Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey

Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey
Seal of New Jersey
Incumbent Kim Guadagno since January 19, 2010
Style	The Honorable
Term length	Four years, no term limit
Constituting instrument	Article V, New Jersey State Constitution (as amended, effective January 17, 2006)
Inaugural holder	Kim Guadagno (2010)
Formation	January 19, 2010
Succession	First
Salary	$141,000 (per year)

The Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey is an elected constitutional officer in the executive branch of the state government of New Jersey in the United States. The lieutenant governor is the second highest-ranking official in the state government and is elected concurrently on a ticket with the governor for a four-year term. Because the position itself does not carry any powers or duties other than to be next in the order of succession, the state constitution requires that the lieutenant governor be appointed to serve as the head of a cabinet-level department or administrative agency within the governor's administration.

Prior to 2010, New Jersey was one of a few states in the United States that did not have a lieutenant governor to succeed to the governorship in the event of a vacancy in that office. Only two individuals had previously held the title—both during brief periods in the colonial era (1664–1776) under commission or letters patent from the British Crown. For most of the state's (and previously the colony's) history, a vacancy in the position of governor was filled by the president of the State Senate (called the "Legislative Council" from 1776 to 1844), or during the colonial era by the president of the royal governor's Provincial Council.

After several episodes where the state had multiple "acting governors" in the span of a few years following the resignations of Governor Christine Todd Whitman in 2001 and Governor James E. McGreevey in 2004, popular sentiment and political pressure from the state's residents and news media outlets sought a permanent and tenable solution to the issue of gubernatorial succession. A referendum put before the state's voters authorized the amendment of the state's constitution in 2006. This amendment provided for the state's first lieutenant governor to be elected in the state's 2009 gubernatorial election.