# 1946 United States gubernatorial elections

United States gubernatorial elections were held in 1946, in 34 states, concurrent with the House and Senate elections, on November 5, 1946. Elections took place on September 9 in Maine.
In Idaho, the governor was elected to a 4-year term for the first time, instead of a 2-year term. In New Jersey, this was the last election on a 3-year cycle, before switching to a 4-year term for governors from 1949.

## Results

| State | Incumbent | Party | Status | Opposing candidates |
| Alabama | Chauncey Sparks | Democratic | Term-limited, Democratic victory | Jim Folsom (Democratic) 88.67% Lyman Ward (Republican) 11.33% |
| Arizona | Sidney Preston Osborn | Democratic | Re-elected, 60.10% | Bruce Brockett (Republican) 39.90% |
| Arkansas | Benjamin Travis Laney | Democratic | Re-elected, 84.14% | W. T. Mills (Republican) 15.86% |
| California | Earl Warren | Republican | Re-elected, 91.64% | Henry R. Schmidt (Prohibition) 7.06% Archie Brown (write-in) (Communist) 0.88% James Roosevelt (write-in) (Democratic) 0.13% Robert W. Kenny (Independent) 0.06% Albert Clark (Independent) 0.03% |
| Colorado | John Charles Vivian | Republican | Retired, Democratic victory | William Lee Knous (Democratic) 52.11% Leon E. Lavington (Republican) 47.89% |
| Connecticut | Raymond E. Baldwin | Republican | Retired to run for U.S. Senate, Republican victory | James L. McConaughy (Republican) 54.38% Charles Wilbert Snow (Democratic) 40.41% Jasper McLevy (Socialist) 4.72% Herman N. Simon (Socialist Labor) 0.50% |
| Georgia | Ellis Arnall | Democratic | Term-limited, Democratic victory | Eugene Talmadge (Democratic) 98.54% Herman Talmadge (write-in) (Democratic) 0.46% James V. Carmichael (write-in) (Democratic) 0.46% D. Talmadge Bowers (write-in) (Independent) 0.44% Ellis Arnall (write-in) (Democratic) 0.08% Scattering 0.01% (Democratic primary results) Eugene Talmadge 42.96% (244) James V. Carmichael 45.30% (144) Eurith D. Rivers 10.04% (22) Hoke O’Kelley 1.70% |
| Idaho | Arnold Williams | Democratic | Defeated, 43.63% | C. A. Robins (Republican) 56.37% |
| Iowa | Robert D. Blue | Republican | Re-elected, 57.40% | Frank Miles (Democratic) 42.14% E. P. Gabriel (Prohibition) 0.46% |
| Kansas | Andrew Frank Schoeppel | Republican | Retired, Republican victory | Frank Carlson (Republican) 53.50% Harry Hines Woodring (Democratic) 44.02% David C. White (Prohibition) 2.17% Harry Graber (Socialist) 0.32% |
| Maine | Horace Hildreth | Republican | Re-elected, 61.31% | F. Davis Clark (Democratic) 38.69% |
| Maryland | Herbert O'Conor | Democratic | Retired to run for U.S. Senate, Democratic victory | William Preston Lane Jr. (Democratic) 54.73% Theodore McKeldin (Republican) 45.27% |
| Massachusetts | Maurice J. Tobin | Democratic | Defeated, 45.31% | Robert F. Bradford (Republican) 54.12% Horace I. Hillis (Socialist Labor) 0.42% Guy S. Williams (Prohibition) 0.14% |
| Michigan | Harry Kelly | Republican | Retired, Republican victory | Kim Sigler (Republican) 60.28% Murray Van Wagoner (Democratic) 38.70% Gordon Phillips (Prohibition) 0.72% James Sim (Socialist Labor) 0.30% |
| Minnesota | Edward John Thye | Republican | Retired to run for U.S. Senate, Republican victory | Luther Youngdahl (Republican) 58.96% Harold H. Barker (DFL) 39.71% Rudolph Gustafson (Industrial Government) 1.33% |
| Nebraska | Dwight Griswold | Republican | Retired to run for U.S. Senate, Republican victory | Val Peterson (Republican) 65.51% Frank Sorrell (Democratic) 34.49% |
| Nevada | Vail M. Pittman | Democratic | Re-elected, 57.42% | Melvin E. Jepson (Republican) 42.58% |
| New Hampshire | Charles M. Dale | Republican | Re-elected, 63.14% | F. Clyde Keefe (Democratic) 36.86% |
| New Jersey | Walter Evans Edge | Republican | Term-limited, Republican victory | Alfred E. Driscoll (Republican) 57.08% Lewis G. Hansen (Democratic) 41.42% Alan Kohlman (Socialist Workers) 0.69% Lawrence Mahan (Communist) 0.29% Rubye Smith (Socialist) 0.16% Robert L. Gittings (Independent) 0.15% George E. Bopp (Socialist Labor) 0.10% John Binns (Prohibition) 0.10% |
| New Mexico | John J. Dempsey | Democratic | Retired to run for U.S. Senate, Republican victory | Thomas J. Mabry (Democratic) 52.70% Edward L. Safford (Republican) 47.30% |
| New York | Thomas E. Dewey | Republican | Re-elected, 56.92% | James M. Mead (Democratic) 43.08% |
| North Dakota | Fred G. Aandahl | Republican | Re-elected, 68.88% | Quentin Burdick (Democratic) 31.12% |
| Ohio | Frank Lausche | Democratic | Defeated, 48.88% | Thomas J. Herbert (Republican) 50.64% Arla A. Albaugh (Socialist Labor) 0.49% |
| Oklahoma | Robert S. Kerr | Democratic | Term-limited, Democratic victory | Roy J. Turner (Democratic) 52.47% Olney F. Flynn (Republican) 45.98% Mildred “Mickey” Harrell (Independent) 1.45% R. M. Funk (Independent) 0.05% Bruno H. Miller (Independent) 0.05% |
| Oregon | Earl Snell | Republican | Re-elected, 69.06% | Carl C. Donaugh (Democratic) 30.94% |
| Pennsylvania | Edward Martin | Republican | Term-limited, Republican victory | James H. Duff (Republican) 58.53% John S. Rice (Democratic) 40.68% James Killip (Prohibition) 0.44% George S. Taylor (Socialist Labor) 0.34% |
| Rhode Island | John Pastore | Democratic | Re-elected, 54.27% | John G. Murphy (Republican) 45.73% |
| South Carolina | Ransome Judson Williams | Democratic | Defeated in Democratic primary, Democratic victory | Strom Thurmond (Democratic) unopposed (Democratic primary run-off results) Strom Thurmond 56.95% James C. McLeod 43.05% |
| South Dakota | Merrell Q. Sharpe | Republican | Defeated in Republican primary, Republican victory | George Theodore Mickelson (Republican) 67.16% Richard Haeder (Democratic) 32.84% |
| Tennessee | Jim Nance McCord | Democratic | Re-elected, 65.35% | W. O. Lowe (Republican) 31.91% John Randolph Neal Jr. (Independent) 2.74% |
| Texas | Coke R. Stevenson | Democratic | Retired, Democratic victory | Beauford H. Jester (Democratic) 91.23% Eugene Nolte (Republican) 8.77% |
| Vermont | Mortimer R. Proctor | Republican | Defeated in Republican primary, Republican victory | Ernest W. Gibson Jr. (Republican) 80.30% Berthold C. Coburn (Democratic) 19.57% Scattering 0.14% |
| Wisconsin | Walter Samuel Goodland | Republican | Re-elected, 59.78% | Daniel Hoan (Democratic) 39.07% Walter H. Uphoff (Socialist) 0.87% Sigmund Eisenscher (Communist) 0.18% Jerry Kenyon (Socialist Labor) 0.09% Scattering 0.02% |
| Wyoming | Lester C. Hunt | Democratic | Re-elected, 52.88% | Earl Wright (Republican) 47.12% |