# 1966 United States gubernatorial elections

United States gubernatorial elections were held on Tuesday November 8, in 35 states. 12 Democratic governors and 23 Republican governors won election, bringing the partisan reflection of the U.S. states to 25 Democrats and 25 Republicans. This election coincided with the Senate and the House elections. As of 2025, this is the last time the amount of governorships each party held was tied.

## Alabama

Until 1968, Alabama governors were not allowed two successive terms. To circumvent this, Wallace used his wife Lurleen as his stand-in. She died in 1968.

## Alaska

Egan was defeated in 1966, but would be re-elected in 1970 (see 1970 United States gubernatorial elections).

## Arizona

Arizona operated on governors serving two-year terms until 1970, when Jack Richard Williams was the first governor to be elected to a four-year term. He had previously been elected governor for two two-year terms in 1966. and in 1968. Arizona made the switch official from two-year to four-year terms in 1968 with an amendment.
Arizona not only adopted a four-year term for governors starting in the general election of 1970, but also adopted a two consecutive term limit in 1992.

## Arkansas

Arkansas had two-year terms for governors until 1984, when they switched to four-year terms with Amendment 63.
Winthrop Rockefeller was elected the first Republican governor since Reconstruction. He became the first Republican governor of any former Confederate State since Alfred A. Taylor of Tennessee was defeated in 1922.

## California

Incumbent governor Pat Brown (Democrat) was defeated in his bid for a third term by future U.S. president Ronald Reagan (Republican).

## Florida

William Haydon Burns was elected in 1964 for a two-year term because Florida shifted their governors' races from presidential years to midterm years. Starting in 1966, Florida held their four-year gubernatorial races in midterm years.
Kirk was the first Republican governor in the 20th century.
In 1968, Florida adopted a new state constitution, and the governor now had the option to serve two four-year terms in a row.

## Georgia

Maddox was elected by the State Legislature, and Callaway was the first Republican nominee for governor since 1876.

## Oklahoma

During Henry Bellmon's first term (1963–1967), the Oklahoma Constitution was changed to allow its governor to serve consecutive terms. However, the rule change did not apply to Bellmon. Thus, he was not eligible to serve a second term. He later served another term, from 1987 to 1991.

## Results

| State | Incumbent | Party | Status | Opposing candidates |
| Alabama | George Wallace | Democratic | Term-limited, Democratic victory | Lurleen Wallace (Democratic) 63.38% James D. Martin (Republican) 31.00% Carl Robinson (Independent) 5.62% |
| Alaska | William A. Egan | Democratic | Defeated, 48.37% | Wally Hickel (Republican) 50.00% John F. Grasse (No Party) 1.64% |
| Arizona | Samuel Pearson Goddard Jr. | Democratic | Defeated, 46.23% | Jack Williams (Republican) 53.77% |
| Arkansas | Orval Faubus | Democratic | Retired, Republican victory | Winthrop Rockefeller (Republican) 54.36% James D. Johnson (Democratic) 45.64% |
| California | Pat Brown | Democratic | Defeated, 42.27% | Ronald Reagan (Republican) 57.55% Others 0.18% |
| Colorado | John Arthur Love | Republican | Re-elected, 54.05% | Robert Lee Knous (Democratic) 43.50% Levi Martinez (New Hispano) 2.45% |
| Connecticut | John N. Dempsey | Democratic | Re-elected, 55.68% | E. Clayton Gengras (Republican) 44.28% Others 0.04% |
| Florida | W. Haydon Burns | Democratic | Defeated in Democratic runoff, Republican victory | Claude R. Kirk, Jr. (Republican) 55.13% Robert King High (Democratic) 44.86% Others 0.02% |
| Georgia | Carl Sanders | Democratic | Term-limited, Democratic victory | Lester Maddox (Democratic) 47.06% Bo Callaway (Republican) 47.38% Ellis Arnall (Independent) 5.43% Others 0.14% |
| Hawaii | John A. Burns | Democratic | Re-elected, 51.06% | Randolph Crossley (Republican) 48.94% |
| Idaho | Robert E. Smylie | Republican | Defeated in Republican primary, Republican victory | Don Samuelson (Republican) 41.41% Cecil Andrus (Democratic) 37.11% Perry Swisher (Independent) 12.24% Philip Jungert (Independent) 9.16% Don Walker (Independent) 0.08% |
| Iowa | Harold Hughes | Democratic | Re-elected, 55.34% | William G. Murray (Republican) 44.17% David B. Quiner (American Constitution) 0.41% Charles Sloca (Iowa) 0.08% |
| Kansas | William H. Avery | Republican | Defeated, 43.92% | Robert Docking (Democratic) 54.84% Rolland Ernest Fisher (Prohibition) 0.68% Carson Crawford (Conservative) 0.56% |
| Maine | John H. Reed | Republican | Defeated, 46.88% | Kenneth M. Curtis (Democratic) 53.12% |
| Maryland | J. Millard Tawes | Democratic | Term-limited, Republican victory | Spiro Agnew (Republican) 49.50% George P. Mahoney (Democratic) 40.61% Hyman A. Pressman (Independent) n9.88% |
| Massachusetts | John Volpe | Republican | Re-elected, 62.58% | Edward J. McCormack Jr. (Democratic) 36.88% Henning A. Blomen (Socialist Labor) 0.32% John C. Hedges (Prohibition) 0.22% |
| Michigan | George W. Romney | Republican | Re-elected, 60.54% | Zolton Ferency (Democratic) 39.13% James Horvath (Socialist Labor) 0.33% |
| Minnesota | Karl Rolvaag | Democratic | Defeated, 46.94% | Harold LeVander (Republican) 52.55% Kenneth Sachs (Industrial Government) 0.50% |
| Nebraska | Frank B. Morrison | Democratic | Retired, Republican victory | Norbert Tiemann (Republican) 61.52% Philip C. Sorensen (Democratic) 38.44% Others 0.03% |
| Nevada | Grant Sawyer | Democratic | Defeated, 47.84% | Paul Laxalt (Republican) 52.16% |
| New Hampshire | John W. King | Democratic | Re-elected, 53.88% | Hugh Gregg (Republican) 45.91% Others 0.21% |
| New Mexico | Jack M. Campbell | Democratic | Term-limited, Republican victory | David Cargo (Republican) 51.73% Thomas E. Lusk (Democratic) 48.26% Others 0.01% |
| New York | Nelson Rockefeller | Republican | Re-elected, 44.61% | Frank D. O'Connor (Democratic) 38.11% Paul Adams (Conservative) 8.46% Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. (Liberal) 8.41% Milton Herder (Socialist Labor) 0.21% Judith White (Socialist Workers) 0.21% |
| Ohio | Jim Rhodes | Republican | Re-elected, 62.18% | Frazier Reams Jr. (Democratic) 37.82% |
| Oklahoma | Henry Bellmon | Republican | Term-limited, Republican victory | Dewey F. Bartlett (Republican) 55.68% Preston J. Moore (Democratic) 43.75% Harry E. Ingram (Independent) 0.57% |
| Oregon | Mark Hatfield | Republican | Term-limited, Republican victory | Tom McCall (Republican) 55.26% Robert W. Straub (Democratic) 44.67% Others 0.07% |
| Pennsylvania | William Scranton | Republican | Term-limited, Republican victory | Raymond P. Shafer (Republican) 52.10% Milton Shapp (Democratic) 46.13% Edward S. Swartz (Constitutional) 1.41% George S. Taylor (Socialist Labor) 0.36% |
| Rhode Island | John Chafee | Republican | Re-elected, 63.30% | Horace E. Hobbs (Democratic) 36.70% |
| South Carolina | Robert Evander McNair | Democratic | Elected to a full term, 58.16% | Joseph O. Rogers Jr. (Republican) 41.84% |
| South Dakota | Nils Boe | Republican | Re-elected, 57.71% | Robert Chamberlin (Democratic) 42.29% |
| Tennessee | Frank G. Clement | Democratic | Term-limited, Democratic victory | Buford Ellington (Democratic) 81.22% H.L. Crowder (Independent) 9.84% Charlie Moffett (Independent) 7.65% Charles Gordon Vick (Independent) 1.28% Others 0.01% |
| Texas | John Connally | Democratic | Re-elected, 72.76% | Thomas Everton Kennerly (Republican) 25.81% Tommye Gillespie (Constitution) 0.73% Brad Logan (Conservative) 0.69%% |
| Vermont | Philip H. Hoff | Democratic | Re-elected, 57.73% | Richard A. Snelling (Republican) 42.26% Others 0.01% |
| Wisconsin | Warren P. Knowles | Republican | Re-elected, 53.51% | Patrick Lucey (Democratic) 46.09% Adolf Wiggert (Independent) 0.41% |
| Wyoming | Clifford Hansen | Republican | Retired, Republican victory | Stanley K. Hathaway (Republican) 54.29% Ernest Wilkerson (Democratic) 45.71% |