Governor of California race will become governor. The 2003 California recall began with a petition drive that successfully forced sitting Democratic Governor Gray Davis into a special recall election. It marked the first time in the history of California that a governor faced a recall election. He was subsequently voted out of office, becoming the second governor in the history of the United States to be recalled after Lynn Frazier of North Dakota in 1921. He was replaced by Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Lieutenant Governor of California is separately elected during the same election, not jointly as the running mate of the gubernatorial
Lieutenant Governor of California it difficult for the electorate to hold constitutional officers like the Lieutenant Governor responsible for their actions. Although the Lieutenant Governor of California's powers and responsibilities are clearly lesser than those of the Governor, the ability to make appointments to, and decisions on, the boards of executive agencies does allow the Lieutenant Governor to make policy decisions that, due to their separate election, might well conflict with the agenda of the Governor. Thus, it is argued, California might benefit if the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor ran on the same ticket. The Lieutenant Governor would then be more likely to