Lieutenant governor of Vermont

Lieutenant Governor of Vermont
Coat of Arms of Vermont
Incumbent David Zuckerman since January 5, 2017
Term length	Two years, no term limit
Inaugural holder	Jonathan Hunt
Formation	1791; Constitution of Vermont
Succession	Every two years, unless re-elected.
Salary	$61,776

The Lieutenant Governor of Vermont is elected for a two-year term and chosen separately from the Governor. The lieutenant governor's main responsibilities include: acting as governor when the governor is out of state or incapacitated; presiding over the Vermont Senate; and casting tie-breaking votes in the Senate when required. As a member of the State Senate's Committee on Committees, the lieutenant governor plays a role in determining committee assignments for individual Senators, as well as selecting committee chairmen, vice chairmen, and clerks.

From the founding of the Republican Party in the 1850s until the 1960s only Republicans won general elections for Vermont's statewide offices. One method that made this possible was imposition of the "Mountain Rule." Under the provisions of the Mountain Rule, one U.S. Senator was a resident of the east side of the Green Mountains and one resided on the west side, and the governorship and lieutenant governorship alternated between residents of the east and west side. Nominees for governor and lieutenant governor were allowed two one-year terms, and later one two-year term. For nearly 100 years likely Republican candidates for office in Vermont agreed to abide by the Mountain Rule in the interests of party unity. Several factors led to the eventual weakening of the Mountain Rule, including: the longtime political dispute between the Proctor (conservative) and Aiken-Gibson (liberal) wings of the party; primaries rather than conventions to select nominees; the direct election of U.S. Senators; and several active third parties, including the Progressives, the Prohibition Party, and the Local Option movement. In the 1960s the rise of the Vermont Democratic Party and the construction of Interstate 89 also contributed to the end of the Mountain Rule. Though I-89 is a north-south route, it traverses Vermont from east to west and changed the way Vermonters view how the state is divided.