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Elected official in the U. S. state of New Jersey
the deputy governor of the U. S. state of New Jersey

The lieutenant governor of New Jersey is an elected constitutional officer in the executive branch of the state government of New Jersey in the United States. The lieutenant governor is the second highest ranking official in the state government and is elected concurrently on a ticket with the governor for a four year term. The position itself does not carry any powers or duties other than to be next in the order of succession, but the state constitution requires that the lieutenant governor also be appointed to serve as the head of a cabinet level department or administrative agency within the governor's administration, other than the position of Attorney General. Prior to 2010, New Jersey was one of a few states in the United States that did not have a lieutenant governor to succeed to the governorship in the event of a vacancy in that office. For most of the state's (and previously the colony's) history, a vacancy in the position of governor was filled by the president of the State Senate (called the "Legislative Council" from 1776 to 1844), or during the colonial era by the president of the royal governor's Provincial Council. After several episodes during which the state had multiple "acting governors" in the span of a few years following the resignations of Governor Christine Todd Whitman in 2001 and Governor James E. McGreevey in 2004, popular sentiment and political pressure from the state's residents and news media outlets sought a permanent and tenable solution to the issue of gubernatorial succession. A referendum put before the state's voters authorized the amendment of the state's constitution in 2006. This amendment provided for the state's first lieutenant governor to be elected in the state's 2009 gubernatorial election. Republican Kim Guadagno was the first to serve in the post. Guadagno, previously the sheriff in Monmouth County, was chosen by Governor Chris Christie to be his running mate on the Republican Party ticket in the 2009 election. In 2017, Democratic New Jersey Assemblywoman and former Speaker of the Assembly Sheila Oliver was elected lieutenant governor as the running mate of Phil Murphy; she was sworn in as the state's second lieutenant governor on January 16, 2018 and served until her death on August 1, 2023. Then Secretary of State Tahesha Way was appointed lieutenant governor on September 8, 2023.

Prior to the creation of the modern lieutenant governor position, the only state wide, non federal, elected official was the governor of New Jersey. New Jersey was one of eight states without a lieutenant governor and one of four states without any other state wide elected official (including county prosecutors). Further, the state constitution does not provide for elections for state wide cabinet level positions—it grants the governor the power to appoint the "principal department heads" for the executive branch. For these reasons, New Jersey's governor was considered the most powerful elected chief executive in the United States. In the event of a vacancy in the governor's office, the state constitution specified that the president of the New Jersey State Senate, the upper chamber of the state legislature, would assume the role of acting governor without relinquishing needing to resign from state senate. Further, if the acting governorship filled by the state senate president were vacated or that person could not assume the office, the governor would be succeeded by the speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly, the state legislature's lower chamber. This order of succession was included in the first state constitution in 1776, reinstated in the subsequent 1844 constitution, and kept in the 1947 Constitution until the 2006 amendment. On several occasions in the state's history, proposals for a lieutenant governor were raised and rejected. Governor Alfred E. Driscoll backed a proposal to create the office in 1947 as the state was rewriting its constitution at a constitutional convention held at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. Driscoll's proposal was not approved. In 1986, Governor Thomas Kean proposed the creation of the office in a move seen at the time as a political maneuver "apparently to preclude the possibility of a Democratic successor". At the time, Kean was seen as a potential candidate in the 1988 presidential or U. S. Senate candidate, and the state senate president was a Democrat. Kean's proposal was ultimately unsuccessful.

New Jersey elected its first lieutenant governor in 2009. After the primary election in June 2009, Governor Corzine signed into law A.3902, a bill from the state legislature that sought to clarify a vague passage in the state constitution concerning a gubernatorial candidate's selection of a running mate. Corzine signed the bill into law on June 25, 2009. The constitution provided that a gubernatorial candidate select a running mate within 30 days after the "nomination." The confusion that arose concerned whether the "nomination" was the date of the primary election or the date that the vote count of that election was confirmed as final and certified by the state's Secretary of State. However, the reported winner of a primary election is not official until the state's 21 county clerks are canvassed for official results after an election. This allows time for the Secretary of State to tabulate stray late absentee ballots (i. e. from military voters stationed outside the state); calculate final adjustments of vote tallies; litigate legal disputes; and conduct recounts if necessary. A.3902 provided a clarification of this deadline as "30 days after primary results are certified by the secretary of state, not the primary election itself." The bill also reduced the number of days in which the June primary election results must be certified from 86 days (which would place the deadline in August) to the fourth Friday in June, less than 4 weeks after the election. His Republican challenger, Chris Christie, a former U. S. Attorney for New Jersey, selected Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno. Independent candidate Chris Daggett selected Frank J. Esposito, a history professor and former administrator at Kean University. On November 3, 2009, Christie defeated Corzine by a margin of 48.5% (1,174,445 votes) to 44.9% (1,087,731 votes), with 5.8% (139,579 votes) of the vote going to Daggett. With Christie's election as governor, Kim Guadagno was slated to become the state's first lieutenant governor in its modern form. Christie and Guadagno were installed at inaugural ceremonies held on January 19, 2010.

In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Guadagno was again chosen as lieutenant governor as Christie's running mate. The Christie Guadagno ticket defeated Democratic candidates state Senator Barbara Buono (for governor) and labor union leader Milly Silva (for lieutenant governor). In 2017, after winning the Republican primary for governor, Guadagno chose Woodcliff Lake Mayor Carlos Rendo as her running mate. Phil Murphy, winner of the Democratic primary for governor, selected Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver for the second spot on his ticket. The Murphy Oliver Democratic team ticket defeated the Guadagno Rendo Republican ticket in the November general election. Murphy and Oliver were re elected on November 2, 2021, defeating the Republican ticket of former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli for governor and former State Senator Diane Allen for lieutenant governor. The lieutenant governor position became vacant when Oliver died in office on August 1, 2023. Governor Murphy subsequently chose Secretary of State Tahesha Way to become lieutenant governor, and the appointment did not require confirmation, with Way also remaining Secretary of State.

As amended on January 17, 2006, New Jersey's state constitution mandates that a person may only be eligible for the position of lieutenant governor if they meet the eligibility qualifications to serve as governor. Article V, Section I, paragraph 2, requires that a candidate for governor (and thus lieutenant governor) be at least 30 years old, a citizen of the United States for at least 20 years, and a resident of New Jersey for at least seven years. Within 30 days after the certification of the statewide primary election, the candidate for governor selects a running mate to join the ticket as the candidate for lieutenant governor. Additional requirements are imposed by Article V, Section I, paragraph 10 of the state constitution, which provides that the lieutenant governor be appointed as a head of a cabinet level department or administrative agency within the governor's administration, with the exception that lieutenant governor cannot be the state's attorney general.

During the proprietary period (1664–1702), New Jersey was divided into two separate colonies, East Jersey and West Jersey. These were often administered in its first years by deputies who resided in North America and represented the province's governor and its major investors (the "proprietors"), who typically resided in London. In 1702, the proprietors of East and West Jersey surrendered their political authority to Queen Anne. The Queen united both provinces into one crown colony to be administered by a royal governor appointed by the Crown. Only two individuals held the post of Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey during its colonial history. This position existed by direct commission from the British monarch only for two brief periods, 1702–09 and 1755–57. For most of the colonial period, in the event of the resignation, prolonged absence or death of the royal governor, the province would be administered by an "acting governor" who was the president of the Provincial Council (also called the "Governor's Council")—the upper house of the colonial legislature. The council presidency was an honorary ceremonial post given to the council's oldest member. Richard Ingoldesby (d. 1719), a British army captain who was dispatched to New York to restore royal authority in New York after Leisler's Rebellion, was commissioned as the Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey and New York in November 1702. Ingoldesby served under the colony's first royal governor, Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury and then his successor John Lovelace, 4th Baron Lovelace. His commission as governor was revoked in October 1709, but the news of his removal did not reach him until April 1710. Pownall had little responsibility beyond anticipating the death of the aging governor who for most of his tenure was in declining health from a progressive paralytic disorder. Belcher lived longer than expected, and Pownall grew restless. From Ingoldesby's removal in 1710 until the tenure of Pownall, four appointed royal governors (John Montgomerie, Sir William Cosby, Lewis Morris, and Jonathan Belcher) died in office and were replaced with acting governors from the provincial council. Two of these acting governors (John Anderson and John Hamilton) died in office, and were replaced by another acting governor drawn from the members of the provincial council.

#PictureLieutenant GovernorPartyIn officeGovernorPosition in Cabinet1 Kim Guadagno(b. 1959) Republican January 19, 2010 – January 16, 2018 Chris Christie Secretary of State 2 Sheila Oliver(1952–2023)Democraticname=e|Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver died in office on August 1, 2023. Democratic September 8, 2023 – present Secretary of State