2022 Gubernatorial Elections (To Form A More Perfect Union)

The 2022 United States Gubernatorial elections occurred on Election Day 2022. Republicans picked up governorships in several states while Democrats did well in several others. Republicans made gains along the Midwest, flipping a large number of states. However, they lost the Georgia governorship in a rematch against former State House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams.

## Partisan Composition

Going into the election, there were 28 Republican governors and 22 Democratic governors in the United States. This class of governors is made up of 21 Republicans and 15 Democrats.

## Election Predictions

Several sites and individuals publish predictions of competitive seats. These predictions look at factors such as the strength of the incumbent (if the incumbent is running for re-election), the strength of the candidates, and the partisan leanings of the state (reflected in part by the state's Cook Partisan Voting Index rating). The predictions assign ratings to each state, with the rating indicating the predicted advantage that a party has in winning that seat.

Most election predictors use:

* "tossup": no advantage
* "tilt" (used by some predictors): advantage that is not quite as strong as "lean"
* "lean": slight advantage
* "likely": significant, but surmountable, advantage
* "safe" or "solid": near-certain chance of victory
* Table to be added

## Alabama

2022 Alabama Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican

## Alaska

2022 Alaska Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican

## Arizona

Incumbent Governor and future Secretary of the Treasury Doug Ducey was term limited. Arizona AG Mark Brnovich narrowly defeated Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs. It was one of the most narrow elections of the cycle.

2022 Arizona Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican
 **Popular Vote** | 1,189,498
 **Percentage** | 50.7%

## Arkansas

Incumbent Governor and former Presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson was term limited. Former White House Press Secretary and daughter of a former Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders handily won the election. She defeated James Russell, a small business owner.

2022 Arkansas Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican
 **Popular Vote** | 521,512
 **Percentage** | 71.2%

## California

In the 2021 California Recall election, Kevin Faulconer defeated incumbent Governor Gavin Newsom who had become extraordinarily unpopular. The incumbent Lieutenant Governor, Elani Kounalakis, ran for governor in 2022 against Faulconer, defeating a wide field of Democrats including San Francisco Mayor London Breed (who later would be elected to Congress replacing incumbent Speaker of the House in California 12th Congressional District.) US Representative Karen Bass, CA Attorney General Eric Swalwell and US Representative Katie Porter. Former Governor Gavin Newsom declined to run. Faulconer won re-election easily despite California being a blue state.

2022 California Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican
 **Popular Vote** | 8,595,955
 **Percentage** | 60.0%

## Colorado

2022 Colorado Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Democratic

## Connecticut

2022 Alabama Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Democratic

## Florida

Incumbent Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was among the nations most popular governors. His response to the COVID-19 pandemic was initially criticized but later vindicated after Florida performed on par with New York and California in deaths per capita and Florida had managed to keep there economy open and growing. DeSantis was also helped by popular Senator Marco Rubio being on the ballot. Nikki Fried, the only Democrat to be a statewide officeholder in Florida, was the Democratic nominee.

2022 Florida Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican
 **Popular Vote** | 4,499,376
 **Percentage** | 54.6%

## Georgia

In a rematch from 2018, Stacey Abrams easily defeated incumbent Republican governor Brian Kemp in one of only two Democrat flips in the cycle. It was also the first gubernatorial election to surpass over 4 million votes. This was in part due to Abrams get out the vote drive. The election was decided by only 8,002 votes. Kemp sustained severe primary challenges after his battles with Donald Trump in 2020 and 2021.

2022 Georgia Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Democratic
 **Popular Vote** | 2,004,674
 **Percentage** | 50.1%

## Hawaii

2022 Hawaii Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Democratic

## Idaho

2022 Idaho Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican

## Illinois

2022 Illinois Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Democratic

## Iowa

2022 Iowa Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican

## Kansas

2022 Kansas Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican

## Maine

2022 Maine Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Democratic

## Maryland

2022 Maryland Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Democratic

## Massachusetts

2022 Massachusetts Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican

## Michigan

2022 Michigan Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican

## Minnesota

2022 Minnesota Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Democratic

## Nebraska

2022 Nebraska Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican

## Nevada

2022 Nevada Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican

## New Hampshire

2022 New Hampshire Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican

## New Mexico

2022 New Mexico Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Democratic

## New York

2022 New York Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Democratic

## Ohio

2022 Ohio Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican

## Oregon

2022 Oregon Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Democratic

## Pennsylvania

2022 Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican

## Rhode Island

2022 Rhode Island Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Democratic

## South Carolina

2022 South Carolina Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican

## South Dakota

2022 South Dakota Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican

## Tennessee

2022 Alabama Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican

## Texas

Incumbent Governor Greg Abbott was one of the most well known governors in the country. Abbott was forced to face off a primary challenge from GOP Chairman Allen West and Commissioner of Agriculture Sid Miller, before he could go against 2018 US Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke.

O’Rourke has come close to unseating incumbent US Senator and future President Ted Cruz in 2018. O’Rourke had made a run for the US Presidency in 2020 and failed. However, he did manage to make some consider Texas a swing state, which it wouldn’t truly be until the mid-2030s. O’Rourke has helped in the cleanup of Winter Storm Uri and would be a fierce critic of several of Abbott’s policies, including lifting the mask mandate. Beto didn’t immediately announce a run saying at one point that he “had no plans to run for governor” but later said “

Although some considered the race potentially competitive at first, many gave it a safe or likely Republican rating. However, by July 2022 it looked like Texas could go either way. In the end, Abbott secured re-election to his third and final term by 6 points, 4 points closer then the 2018 election. Abbott would resign in February 2022 to assume the post of US Attorney General, and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick would take over. He would not run for re-election.

2022 Texas Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican
 **Popular Vote** | 4,386,749
 **Percentage** | 53.2%

## Vermont

2022 Vermont Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Republican

## Wisconsin

2022 Wisconsin Gubernatorial Election
 **Party** | Democratic