Farmer served as Acting Governor for 90 minutes. Following Governor Christine Todd Whitman's resignation the previous year to become head of the EPA, Farmer was one of four people to serve as acting governor for the one-year period between Whitman's resignation and Jim McGreevey's inauguration, along with three different senate Presidents (Donald DiFrancesco, John O. Bennett, and Richard Codey). DiFrancesco served as acting governor for all but the last week of this period, until his term as senate President ended on January 8, 2002. At the end of DiFrancesco's tenure as Governor of New Jersey, the state did not have the position of lieutenant governor, and succession rules specified that the next in line for governor after the Senate President would be the Attorney General -- Farmer -- until the next Senate President could be sworn in. Bennett and Codey, the Senate Co-Presidents, then divided the last week of the term among them as Governor, with Bennett serving from January 8, 2002 to January 12, 2002; and Codey serving from January 12, 2002, to January 15, 2002. As a result, the state had five different people serving as governor during a period of eight days.