Governor of California

:See also: List of pre-statehood governors of California, List of Governors of California

Gubernatorial elections

Governors are elected by the majority vote of those voters voting within the state during an election for the office, and serve terms of four years when they prevail, with a limit of two terms. The California Constitution provides that all the powers of the governor fall to the lieutenant governor whenever the governor is unable to execute the office, including when the governor is not in the State of California; the lieutenant governor often signs or vetoes legislation and makes political appointments whenever the governor leaves the state. (The lieutenant governor is also the president of the California Senate.) Governors take office on the first Monday after the January 1 after their election.

Related Topics:
Lieutenant governor - January 1

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The offices of governor and lieutenant governor are elected separately, so the two officials are likely to be from separate parties. California has had a governor and a lieutenant governor of different parties 22 of the past 27 years (as of 2005), including the four years that Democrat Davis was lieutenant governor under Republican Gov. Pete Wilson as well as the current situation, with the Republican Schwarzenegger and the Democrat Bustamante as governor and lieutenant governor, respectively.

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Gubernatorial recall

If a governor is challenged, by any group of citizens within a state, prior to the next scheduled gubernatorial election, the state can hold a recall election to remove a governor, provided enough signatures are collected and all are verified by the election recorder's office, also each signator must be a valid registered voter. Any governor in California can be replaced (which includes the current standing governor) with an impeachment process of the state legislators regardless of any election held such as a recall.

Related Topics:
Gubernatorial - California - Impeachment

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Main article: 2003 California recall

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In the 2003 California recall, Governor Davis was recalled, in the first ever invocation of the gubernatorial recall process. Davis was challenged by hundreds of other candidates on the ballot; Schwarznegger emerged as the primary Republican candidate and prevailed in the balloting. Interestingly, none of the seven Republican candidates from the 2002 gubernatorial election, Bill Simon, Bill Jones, Richard Riordan, Edie Bukewihge, and three others, ran in the recall election.

Related Topics:
2003 California recall - Davis - Gubernatorial - Bill Simon - Bill Jones - Richard Riordan - Edie Bukewihge

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