List of governors of Virginia

The following is a list of the governors of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

List of governors

Parties

  Democratic   Federalist   Democratic-Republican   Whig   Republican   Independent

#	Picture	Governor	Took office	Left office	Lieutenant Governor	Party	Notes
1		Patrick Henry	July 5, 1776	June 1, 1779	Office vacant 1776-1852	None	First under 1776 Constitution (limit of 3 one-year terms)
2		Thomas Jefferson	June 1, 1779	June 3, 1781	None	3rd President of the United States
3		William Fleming	June 3, 1781	June 12, 1781	None
4		Thomas Nelson, Jr.	June 12, 1781	November 22, 1781	None
–		David Jameson	November 22, 1781	December 1, 1781	None	Acting Governor (member of Council of State)
5		Benjamin Harrison V	December 1, 1781	December 1, 1784	None
6		Patrick Henry	December 1, 1784	December 1, 1786	None	Re-elected after 5-year hiatus (1 more than constitutional minimum)
7		Edmund Randolph	December 1, 1786	December 1, 1788	None	First under U.S. statehood
8		Beverley Randolph	December 1, 1788	December 1, 1791	None
9		Henry Lee III	December 1, 1791	December 1, 1794	Federalist
10		Robert Brooke	December 1, 1794	December 1, 1796	Democratic-Republican
11		James Wood	December 1, 1796	December 1, 1799	Federalist
–		Hardin Burnley	December 7, 1799	December 11, 1799
–		John Pendleton, Jr.	December 11, 1799	December 19, 1799
12		James Monroe	December 19, 1799	December 1, 1802	Democratic-Republican	U.S. Senator 1790–1794, fifth President of the United States
13		John Page	December 1, 1802	December 7, 1805	Democratic-Republican
14		William H. Cabell	December 7, 1805	December 1, 1808	Democratic-Republican
15		John Tyler, Sr.	December 1, 1808	January 15, 1811	Democratic-Republican
—		George William Smith	January 15, 1811	January 19, 1811	Democratic-Republican	Acting Governor (member of Council of State)
16		James Monroe	January 19, 1811	April 3, 1811	Democratic-Republican	U.S. Senator 1790–94, Fifth President of the United States
17		George William Smith	April 3, 1811	December 26, 1811	Democratic-Republican	Acting Governor (member of Council of State) Later elected in his own right Died in office
N/A		Peyton Randolph	December 27, 1811	January 3, 1812	Democratic-Republican	Acting Governor (member of Council of State)
18		James Barbour	January 3, 1812	December 1, 1814	Democratic-Republican	U.S. Senator 1815–1825
19		Wilson Cary Nicholas	December 1, 1814	December 1, 1816	Democratic-Republican
20		James Patton Preston	December 1, 1816	December 1, 1819	Democratic-Republican
21		Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr.	December 1, 1819	December 1, 1822	Democratic-Republican
22		James Pleasants	December 1, 1822	December 10, 1825	Democratic-Republican	Resigned U.S. Senate to assume Governorship
23		John Tyler	December 10, 1825	March 4, 1827	Democratic-Republican	Resigned to enter U.S. Senate 1827–1836, 10th United States President
24		William Branch Giles	March 4, 1827	March 4, 1830	Democratic	U.S. Senator 1804–1815
25		John Floyd	March 4, 1830	March 31, 1834	Democratic	First under 1830 constitution (limit of 1 four-year term)
26		Littleton Waller Tazewell	March 31, 1834	April 30, 1836	Democratic	U.S. Senator 1824–1832
—		Wyndham Robertson	April 30, 1836	March 31, 1837	Whig	Acting Governor (member of Council of State)
27		David Campbell	March 31, 1837	March 31, 1840	Democratic
28		Thomas Walker Gilmer	March 31, 1840	March 20, 1841	Whig
—		John M. Patton	March 20, 1841	March 31, 1841	Whig	Acting Governor (member of Council of State)
—		John Rutherfoord	March 31, 1841	March 31, 1842	Democratic	Acting Governor (member of Council of State)
—		John Munford Gregory	March 31, 1842	January 1, 1843	Whig	Acting Governor (member of Council of State)
29		James McDowell	January 1, 1843	January 1, 1846	Democratic
30		William Smith	January 1, 1846	January 1, 1849	Democratic
31		John B. Floyd	January 1, 1849	January 16, 1852	Democratic	U.S. Secretary of War 1857–60
32		Joseph Johnson	January 16, 1852	January 1, 1856	Shelton Leake	Democratic	First under 1851 constitution (limit of 1 four-year term) First popularly elected governor
33		Henry A. Wise	January 1, 1856	January 1, 1860	Elisha W. McComas William Lowther Jackson	Democratic
34		John Letcher	January 1, 1860	January 1, 1864	Robert Latane Montague	Democratic	(On June 20, 1863, the new U.S. state of West Virginia was formed)
35		William Smith	January 1, 1864	May 9, 1865	Samuel Price	Democratic
—		Francis Harrison Pierpont	May 9, 1865	April 4, 1868	None	Republican	Elected by Restored General Assembly (Union)
—		Henry H. Wells	April 4, 1868	September 21, 1869	None	Republican	Appointed Governor by U.S. military
36		Gilbert Carlton Walker	September 21, 1869	January 1, 1874	John F. Lewis John Lawrence Marye, Jr.	Republican	Appointed Governor by U.S. military then elected as a Republican Governor later served as a Democratic Congressman
37		James L. Kemper	January 1, 1874	January 1, 1878	Robert E. Withers Henry Wirtz Thomas	Democratic
38		Frederick W. M. Holliday	January 1, 1878	January 1, 1882	James A. Walker	Democratic
39		William E. Cameron	January 1, 1882	January 1, 1886	John F. Lewis	Re-adjuster
40		Fitzhugh Lee	January 1, 1886	January 1, 1890	John E. Massey	Democratic
41		Philip W. McKinney	January 1, 1890	January 1, 1894	James H. Tyler	Democratic
42		Charles Triplett O'Ferrall	January 1, 1894	January 1, 1898	Robert C. Kent	Democratic	Resigned U. S. House seat to assume Governorship
43		James Hoge Tyler	January 1, 1898	January 1, 1902	Edward Echols	Democratic
44		Andrew Jackson Montague	January 1, 1902	February 1, 1906	Joseph Edward Willard	Democratic
45		Claude A. Swanson	February 1, 1906	February 10, 1910	James T. Ellyson	Democratic	U.S. Senator 1910–33
46		William Hodges Mann	February 10, 1910	February 1, 1914	James T. Ellyson	Democratic
47		Henry Carter Stuart	February 1, 1914	February 1, 1918	James T. Ellyson	Democratic
48		Westmoreland Davis	February 1, 1918	February 1, 1922	Benjamin F. Buchanan	Democratic
49		Elbert Lee Trinkle	February 1, 1922	February 1, 1926	Junius E. West	Democratic
50		Harry F. Byrd	February 1, 1926	January 15, 1930	Junius E. West	Democratic	U.S. Senator 1933–65
51		John Garland Pollard	January 15, 1930	January 17, 1934	James H. Price	Democratic
52		George C. Peery	January 17, 1934	January 15, 1938	James H. Price	Democratic
53		James H. Price	January 15, 1938	January 21, 1942	Saxon W. Holt	Democratic
54		Colgate Darden	January 21, 1942	January 16, 1946	William M. Tuck	Democratic
55		William M. Tuck	January 16, 1946	January 18, 1950	Lewis Preston Collins II	Democratic
56		John S. Battle	January 18, 1950	January 20, 1954	Lewis Preston Collins II Allie Edward Stakes Stephens	Democratic
57		Thomas B. Stanley	January 20, 1954	January 11, 1958	Allie Edward Stakes Stephens	Democratic
58		J. Lindsay Almond	January 11, 1958	January 13, 1962	Allie Edward Stakes Stephens	Democratic
59		Albertis Harrison	January 13, 1962	January 15, 1966	Mills Godwin	Democratic
60		Mills Godwin	January 15, 1966	January 17, 1970	Fred G. Pollard	Democratic
61		Linwood Holton	January 17, 1970	January 12, 1974	J. Sargeant Reynolds (Democratic) Henry Howell (Democratic)	Republican
62		Mills Godwin	January 12, 1974	January 14, 1978	John N. Dalton	Republican
63		John Dalton	January 14, 1978	January 16, 1982	Chuck Robb (Democratic)	Republican
64		Chuck Robb	January 16, 1982	January 18, 1986	Dick Davis	Democratic	U.S. Senator 1989–2001
65		Gerald Baliles	January 18, 1986	January 13, 1990	Douglas Wilder	Democratic
66		Douglas Wilder	January 13, 1990	January 15, 1994	Don Beyer	Democratic	First African-American governor elected in American history
67		George Allen	January 15, 1994	January 17, 1998	Don Beyer (Democratic)	Republican	U.S. Senator 2001–2007
68		Jim Gilmore	January 17, 1998	January 12, 2002	John H. Hager	Republican
69		Mark Warner	January 12, 2002	January 14, 2006	Tim Kaine	Democratic	U.S. Senator 2009–present
70		Tim Kaine	January 14, 2006	January 16, 2010	Bill Bolling (Republican)	Democratic	First Catholic Governor, U.S. Senator 2013–present, nominee for Vice President of the United States in 2016
71		Bob McDonnell	January 16, 2010	January 11, 2014	Bill Bolling	Republican
72		Terry McAuliffe	January 11, 2014	January 13, 2018	Ralph Northam	Democratic
73		Ralph Northam	January 13, 2018	January 15, 2022	Justin Fairfax	Democratic
74		Glenn Youngkin	January 15, 2022	Incumbent	Winsome Sears	Republican