican	1890		William Story
8			Davis Hanson Waite	January 10, 1893 – January 8, 1895	People's	1892		David Hopkinson Nichols
9			Albert Washington McIntire	January 8, 1895 – January 12, 1897	Republican	1894		Jared L. Brush[lower-alpha 7]
10			Alva Adams	January 12, 1897 – January 10, 1899	Democratic	1896
11			Charles Spalding Thomas	January 10, 1899 – January 8, 1901	Democratic	1898		Francis Patrick Carney[lower-alpha 8]
12			James Bradley Orman	January 8, 1901 – January 13, 1903	Democratic	1900		David C. Coates[lower-alpha 9]
13			James Hamilton Peabody	January 13, 1903 – January 10, 1905	Republican	1902		Warren A. Haggott[lower-alpha 10]
14			Alva Adams	January 10, 1905 – March 17, 1905	Democratic	1904 [lower-alpha 11]		Arthur Cornforth
15			James Hamilton Peabody	March 17, 1905 – March 17, 1905	Republican			Jesse Fuller McDonald
16			Jesse Fuller McDonald	March 17, 1905 – January 8, 1907	Republican		Vacant
								Fred W. Parks (took office July 5, 1905)
17			Henry Augustus Buchtel	January 8, 1907 – January 12, 1909	Republican	1906		Erastus Harper
18			John F. Shafroth	January 12, 1909 – January 14, 1913	Democratic	1908		Stephen R. Fitzgarrald
						1910
19			Elias M. Ammons	January 14, 1913 – January 12, 1915	Democratic	1912
20			George Alfred Carlson	January 12, 1915 – January 9, 1917	Republican	1914		Moses E. Lewis
21			Julius Caldeen Gunter	January 9, 1917 – January 14, 1919	Democratic	1916		James A. Pulliam
22			Oliver Henry Shoup	January 14, 1919 – January 9, 1923	Republican	1918		George Stepham
						1920		Earl Cooley
23			William Ellery Sweet	January 9, 1923 – January 13, 1925	Democratic	1922		Robert F. Rockwell[lower-alpha 7]
24	—		Clarence Morley	January 13, 1925 – January 11, 1927	Republican	1924		Sterling Byrd Lacy[lower-alpha 12]
25	—		Billy Adams	January 11, 1927 – January 10, 1933	Democratic	1926		George Milton Corlett[lower-alpha 7]
						1928
						1930		Edwin C. Johnson
26			Edwin C. Johnson	January 10, 1933 – January 1, 1937	Democratic	1932		Ray Herbert Talbot
						1934 [lower-alpha 13]
27	—		Ray Herbert Talbot	January 1, 1937 – January 12, 1937	Democratic		Vacant
28	—		Teller Ammons	January 12, 1937 – January 10, 1939	Democratic	1936		Frank J. Hayes
29			Ralph Lawrence Carr	January 10, 1939 – January 12, 1943	Republican	1938		John Charles Vivian
						1940
30	—		John Charles Vivian	January 12, 1943 – January 14, 1947	Republican	1942		William Eugene Higby
						1944
31			William Lee Knous	January 14, 1947 – April 15, 1950	Democratic	1946		Homer L. Pearson
						1948 [lower-alpha 14]		Walter Walford Johnson
32	—		Walter Walford Johnson	April 15, 1950 – January 9, 1951	Democratic			Charles P. Murphy[lower-alpha 7]
33			Daniel I.J. Thornton	January 9, 1951 – January 11, 1955	Republican	1950		Gordon L. Allott
						1952
34			Edwin C. Johnson	January 11, 1955 – January 8, 1957	Democratic	1954		Stephen L.R. McNichols
35			Stephen L.R. McNichols	January 8, 1957 – January 8, 1963	Democratic	1956		Frank L. Hays[lower-alpha 7]
						1958 [lower-alpha 15]		Robert Lee Knous
36			John Arthur Love	January 8, 1963 – July 16, 1973	Republican	1962
						1966		Mark Anthony Hogan[lower-alpha 12]
						1970 [lower-alpha 16]		John David Vanderhoof
37			John David Vanderhoof	July 16, 1973 – January 14, 1975	Republican			Ted L. Strickland
38			Richard Lamm	January 14, 1975 – January 13, 1987	Democratic	1974		George L. Brown
						1978		Nancy E. Dick
						1982
39			Roy Romer	January 13, 1987 – January 12, 1999	Democratic	1986		Mike Callihan (resigned May 10, 1994)
						1990
							Vacant
								Samuel H. Cassidy (took office May 11, 1994)
						1994		Gail Schoettler
40			Bill Owens	January 12, 1999 – January 9, 2007	Republican	1998		Joe Rogers
						2002		Jane E. Norton
41			Bill Ritter	January 9, 2007 – January 11, 2011	Democratic	2006		Barbara O'Brien
42			John Hickenlooper	January 11, 2011 – Present	Democratic	2010		Joseph A. Garcia (resigned May 12, 2016)
						2014 [lower-alpha 17]
								Donna Lynne