VA Politics Explainer: What does the Lt. Gov do?

The story of state government over the past few decades is modernization. State officials are doing more, and doing it more efficiently and professionally than ever before. Of course, state government is not perfect; there are still many ways that state politics seems stuck in the 19th century (cough Cuomo cough). But at least in terms of policy capacity, the arrow is trending upwards.

Here in Virginia, though, there is at least one vestige of small-time state governance: the office of the Lieutenant Governor. Like, dude, what is that even FOR?

The Lieutenant Governor or LG is modeled on the national level’s Vice President, but that’s not necessarily a great thing. The Veep office itself basically was a last minute throw-in at the Constitutional Convention to cover for a sick or dying President, and then given the job of presiding over the Senate just to give them something to do.

And that is the basic model of the LG job. They stand in for the Governor at public events; they take over in the rare event when the Governor is incapacitated or dies; and they run meetings of the Virginia Senate, with the important but not-always-necessary role of casting tie-breaking votes.

And... well, there’s not much else.

You can see this lack of job description reflected in the current office-holder’s website which, to be honest, is kind of sad. The “Accomplishments” page for Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax has a real strong "I stood next to a guy while he did something" vibe.

Even the tie-breaker vote, which is a big deal, is still more of a function of the LG’s party rather than anything about their talents or interests as a politician. Sure, it’s an important vote for your team. But it would really only be noticeable if you bucked the party line, which would be extremely rare. 

Five states do not even have an LG! So in this state election year, why are there over a dozen candidates for this no-nothing position? VPAP lists 5 GOP candidates and 8(!) Dems, almost half of whom are sitting legislators who technically have more power than the office they want!

To explain this interest, we just need to look at the last guy who was LG: Ralph Northam, our current Governor. In half of the American states, the LG runs on a party ticket with the Governor; but VA keeps them separate. Also when compared with other states, Virginia has only three statewide offices – the Governor, LG, and Attorney General. (Many other states suffer from a “long ballot” where voters are forced to choose anyone from the State Board of Education to a Commissioner of Agriculture.) So unless you are a big-time lawyer, there is only one option to raise your statewide political profile beyond the top office.

(H/t to Trevor Southerland on the Transition VA podcast for highlighting this “long ballot” point.)

Most of the folks campaigning for LG talk about their party’s issues with that tie-breaking vote in mind, but few offer ideas about what they would actually do all day. Former Fairfax NAACP head Sean Perryman, a Democratic candidate, has probably been the most outspoken about the role of LG, talking about a kind of barnstorming role. At a March debate, he noted that the LG is “not going to be able to introduce legislation. They're going to have to persuade their colleagues and they're going to have to educate the public. That's how they're going to make things happen.”

But that still sounds vague, and any agenda will be hard to accomplish with a low salary ($36k) and a relatively small budget for staff and travel. The General Assembly and the Governor’s office could help by increasing funding and, more importantly, defining a more active policy portfolio. In New Jersey, for example, the LG runs one of the cabinet departments. 

Until then, your vote for LG is probably the closest we get in Virginia to a party vote, especially because of the current divided makeup of the state Senate. A vote for a Democratic LG cements that extra, tie-breaking vote for Dem policies, and vice versa for a GOP LG. That's not nothing, but it’s not much else, at least for now.