In the upcoming session, the General Assembly needs to consider whether Virginia should end its historic holdout as the only state in the nation that does not allow its governor to serve consecutive terms.
Half a century ago, numerous states, including most of the Deep South, reflexively required governors to vacate the office after a single term. Now, all of them allow multiple gubernatorial terms for their governors, except for Virginia.
The argument for consecutive gubernatorial terms has failed to gain traction in General Assemblies under Democratic and Republican control, or under divided legislatures as Virginia’s is now.
The classical argument for nonsuccessive terms is that it safeguards good government by preventing the opportunity for executive power to extend its roots thoroughly into the state’s agencies, boards and commissions over eight or more years.
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Thirty-five states allow governors to serve consecutive terms with varying limitations, according to data collected by Ballotpedia, a nonprofit and nonpartisan online source of curated political information. Fourteen states put no limit on the number of terms governors can serve.
Closer to the truth, however, is the fact that it is an institutional battle in which the legislative branch of state government is loath to cede any of its considerable authority to the executive branch in a state historically resistant to change.
It’s a rivalry that predates the American Revolution when colonists harbored deep distrust and enmity toward governors imposed by the British crown. When the Colonies declared their independence, Virginia put significant limitations on its governors and vested more power in the legislature.
For more than three decades, governors were appointed to one-year terms by the General Assembly but could serve three consecutively. Among those governors were Patrick Henry and future presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and John Tyler. The legislature extended the term to three years in 1830 but with a one-term limit. Starting in 1851, a revised state constitution allowed Virginians to directly elect their governor to a single, nonrenewable four-year term. It hasn’t changed since.
In that time, only one governor has served an encore term: Mills Godwin. He won his first term in 1965 as a Democrat, sat out a term and was elected again in 1973 as a Republican. Democrat Terry McAuliffe, the governor from 2014 to 2018, lost his comeback bid last year to Republican Glenn Youngkin.
A one-term limit, however, is no guarantee against entrenched dynasties. In the late 1920s, Gov. Harry F. Byrd begat a political machine that dominated Virginia from the courthouses to Capitol Square for much of the 20th century.
In Alabama, segregationist George C. Wallace found a unique way to circumvent the one-and-done rule then in place and consolidate power from the early 1960s into the 1980s. After Alabama’s legislature in 1966 balked at Wallace’s demand to amend the state constitution to allow for consecutive terms, he got his wife, Lurleen Wallace, elected to the office with the understanding that he would actually run things.
Nor does a single term avert scandal. Tennessee’s Ray Blanton went to federal prison on conspiracy, extortion and mail fraud convictions for selling liquor store permits during his lone term. His Republican successor, Lamar Alexander, won back-to-back terms.
Nonetheless, it’s difficult to argue that Virginia governance has suffered because governors have just four years. The state perennially ranks among the best for its good employment rates, job growth and its business environment.
It’s also difficult to assess whether abbreviated gubernatorial tenure hampers Virginia in vying for major industrial expansion projects against states that are among the best at landing them such as Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
There’s a strong argument that governors, given eight years instead of four, could make state agencies and operations more efficient and better deliver on sweeping campaign promises. Two former governors, Republican Jim Gilmore and Democrat Mark Warner, said as much in interviews with Governing Magazine — the same publication that in 2005 named Virginia the nation’s best-managed state.
But there’s a countervailing argument in the same article by Gilmore’s predecessor, Republican George Allen. He said nonconsecutive terms promote a healthy balance between the legislative and executive branches and provide assurance of fresh leadership every quadrennium.
The question is whether Virginians should be allowed to keep a governor they like for consecutive terms, just as we do with presidents and as voters in 49 other states do with their governors. Ultimately, if voters tire of their governor, in every state except Virginia, there’s always the next election to prevent consecutive terms.
Correction: The state constitution was revised in 1851 to allow for popularly elected governors. An earlier version of this column misstated the year.
Mark J. Rozell is dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. Contact him at mrozell@gmu.edu.