Gubernatorial Transitions: Lessons from the 1982-1983 Experience

The 1982 gubernatorial elections led to transitions between outgoing and incoming administrations in seventeen states. This article is an overview of what transpired during those transitions based on studies conducted by state analysts in sixteen of the seventeen states. While politics was still a major part of the context in which the transitions occurred, the fiscal situation in the states framed the transitions, and there was an apparent increase in professionalism. Not all was politics. Further, transition is a longer period than normally understood, starting well before the election and continuing until the legislature has adjourned.