The Governor of Nevada is the chief magistrate of the U.S. state of Nevada, the head of the executive department of Nevada's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Nevada Legislature, to convene the legislature at any time, and, except in cases of treason or impeachment, to grant pardons and reprieves. The Governor serves a four-year term. He or she is limited to two terms, even if they are non-consecutive. If a person ascends to the governorship and serves more than two years of a previous governor's term, he or she is only eligible to run for one full term. Candidates for Governor must be at least 25 years old, and must have been citizens of Nevada for at least two years, at the time of election. The Lieutenant Governor of Nevada is not elected on the same ticket as the Governor. The current governor is DemocratSteve Sisolak, who took office on January 7, 2019.
History
The first provisional governor of the proposed Territory of Nevada was Whig Isaac Roop, who was elected in September 1859 and took office on December 15 of that year in Genoa. When the territory was incorporated on March 2, 1861, Republican James W. Nye was appointed Territorial Governor by President Abraham Lincoln and served until statehood in 1864. Mark Twain's brother Orion Clemens served as Territorial Secretary to Nye. Nevada became a state on October 31, 1864, and Nye remained acting governor until the first governor, Henry G. Blasdel, took office on December 5, 1864. There have been 30 Governors of Nevada, eight of whom were actually born within state boundaries. The longest-serving Nevada Governor was Bob Miller, who served two and a half terms from 1989 to 1999. The shortest-serving Nevada Governor was Acting GovernorFrank Bell, who served the remaining four months of Charles C. Stevenson's term upon the governor's death. The current governor is Steve Sisolak, who took office on January 7, 2019.
This is a table of congressional and other offices held by governors. All representatives and senators mentioned represented Nevada. * denotes those offices which the governor resigned to take.
