2026 United States gubernatorial elections (Change Scenario)

United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 3, 2026, in 39 states and three territories. As most governors serve four-year terms, the last regular gubernatorial elections for all but two of the seats took place in 2022 U.S. gubernatorial elections. The gubernatorial elections took place concurrently with several other federal, state, and local elections, as part of the 2022 midterm elections. This was the first election cycle in which Washington, DC (officially the Douglass Commonwealth) elected its governor as a state, rather than electing a mayor.
Democrats performed better than usual for a party holding the White House, defending all of their vulnerable incumbents, including those in the competitive states of Wisconsin, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Maine. Republicans were expected to pick up an open race in the consistently Republican-leaning state of Kansas, where incumbent Democrat Laura Kelly was term-limited. However, Kris Kobach, the Attorney General of Kansas, who lost to Governor Kelly in 2018, ran for Governor again and lost to David Toland, the Democratic Lieutenant Governor of Kansas. Democrats also defended a less vulnerable (but still competitive) governorship in Michigan. Republicans managed to re-elect every incumbent, including Joe Lombardo in Nevada, a state Joe Biden won in 2020 and 2024. Democrats also narrowly picked up the open governorship in Georgia, in an election that included a December runoff, making Georgia the only flip of any major statewide race in the country in the 2026 cycle, whether in a gubernatorial election, or Senate election.
No incumbents were defeated in this cycle, the first time ever in a midterm election cycle. This was the first time in history that the party controlling the White House did not lose a single governorship to the other party in a midterm election. With only four states, Kansas, Nevada, Texas, and Vermont being won by the opposite party of the candidate that won the state in the 2024 presidential election, the 2026 gubernatorial election cycle was another indication of the country's worsening political calcification.
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==Alabama==
==Alaska==
Incumbent Republican governor Mike Dunleavy was term-limited and could not seek re-election. Nick Begich III, who previously ran for U.S. House unsuccessfully in 2022, ran for the governorship and won.
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==Arizona==
Incumbent Democratic governor Katie Hobbs sought a second term after narrowly defeating Kari Lake by just 0.6% of the vote in the 2022 midterm elections.
While some suspected Lake might attempt a rematch, her 2nd place finish in a three-way Senate race against Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego and Senator Krysten Sinema dissolved her popularity among Arizona republicans.
Mark Lamb, the sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona, won the Republican nomination. Lamb was also a far-right candidate, supporting conspiracy theories and election denialism.
Hobbs did not boast a high approval rating throughout her time as governor, and often sparred with Republicans in the state legislature. However, many voters were turned away by Lamb's extremism, and became willing to support the incumbent Democrat, even some moderate conservatives in areas like Maricopa County. While the election was still relatively close, a margin of victory of just 2.5%, it was a much larger margin than her victory in 2022.
Hobbs' victory in the 2026 Arizona gubernatorial race would prove to be significant later on, because Gretchen Whitmer, the Democratic nominee for President in 2028, would select Senator Ruben Gallego as her running mate. Because Hobbs, a Democrat, won the election, this ensured that Gallego would be replaced in the Senate by Adrian Fontes, a fellow Democrat. While Arizona law stipulates that any Senate appointee must be of the same party as the exiting senator, if Lamb had won, he could have picked a much more conservative Democrat who would have been unsympathetic to President Whitmer's policy agenda, like Kyrsten Sinema. It is possible that if Lamb had won the 2026 Arizona Gubernatorial election, Gallego would never have been elected Vice President, as Whitmer might have have chosen a different running mate.
==Arkansas==
Incumbent Republican governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former White House Press Secretary under President Trump and daughter of former governor Mike Huckabee, ran for re-election to a second term. She faced only token Democratic opposition and easily won.
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==California==
Incumbent Democratic governor Gavin Newsom was term-limited and could not seek re-election. Adam Schiff, who had recently come in 2nd to Katie Porter in the 2024 California Senate race, ran for Governor and won, defeating his other Democratic opponents in the jungle primary, and beating his Republican opposition in the general election.
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==Colorado==
Incumbent Democratic governor Jared Polis was term-limited and could not seek re-election. Democratic Attorney General, Phil Weiser, was nominated in the Democratic primary and easily won the general election.
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==Georgia==
Incumbent Republican governor Brian Kemp was term-limited and could not seek re-election. Numerous Republican candidates sought the governorship, including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones. However, they were deeply unpopular among the conservative base, and lost in the primary to Drew Ferguson, a far-right U.S. House Republican.
Lucy McBath, a congresswoman from the suburbs of Atlanta, won the Democratic nomination.
In the November election, McBath received more votes than Ferguson, but was unable to clear the threshold for victory, which in Georgia, is 50%. The race went to a runoff in the month of December. McBath won the runoff by a slightly larger margin, and became the first black woman elected as Governor of Georgia.
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==Hawaii==
Incumbent Democratic Governor Josh Green ran for re-election to a second term and easily defeated his Republican challenger.
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==Idaho==
Incumbent Republican Governor Brad Little ran for re-election to a third term and easily defeated his Democratic opponent.
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==Illinois==
Incumbent Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker ran for a third term and easily won re-election, defeating his Republican challenger.
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==Iowa==
Incumbent Republican Governor Kim Reynolds ran for a third term and easily defeated her Democratic challenger.
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==Kansas==
Incumbent Democratic Governor Laura Kelly was term-limited and could not seek re-election.
David Toland, Kelly's Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce, ran for the Democratic nomination and won.
In the Republican primary, state Attorney General Kris Kobach emerged victorious in the Republican primary. Kobach was a well-known, unpopular figure in Kansas in the 2010s. He served as Secretary of State under Sam Brownback, a disgraced governor who became one of the country's least popular governors after the "Kansas experiment," in which Brownback initiated a series of extreme tax cuts that would have totaled $934 billion in 2020. The state's revenues dropped so severely that economic growth plummeted and caused a fiscal crisis. The Republican legislature was forced to repeal the cuts over Brownback's own veto.
Kobach was also notorious for investigations into alleged voter fraud after the 2016 election. Donald Trump, despite winning the electoral college, alleged that voter fraud from millions of illegal immigrants in California had caused him to lose the popular vote, and various other fraud resulted inhim losing the states New Hampshire and Nevada to Hillary Clinton, including completely unsubstantiated allegations of Democrats in Massachusetts voting in New Hampshire. Kobach investigated those claims during Trump's first term in office, coming up empty-handed.
Toland narrowly defeated Kobach in the general election, making 2026 the third straight Democratic victory for the Kansas governorship.
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==Maine==
Incumbent Democratic Governor Janet Mills was term-limited and could not seek re-election.
Seth Berry, a state representative and former Majority Leader, received the Democratic nomination. Phil Harriman received the Republican nomination. Berry won the general election by a comfortable margin, though not a landslide.
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==Maryland==
Incumbent Democratic Governor Wes Moore ran for re-election to a second term. He won in a landslide, dispatching his token Republican challenger.
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==Massachusetts==
Incumbent Democratic Governor Maura Healey ran for re-election to a second term and easily won.
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==Michigan==
Incumbent Democratic Governor and future 47th President Gretchen Whitmer was term-limited and could not seek re-election.
Democratic incumbent Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson received the Democratic nomination, while former U.S. Representative and two-time U.S. Senate candidate John James received the Republican nomination. Benson narrowly won the election against James.
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==Minnesota==
Incumbent Democratic Governor Tim Walz ran for re-election to a third term and won with relative ease.
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==Nebraska==
Incumbent Republican Governor Jim Pillen ran for re-election to a second term and won easily.
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==Nevada==
Incumbent Republican Governor Joe Lombardo ran for re-election to a second term. At the time of the 2026 election, besides liberal Republican Phil Scott of Vermont, Joe Lombardo occupied the only governor's mansion in a state won by both Hillary Clinton in 2016 and by Joe Biden in both 2020 and 2024, making him the most vulnerable Republican governor running for re-election.
During Lombardo's four years in office, Democrats had retained control of the Nevada Legislature, partly due to partisan gerrymandering implemented a year before Lombardo took office. Lombardo had clashed with Democrats on issues such as gun control and the budget. However, after Democrats achieved a 2/3 majority in both chambers after the 2024 election cycle, he maneuvered to a more bipartisan image, casting himself as a dealmaker, pushing for reforms in the state's education system.
Lombardo's main opponent was Democratic state Attorney General Aaron Ford. The campaign was considered one of the nastiest in Nevada's history, with Lombardo's campaign engaging in "mud-slinging" about Ford's arrest for public intoxication over 30 years before in college.
Lombardo barely won the election, but in maintaining his support in parts of Clark County, he was able to offset Ford's gains in other areas such as Washoe County in the northwest. The race was subject to ranked-choice voting, after the state approved a an amendment in 2024 requiring RCV in gubernatorial elections. Lombardo won by only a margin of 0.6%, making this the closest gubernatorial election of the 2026 election cycle.
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==New Hampshire==
Incumbent Democratic Governor Joyce Craig ran for re-election to a second term after being first elected in 2024. While her first election was relatively narrow, her popularity grew greatly during her time in office, as she presented herself as a moderate figure who could work well with the Democratic-controlled New Hampshire House of Representatives and the Republican-controlled New Hampshire Senate.
Craig won re-election in a landslide, over-performing other statewide candidates for the Democratic Party, including Senator Jeanne Shaheen's narrow re-election victory over former Governor Chris Sununu.
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==New Mexico==
Incumbent Democratic governor Michelle Lujan Grisham was term-limited and could not seek re-election. Her Lieutenant Governor Howie Morales, ran for the open seat, and won relatively comfortably against his Republican opponent, though not in a landslide.
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==New York==
Incumbent Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul ran for re-election to a second term, and won easily against her Republican opponent, more than tripling her margin of victory from her unusually close victory in the 2022 race.
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==Ohio==
Incumbent Republican Governor Mike DeWine was term-limited and could not seek re-election. Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted took the Republican nomination and easily won the general election.
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==Oklahoma==
Incumbent Republican Governor Kevin Stitt was term-limited and could not seek re-election. Attorney General Gentner Drummond received the Republican nomination and easily won the general election.
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==Oregon==
Incumbent Democratic governor Tina Kotek ran for re-election to a second term. In 2022, she only barely won by 3.5%, even in a blue state, because of the presence of a strong third party candidate named Petsy Johnson, who siphoned away left-leaning voters. Being the incumbent, and with no third party, Kotek cruised to re-election.
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==Pennsylvania==
Incumbent Democratic governor Josh Shapiro ran for re-election to a second term. In 2022, he won by an unusually large margin against an extremist Republican candidate named Doug Mastriano, who also ran for Senate in 2024 and lost by a wide margin to Bob Casey.
In 2026, Shapiro faced a more moderate Republican opponent named Dave McCormick, a former Bush economic advisor and businessman. However, Shapiro had remained relatively popular among Pennsylvania voters, and had passed popular legislation after Democrats retook control of the Pennsylvania state senate in 2024, giving them a trifecta in the state government.
Shapiro won the election by 4.8%, much narrower than his first election, but still a strong victory in a swing state for a member of the incumbent President's party during a midterm election year.
Shapiro's victory put him in the national picture for a run for President in 2028, which turned out to be correct. Shapiro would run for President in 2028, but was overshadowed by the two frontrunners, Vice President Kamala Harris and the eventual nominee and 47th President, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. Shapiro would end up dropping out of the race after failing to reach double-digit support in New Hampshire and Nevada.
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==Rhode Island==
Incumbent Democratic governor Dan McKee ran for re-election to a second term and won easily.
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==South Carolina==
Incumbent Republican governor Henry McMaster was term limited and ineligible to run for re-election. Republican Attorney General Alan Wilson ran for the open governorship and easily won.
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==South Dakota==
South Dakota Republican senator Mike Rounds decided to run for his old job as Governor rather than seeking a third term in the U.S. Senate at age 73. While the state constitution puts term limits on the governor, they are not lifetime limits; if a person "takes a break" from the job, they can run again without issues. Incumbent Republican governor Kristi Noem, who was term-limited and could not seek re-election, swapped places with Rounds, running for his open Senate seat in 2026 and winning.
Rounds won the election easily against his Democratic opponent.
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==Tennessee==
Incumbent Republican governor Bill Lee was term-limited and could not seek re-election. Republican congressman Tim Burchett ran for the open governorship and easily won.
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==Texas==
Incumbent Republican Governor Greg Abbott decided to run for an unprecedented fourth term as Governor of Texas. 
Abbott had won many previous races by large landslides. However, he had implemented some unpopular policies, including one involving water breaks on railroads. Therefore, some Texans, especially Democrats and some independents, started to sour on him and his approval rating went down. Also, due to these unpopular policies, investment from many companies stopped. 
Abbott first had a primary challenge to deal with from Pat Fallon, a Republican congressman. After many vicious attacks on Fallon, Abbott beat him, but the margin was narrow for an incumbent.
Texas Democrats also had a primary to deal with. The two main contenders were State Senator Carol Alvarado and Steven Parker, a small businessman. At the beginning it was believed that Alvarado was the prohibitive frontrunner, however then Parker had several strokes of luck. First he was endorsed by Democrats for Life of America. This gave him a very small but possible chance to win. Then, Parker was endorse
==Vermont==
Incumbent Republican governor Phil Scott ran for a 6th term and easily won re-election, despite Vermont's strong Democratic lean. This would be his last term in office; he would retire in 2026 after serving for a total of 12 years in office.
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==Washington, DC (Douglass Commonwealth)==
Mayor Muriel Bowser, who became governor in 2025 when D.C. became the 51st state, ran for United States Senate in 2026, opening up the governorship. Robert White, an at-large council member, won the open seat, becoming the first elected governor of D.C.
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==Wisconsin==
Incumbent Democratic Governor Tony Evers decided to seek re-election to a third term. During his first 6 years in office, Evers' agenda was kept hampered by the heavily Republican-controlled state legislature. The state had been egregiously gerrymandered in 2011 by the GOP when they took over the state on the coattails of Scott Walker. However, in April 2023, the Wisconsin Supreme Court declared the state's legislative maps unconstitutional. In the 2024 election, Joe Biden won Wisconsin by just over 3%, and carried Democrats to victory in the legislature, with the party taking both houses. Evers was finally able to pass a large portion of his agenda. This allowed his popularity in the state to grow even higher.
Evers faced Roger Roth, a Republican state legislator, in the general election. While the election was close, as most are in Wisconsin, Evers held on to win a third term.
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==Wyoming==
Incumbent Republican Governor Mark Gordon was term-limited and could not seek re-election. Chuck Gray, the state's Secretary of State, ran for the open governorship and won, easily defeating his Democratic opponent.
Category:Change Scenario