While most Americans focus on the presidency when they think about executive authority, it’s governors who often make decisions that hit closer to home.

The president commands national attention and wields significant authority, but federal actions are often slowed by checks from Congress, the courts, and national media scrutiny. At the state level, governors can move faster and face fewer institutional barriers. They oversee local agencies that shape everything from education and healthcare to business regulation and public safety. When emergencies strike, governors can often act with minimal oversight, issuing mandates or spending funds with far less resistance than a president would encounter.

So, what powers do governors actually have—and how do they use them?

Why Governors Matter More Than You Think

Governors don’t all have the same powers. Each state’s constitution sets different limits. Some governors control budgets, appoint judges, and use line-item vetoes. Others share power with elected agency heads or need legislative sign-off for key decisions. In certain states, emergency orders can last indefinitely. In others, they expire unless renewed by lawmakers. These differences shape how each state responds to crises and how easily governors can be held accountable.

Governors serve as the chief executive of their state, with broad authority to enforce laws, oversee state agencies, and manage the executive branch. Most can propose budgets, appoint agency heads, call special legislative sessions, and issue executive orders. Many have the power to veto legislation or strike specific line items in spending bills.

In a federal system like ours, that’s by design. The Constitution reserves most powers to the states, and governors are meant to handle the core functions of daily governance such as education, infrastructure, policing, and public health. While the president manages foreign affairs and national defense, governors shape the policies that affect people’s lives most directly.

While all governors serve as their state’s chief executive, the specific powers they hold vary depending on state constitutions and laws. Here are some of the most significant powers governors can wield, along with examples of how those powers differ by state:

  • Veto authority: All 50 governors can veto legislation, and 44 have some form of line-item veto power that allows them to strike specific spending items from appropriations bills without rejecting the entire budget.

  • Executive orders: Governors use executive orders to manage agencies or respond to emergencies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, America’s governors issued nearly 2,000 executive orders in just 10 weeks.

  • Appointment power: Most governors appoint heads of state agencies and many also appoint judges, typically with confirmation by the legislature.

  • Budget control: Governors typically propose the state budget and can influence the appropriations process through their veto power and fiscal oversight tools.

  • National Guard command: All governors serve as commander-in-chief of their state’s National Guard and can deploy troops during emergencies.

  • Special legislative sessions: Most governors can call the legislature into special session, typically to address urgent or specific issues that arise outside the regular legislative calendar. In some states, governors can also set the agenda for the session, limiting what lawmakers may consider.

  • Term limits: Most states limit how long governors can serve, though the rules vary. Some states cap governors at two consecutive terms, others impose lifetime limits, and a handful, including New York and Texas, have no term limits at all. Virginia is unique in barring governors from serving back-to-back terms. Most states (48) elect governors to four-year terms, with the exception of New Hampshire and Vermont, which elect governors to two-year terms.

Governors vs. the President

At a glance, the president and state governors share the same job description: chief executive. But the scope and limits of their powers are vastly different.

Despite how national news often portrays the presidency as a powerful office capable of sweeping change, the president operates within a tightly constrained system. Nearly every action is subject to checks and challenges from Congress, federal courts, and a national press corps that is energetic, well-resourced, and constantly engaged.

Governors, by contrast, often face fewer checks. In many states, part-time legislatures, limited media scrutiny, and weak procedural barriers allow governors to move quickly and unilaterally. A president cannot veto individual budget lines or declare a state of emergency in Georgia. But a governor can.

In terms of raw authority, governors often enjoy powers that presidents do not. As noted above, most governors have a line-item veto. The president only has an all-or-nothing veto. Governors can call their legislatures into special session and, in some states, control the session’s agenda. The president cannot force Congress to convene or dictate its business.

Governors also have broad emergency powers, often gaining temporary lawmaking authority, control over state funds, and the ability to restrict public movement or commerce within their state. However, the most important powers held only by the president, such as negotiating treaties, commanding the military, regulating interstate commerce, and conducting foreign policy, are entirely outside the authority of governors.

The differences are structural as well as practical. The president shares executive authority with a massive federal bureaucracy and must work with a full-time Congress that sits year-round.

Most governors lead leaner state bureaucracies and work alongside part-time legislatures that meet for just a few months each year. Presidents face constant national media scrutiny. Governors often operate under the radar, especially in states with limited press capacity. Even emergency powers differ. Federal emergency declarations trigger agency coordination, but state-level emergencies often give governors sweeping control over spending, mobility, and business operations.

When a Governor’s Power Goes Too Far

Some governors have used these powers in ways that highlight just how far executive authority can stretch, and how difficult it can be to rein it in. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many governors issued unilateral orders that shuttered schools, closed businesses, and restricted movement for months at a time, often without meaningful legislative oversight. In 2020, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer relied on a decades-old law to extend a state of emergency indefinitely. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy sued, and the Michigan Supreme Court ultimately ruled the governor’s actions unconstitutional, affirming that emergency powers must be checked by the legislature.

In Louisiana, Governor John Bel Edwards imposed sweeping shutdown orders that crushed small businesses and triggered an historic loss of employment. According to the Pelican Institute, those policies contributed to immense economic harm and exposed serious flaws in the state’s emergency management law. In response, Pelican successfully advocated for reforms that now require legislative oversight of prolonged emergencies.

In Wisconsin, Governor Tony Evers used the state’s partial veto authority in 2023 to turn a two-year school funding increase into a 400-year mandate. By selectively striking digits and punctuation in the budget text, he changed “2024 to 2025” into “2425,” effectively locking in an annual per-student increase for four centuries. The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty decried the blatant move, but to no avail. The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the change, which the Institute for Reforming Government said gives “the governor free reign to rewrite bills, supplanting the elected legislature with a governor who can write new laws one digit, number, or letter at a time.”

Missouri offers another vivid example. In 2021, Governor Mike Parson vetoed $300,000 in funding that would have supported child sex abuse investigations in Lincoln County, a fast-growing area facing a surge in crimes against children. The appropriation had broad legislative backing, including from members of Parson’s own party. His stated reason was that the line-item earmark served only one county. Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to override the veto in the House, but political infighting in the Senate allowed the veto to stand.

Across the country, state-based think tanks have taken action to restore balance. In Kansas, the Kansas Policy Institute led litigation and legislative reform that resulted in new protections for due process and clear limits on the governor’s emergency powers. In North Carolina, the John Locke Foundation has pushed for changes to ensure the General Assembly plays a role in any extended emergency declarations.

Protecting Liberty Starts in the States

Most Americans know who their president is. Far fewer can name their governor. But if we care about checks and balances, fiscal responsibility, and the rule of law, we should start paying closer attention. Governors aren’t just figureheads. They can write budgets, deploy the National Guard, shut down schools, and, in some cases, rewrite legislation with a stroke of the veto pen. While the president faces near-constant scrutiny, many governors operate with minimal oversight.

That’s why building durable freedom infrastructure matters. Governors will always have extraordinary powers, especially in times of crisis, but without strong institutions to check that power, overreach becomes inevitable. Across the country, state think tanks are leading the charge to restore balance by clarifying constitutional limits, reinforcing legislative oversight, and ensuring the people’s voice is never sidelined. These efforts are laying the foundation for more accountable, transparent, and resilient state governments that serve the public without concentrating power in a single office.

States—and Their Governors—Are the Heart of America’s Federalist System

America’s founders never intended Washington, DC to govern every aspect of daily life. Under the Tenth Amendment, powers not delegated to the federal government belong to the states and the American people. Governors sit at the heart of that system—serving as both partners to and checks on Washington. When states lead on education, healthcare, or economic policy, they not only drive local innovation but also uphold the balance of power that lets communities govern themselves.

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