John Shelton Wilder

John Shelton Wilder was an American politician who was the 48th lieutenant governor of Tennessee for 36 years from January 1971 to January 2007, possibly the longest time anyone has served as a lieutenant governor or a similar position in the history of the United States. He was a Tennessee state senator from 1959 to 1961 and again from 1967 to 2009. Tennesseans do not elect their lieutenant governor; rather, the Speaker of the Senate, who is first in the line of succession to the governor, is granted the title by statute.