A quick story on ABC’s noon news just now noted that Mikie Sherrill, who is the Democratic nominee for governor of New Jersey, has chosen Dale Caldwell as her running mate, and that if they win, he will be the first male lieutenant governor of New Jersey.

That caught my ear. While we have (or are much closer to) equality of the sexes, I know enough of our history to know it was not always the case, and that a claim that a political office holder will be the first man to hold the office is strange.

So I did a little research. The quote is accurate, but demands a slightly longer explanation, which is that in New Jersey, until recently, the governor was the only official elected state-wide. If the governor’s office became vacant, it would be filled by the president of the State Senate, or by the speaker of the General Assembly. The position of lieutenant governor was created in 2006, and first filled in the election of 2009. To date, the entire list of lieutenant governors of New Jersey is: Kim Guadagno (served January 19, 2010–January 16, 2018); Sheila Oliver (January 16, 2018–August 1, 2023 [she died in office]); and Tahesha Way (September 8, 2023–present).

Indeed, I can’t think of any other American political office to have been held exclusively by women at any point (excepting First Lady and Second Lady [until Doug Emhoff from 2021 to 2025]). Frances Perkins was the first woman to serve in a president’s cabinet, but she was the fourth Secretary of Labor. The 46th and current Treasurer of the United States, Brandon Beach, is the first man to hold that position in 76 years, since the 28th Treasurer, William Alexander Julian, who served June 1, 1933–May 29, 1949 (but all of his predecessors were men).