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Elected by joint ballot of the two houses of the General Assembly for one-year terms in the period 1776–1835; elected by the qualified voters for two-year terms in the period 1836–1868; elected by the voters for four-year terms since 1868.

Term of Office	Name	Home County
1776–1780	Richard Caswell	Dobbs (Lenoir)
1780–1781	Abner Nash	Craven
1781–1782	Thomas Burke	Orange
1782–1784	Alexander Martin	Guilford
1784–1787	Richard Caswell	Dobbs (Lenior)
1787–1789	Samuel Johnson	Chowan
1789–1792	Alexander Martin	Guilford
1792–1795	Richard Dobbs Spaight Sr.	Craven
1795–1798	Samuel Ashe	New Hanover
1798–1799	William R. Davie	Halifax
1799–1802	Benjamin Williams	Moore
1802–1805	James Turner	Warren
1805–1807	Nathaniel Alexander	Mecklenburg
1807–1808	Benjamin Williams	Moore
1808–1810	David Stone	Bertie
1810–1811	Benjamin Smith	Brunswick
1811–1814	William Hawkins	Warren
1814–1817	William Miller	Warren
1817–1820	John Branch	Halifax
1820–1821	Jesse Franklin	Surry
1821–1824	Gabriel Holmes	Sampson
1824–1827	Hutchins G. Burton	Halifax
1827–1828	James Iredell Jr.	Chowan
1828–1830	John Owen	Bladen
1830–1832	Montfort Stokes	Wilkes
1832–1835	David L. Swain	Buncombe
1835–1836	Richard Dobbs Spaight Jr.	Craven
1836–1841	Edward B. Dudley	New Hanover
1841–1845	John M. Morehead	Guilford
1845–1849	William A. Graham	Orange
1849–1851	Charles Manly	Wake
1851–1854	David S. Reid	Rockingham
1854–1855	Warren Winslow	Cumberland
1855–1859	Thomas Bragg	Northampton
1859–1861	John W. Ellis	Rowan
1861–1862	Henry T. Clark	Edgecombe
1862–1865	Zebulon B. Vance	Buncombe
1865	William W. Holden (appointed by President Andrew Johnson)	Wake
1865–1868	Jonathan Worth	Randolph
1868–1871	William W. Holden (impeached and removed from office in 1871)	Wake
1871–1874	Tod R. Caldwell	Burke
1874–1877	Curtis H. Brogden	Wayne
1877–1879	Zebulon B. Vance	Mecklenburg
1879–1885	Thomas J. Jarvis	Pitt
1885–1889	Alfred M. Scales	Rockingham
1889–1891	Daniel G. Fowle	Wake
1891–1893	Thomas M. Holt	Alamance
1893–1897	Elias Carr	Edgecombe
1897–1901	Daniel L. Russell	Brunswick
1901–1905	Charles B. Aycock	Wayne
1905–1909	Robert B. Glenn	Forsyth
1909–1913	William W. Kitchin	Person
1913–1917	Locke Craig	Buncombe
1917–1921	Thomas W. Bickett	Franklin
1921–1925	Cameron Morrison	Mecklenburg
1925–1929	Angus W. McLean	Robeson
1929–1933	O. Max Gardner	Cleveland
1941–1945	J. Melville Broughton	Wake
1945–1949	R. Gregg Cherry	Gaston
1949–1953	W. Kerr Scott	Alamance
1953–1954	William B. Umstead	Durham
1954–1961	Luther H. Hodges	Rockingham
1961–1965	Terry Sanford	Durham
1965–1969	Dan K. Moore	Jackson
1969–1973	Robert W. Scott	Alamance
1973–1977	James E. Holshouser Jr.	Watauga
1977–1985	James B. Hunt Jr.	Wilson
1985–1993	James G. Martin	Iredell
1993–2001	James B. Hunt Jr.	Wilson
2001–2009	Michael F. Easley	Nash
2009–	Beverly E. Perdue	Craven