List of governors of North Carolina

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The governor of North Carolina has a duty to enforce state laws and to convene the legislature.^[1] The Governor may grant pardons except in cases of impeachment.^[2] For about 220 years the Governor had no power to veto bills passed by the North Carolina General Assembly, but a referendum in November 1996 altered the state's constitution, so that North Carolina ceased to be the only state whose governor lacked that power.^[3]

There have been three Presidents and 69 Governors of North Carolina, with six Governors (Richard Caswell, Alexander Martin, Benjamin Williams, Zebulon Baird Vance, William Woods Holden, and Jim Hunt) serving non-consecutive terms, totaling 78 terms in both offices. The current Governor is Democrat Roy Cooper, who took office on January 1, 2017.

Presidents of the Provincial Council[]

North Carolina was one of the original thirteen colonies, and was admitted as a state on November 21, 1789 . Prior to declaring its independence, North Carolina was a colony of the Kingdom of Great Britain. The 13-member Provincial Council, renamed the Council of Safety in April 1776, was essentially the executive authority during the second year of the Revolution, and was appointed by the Provincial Congress. The Presidency of the Council and the Presidency of the Congress could each be considered the highest offices in the state during this time, but the council was supreme when the congress was not in session.

List of presidents[]

Terms and backgrounds of the three men who served as president of the Provincial Council:^[4][5]

	Name	County/town	Term	Length	Previous position
	Harnett, CorneliusCornelius Harnett (1723–1781)	Wilmington	October 18, 1775 – August 21, 1776	308 days	Member of the House of Assembly
	Ashe, SamuelSamuel Ashe (1725–1813)	New Hanover	August 21, 1776 – September 27, 1776	37 days	Member of the Provincial Congress
	Jones, WillieWillie Jones (1741–1801) [a]	Halifax	September 27, 1776 – October 25, 1776	28 days	Member of the Provincial Congress

Governors of North Carolina[]

After the current state constitution was ratified in 1971, North Carolina Governors are limited to two consecutive four-year terms in office; they had previously been limited to one four-year term from 1835 through 1971.^[6] Additionally prior to 1835, North Carolina Governors were not popularly elected, and were instead selected by the state's General Assembly to serve one year terms. The Governors were also subject to strict term limits, and could only hold the office for three of every six years, leading to many instances of short or nonconsecutive stints in office.^[7]

List of governors[]

#	Governor	Image	Took office	Left office	Party	Notes
1	Richard Caswell		November 12, 1776	April 20, 1780	Unaffiliated
2	Abner Nash		April 20, 1780	June 26, 1781	Unaffiliated
3	Thomas Burke		June 26, 1781	April 22, 1782	Unaffiliated
4	Alexander Martin		April 22, 1782	May 13, 1785	Anti-Federalist
5	Richard Caswell		May 13, 1785	December 20, 1787	Unaffiliated
6	Samuel Johnston		December 20, 1787	December 17, 1789	Federalist
7	Alexander Martin		December 17, 1789	December 14, 1792	Anti-Federalist
8	Richard Dobbs Spaight		December 14, 1792	November 19, 1795	Federalist
9	Samuel Ashe		November 19, 1795	December 7, 1798	Anti-Federalist
10	William Richardson Davie		December 7, 1798	November 23, 1799	Federalist
11	Benjamin Williams		November 23, 1799	December 6, 1802	Federalist
12	James Turner		December 6, 1802	December 10, 1805	Democratic-Republican	[8]
13	Nathaniel Alexander		December 10, 1805	December 1, 1807	Democratic-Republican
14	Benjamin Williams		December 1, 1807	December 12, 1808	Federalist
15	David Stone		December 12, 1808	December 1, 1810	Democratic-Republican
16	Benjamin Smith		December 1, 1810	December 11, 1811	Democratic-Republican
17	William Hawkins		December 11, 1811	November 29, 1814	Democratic-Republican
18	William Miller		November 29, 1814	December 6, 1817	Democratic-Republican
19	John Branch		December 6, 1817	December 7, 1820	Democratic-Republican
20	Jesse Franklin		December 7, 1820	December 7, 1821	Democratic-Republican
21	Gabriel Holmes		December 7, 1821	December 7, 1824	Democratic-Republican
22	Hutchins Gordon Burton		December 7, 1824	December 8, 1827	Unaffiliated
23	James Iredell Jr.		December 8, 1827	December 12, 1828	Democratic-Republican
24	John Owen		December 12, 1828	December 18, 1830	Democratic
25	Montfort Stokes		December 18, 1830	December 6, 1832	Democratic
26	David Lowry Swain		December 6, 1832	December 10, 1835	National Republican
27	Richard Dobbs Spaight Jr.		December 10, 1835	December 31, 1836	Democratic
28	Edward Bishop Dudley		December 31, 1836	January 1, 1841	Whig
29	John Motley Morehead		January 1, 1841	January 1, 1845	Whig
30	William Alexander Graham		January 1, 1845	January 1, 1849	Whig
31	Charles Manly		January 1, 1849	January 1, 1851	Whig
32	David Settle Reid		January 1, 1851	December 6, 1854	Democratic
33	Warren Winslow		December 6, 1854	January 1, 1855	Democratic
34	Thomas Bragg		January 1, 1855	January 1, 1859	Democratic
35	John Willis Ellis		January 1, 1859	July 7, 1861	Democratic
36	Henry Toole Clark		July 7, 1861	September 8, 1862	Democratic
37	Zebulon Baird Vance		September 8, 1862	May 29, 1865	Conservative
38	William Woods Holden		May 29, 1865	December 15, 1865	National Union	[9]
39	Jonathan Worth		December 15, 1865	July 1, 1868	Conservative
40	William Woods Holden		July 1, 1868	March 22, 1871[b]	Republican
41	Tod Robinson Caldwell		March 22, 1871	July 11, 1874	Republican
42	Curtis Hooks Brogden		July 11, 1874	January 1, 1877	Republican
43	Zebulon Baird Vance		January 1, 1877	February 5, 1879	Democratic
44	Thomas Jordan Jarvis		February 5, 1879	January 21, 1885	Democratic
45	Alfred Moore Scales		January 21, 1885	January 17, 1889	Democratic
46	Daniel Gould Fowle		January 17, 1889	April 7, 1891	Democratic
47	Thomas Michael Holt		April 7, 1891	January 18, 1893	Democratic
48	Elias Carr		January 18, 1893	January 12, 1897	Democratic
49	Daniel Lindsay Russell		January 12, 1897	January 15, 1901	Republican	[10]
50	Charles Brantley Aycock		January 15, 1901	January 11, 1905	Democratic
51	Robert Broadnax Glenn		January 11, 1905	January 12, 1909	Democratic
52	William Walton Kitchin		January 12, 1909	January 15, 1913	Democratic
53	Locke Craig		January 15, 1913	January 11, 1917	Democratic
54	Thomas Walter Bickett		January 11, 1917	January 12, 1921	Democratic
55	Cameron A. Morrison		January 12, 1921	January 14, 1925	Democratic
56	Angus Wilton McLean		January 14, 1925	January 11, 1929	Democratic
57	O. Max Gardner		January 11, 1929	January 5, 1933	Democratic
58	John C.B. Ehringhaus		January 5, 1933	January 7, 1937	Democratic
59	Clyde R. Hoey		January 7, 1937	January 9, 1941	Democratic
60	J. Melville Broughton		January 9, 1941	January 4, 1945	Democratic
61	R. Gregg Cherry		January 4, 1945	January 6, 1949	Democratic
62	W. Kerr Scott		January 6, 1949	January 8, 1953	Democratic
63	William B. Umstead		January 8, 1953	November 7, 1954	Democratic
64	Luther H. Hodges		November 7, 1954	January 5, 1961	Democratic
65	Terry Sanford		January 5, 1961	January 8, 1965	Democratic
66	Dan K. Moore		January 8, 1965	January 3, 1969	Democratic
67	Robert W. Scott		January 3, 1969	January 5, 1973	Democratic
68	James Holshouser		January 5, 1973	January 8, 1977	Republican
69	Jim Hunt		January 8, 1977	January 5, 1985	Democratic
70	James G. Martin		January 5, 1985	January 9, 1993	Republican
71	Jim Hunt		January 9, 1993	January 6, 2001	Democratic
72	Mike Easley		January 6, 2001	January 10, 2009	Democratic
73	Bev Perdue		January 10, 2009	January 5, 2013	Democratic	[11]
74	Pat McCrory		January 5, 2013	January 1, 2017	Republican
75	Roy Cooper		January 1, 2017	Present[12]	Democratic

Subsequent public office[]

Three former governors held U.S. federal office after serving as governor.

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Governors of North Carolina.

Official

• Official website

General information

• Governor of North Carolina at Ballotpedia
• Governors of North Carolina at The Political Graveyard
• History of NC Gubernatorial Races at OurCampaigns.com
• Works by or about Governors of North Carolina at Internet Archive
• Works by or about Office of the Governor of North Carolina in libraries (WorldCat catalog)