Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico

The lieutenant governor of New Mexico (vicegobernador de Nuevo México) is an elected constitutional officer in the executive branch of government of the U.S. state of New Mexico, ranking just below the governor. Thirty individuals have held the office of lieutenant governor since statehood, two of them serving non-consecutively. The incumbent is Howie Morales, a Democrat.

Election and term of office
The lieutenant governor is elected on a joint ticket with the governor for a four-year term. While the governor and lieutenant governor are elected on the same ticket in the general election, the candidates run separately during primary elections.

Prior to November 4, 2008, the New Mexico State Constitution did not provide for the nomination of a replacement for lieutenant governor after the governor's office was succeeded. Section 16 of Article V of the New Mexico State Constitution gives the governor the power to nominate a replacement for lieutenant governor upon confirmation of the nominee by a majority of the State Senate.

Powers and duties
The lieutenant governor is the first person in the gubernatorial line of succession by virtue of the New Mexico Constitution. Thus, the lieutenant governor serves as acting governor whenever the incumbent governor is absent from the state, incapacitated by reason of illness, or impeached by the House of Representatives and otherwise becomes governor in the event of the incumbent's death, resignation, or removal from office. Likewise, the lieutenant governor is ex officio president of the Senate. In this capacity as Senate president, the lieutenant governor has plenary authority to preserve decorum, to rule on points of order, and to certify all instruments of process coming before the Senate. The lieutenant governor may also cast tie-breaking votes, but only when the Senate is equally divided on a question.

Aside from these constitutional functions, the lieutenant governor performs several statutory functions. Foremost among them, the lieutenant governor serves as an ombudsperson for the whole of state government, investigating and attempting to resolve citizen complaints filed by New Mexicans in relation to their dealings with state agencies. The lieutenant governor is also a statutory member of the governor's Cabinet and of various state boards and commissions.

List of lieutenant governors of New Mexico
The office of lieutenant governor was created on January 6, 1912, the year New Mexico was admitted into the Union as the 48th state. Ezequiel Cabeza De Baca served as New Mexico's first lieutenant governor. Over the intervening years, New Mexico has had 27 individuals in the lieutenant governor's office, two of whom have served non-consecutive terms. The last lieutenant governor to succeed to the governorship was Tom Bolack, following the resignation of Edwin L. Mechem on November 30, 1962. Ezequiel Cabeza De Baca is the only lieutenant governor to be elected as governor in a later term.