1966 United States gubernatorial elections
United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 8, 1966, in 35 states. 12 Democrats and 23 Republicans won election, bringing the partisan reflection of the nation's states to 25 Democrats and 25 Republicans. This election coincided with the Senate and the House elections. 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. 1966 United States gubernatorial