Dem
54
Ties
2
GOP
44
State governments are important to the daily lives of most Americans. They set the state minimum wage, decide if abortion and marijuana are legal in the state, conduct elections, manage public health, run social welfare programs, the state police, and license a wide variety of professionals to protect the health and safety of people living in the state, allow or don't allow charter schools, and so much more. Oh, and in many states, the state legislature draws the congressional map and maps for the state Senate and House/Assembly. If the Democrats hold their majorities through 2030, the implications of that could be significant.
As we note above, the Democrats are about to reach a high-water mark for governorships, at least by recent standards. Let's dive down now and look at the governors' races in more detail now. Before the elections, Democrats controlled 24 of the 50 state governor's mansions. They probably flipped six or seven states and will have 30—a majority—in January. We say "probably" because Kansas and Alaska haven't been called yet, but in Kansas, Cindy Holscher is leading by 8,000 votes and in Alaska, the ranked choice voting has to play out, but Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins has 49.1%, which is his floor, and he will probably pick up some second- or third- place votes because the leading Republican, the super-Trumper Bernadette Wilson, is surely unacceptable to some moderate Republican voters. Alternatively, some Republicans may not fill in second and third choices, thus exhausting their ballots on the second or third round. Once those ballots are exhausted, then Kreiss-Tomkins' current 103,837 votes will not be 49.1% of the total, they will be 49.5% or 50% or 51%.
Governors also have the ability to cooperate with ICE or use their powers to oppose ICE in various ways including use of the National Guard to protect the people of their state in an emergency. For citizens who have been terrorized by ICE, having the governor on their side can be a relief. Governors are important.
Starting in January, 75% Americans will have a Democratic governor and 53% will live in a state with Democratic trifecta. The states that will have a Democratic governor in January together have 385 electoral votes.
This shouldn't be important, but it unfortunately it is. After a presidential election, the governor signs the certificate of ascertainment, which specifies who the presidential electors are and sends copies to the archivist of the United States, the president of the U.S. Senate, and other officials specified by federal law. Any attempt to monkey with election results will need the governor's signature or it will be discarded immediately as fake. Having Democratic governors in 30 states, including 13 of the 14 most populous ones (the exception being Florida) means Republican attempts to interfere with the election results will be blocked at the source in these 13 states.
In addition, sitting governors have mailing lists of donors and a pretty good knowledge of the state and its politics, certainly after they've been in office for a couple of years. Many governors have a state political machine they control. The 2028 Democratic presidential nominee will be able to call on these resources in a major part of the country, which will surely be helpful. The Republican nominee will get this kind of help in only one state with a population greater than 7.5 million: Florida.
Here is a table showing the 2026 election results for governor, with the old governor, the new governor, and the margin of victory for each race:
| State | Old governor | New governor | Margin | Result |
| Alabama | Kay Ivey (R) | Tommy Tuberville (R) | R+4 | New Republican |
| Alaska | Mike Dunleavy (R) | Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins (D) | D+20 | Flip D to R |
| Arizona | Katie Hobbs (D) | Katie Hobbs (D) | D+13 | Democratic hold |
| Arkansas | Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) | Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) | R+15 | Republican hold |
| California | Gavin Newsom (D) | Xavier Becerra (D) | D+29 | New Democrat |
| Colorado | Jared Polis (D) | Phil Weiser (D) | D+29 | New Democrat |
| Connecticut | Ned Lamont (D) | Ned Lamont (D) | D+19 | Democratic hold |
| Delaware | Matt Meyer (D) | (No election) | ||
| Florida | Ron DeSantis (R) | Byron Donalds (R) | R+1 | New Republican |
| Georgia | Brian Kemp (R) | Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) | D+9 | Flip D to R |
| Hawaii | Josh Green (D) | Josh Green (D) | D+45 | Democratic hold |
| Idaho | Brad Little (R) | Brad Little (R) | R+15 | Republican hold |
| Illinois | J.B. Pritzker (D) | J.B. Pritzker (D) | D+23 | Democratic hold |
| Indiana | Mike Braun (R) | (No election) | ||
| Iowa | Kim Reynolds (R) | Rob Sand (D) | D+11 | Flip D to R |
| Kansas | Laura Kelly (D) | Cindy Holscher (?) | D+1 | Probably new Democrat |
| Kentucky | Andy Beshear (D) | (No election) | ||
| Louisiana | Jeff Landry (R) | (No election) | ||
| Maine | Janet Mills (D) | Hannah Pingree (D) | D+17 | New Democrat |
| Maryland | Wes Moore (D) | Wes Moore (D) | D+31 | Democratic hold |
| Massachusetts | Maura Healey (D) | Maura Healey (D) | D+27 | Democratic hold |
| Michigan | Gretchen Whitmer (D) | Jocelyn Benson (D) | D+11 | New Democrat |
| Minnesota | Tim Walz (DFL) | Amy Klobuchar (DFL) | D+13 | New Democrat |
| Mississippi | Tate Reeves (R) | (No election) | ||
| Missouri | Mike Kehoe (R) | (No election) | ||
| Montana | Greg Gianforte (R) | (No election) | ||
| Nebraska | Jim Pillen (R) | Jim Pillen (R) | R+8 | Republican hold |
| Nevada | Joe Lombardo (R) | Aaron Ford (D) | D+8 | Flip D to R |
| New Hampshire | Kelly Ayotte (R) | Kelly Ayotte (R) | R+4 | Republican hold |
| New Jersey | Mikie Sherrill (D) | (No election) | ||
| New Mexico | Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) | Deb Haaland (D) | D+15 | New Democrat |
| New York | Kathy Hochul (D) | Kathy Hochul (D) | D+20 | Democratic hold |
| North Carolina | Josh Stein (D) | (No election) | ||
| North Dakota | Kelly Armstrong (R) | (No election) | ||
| Ohio | Mike DeWine (R) | Amy Acton (D) | D+8 | Flip D to R |
| Oklahoma | Kevin Stitt (R) | Mike Mazzei (R) | R+6 | New Republican |
| Oregon | Tina Kotek (D) | Tina Kotek (D) | D+8 | Democratic hold |
| Pennsylvania | Josh Shapiro (D) | Josh Shapiro (D) | D+22 | Democratic hold |
| Rhode Island | Daniel McKee (D) | Helena Foulkes (D) | D+30 | New Democrat |
| South Carolina | Henry McMaster (R) | Alan Wilson (R) | R+5 | New Republican |
| South Dakota | Larry Rhoden (R) | Larry Rhoden (R) | R+27 | Republican hold |
| Tennessee | Bill Lee (R) | Marsha Blackburn (R) | R+3 | New Republican |
| Texas | Greg Abbott (R) | Gina Hinojosa (D) | D+7 | Flip D to R |
| Utah | Spencer Cox (R) | (No election) | ||
| Vermont | Phil Scott (R) | Phil Scott (R) | R+7 | Republican hold |
| Virginia | Abigail Spanberger (D) | (No election) | ||
| Washington | Bon Ferguson (D) | (No election) | ||
| West Virginia | Patrick Morrissey (R) | (No election) | ||
| Wisconsin | Tony Evers (D) | David Crowley (D) | D+8 | New Democrat |
| Wyoming | Mark Gordon (R) | Eric Barlow (R) | R+52 | New Republican |
Below is a table summarizing how the gubernatorial elections went from a partisan viewpoint, again assuming Cindy Holscher (D-KS) and Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins (D-AK) ultimately win their elections:
| Description of what happened | # |
| No election in 2026 (Incumbent Democratic governor) | 6 |
| Incumbent Democratic governor was reelected | 9 |
| New Democratic governor | 8 |
| Flip Republican to Democratic | 7 |
| Total Democratic governors | 30 |
| No election in 2026 (Incumbent Republican governor) | 8 |
| Incumbent Republican governor was reelected | 6 |
| New Republican governor | 6 |
| Flip Democratic to Republican | 0 |
| Total Republican governors | 20 |
The governors are quite diverse. Seventeen (or eighteen, if Holscher wins) governors are women. Four governors are Black. These two sets intersect in Georgia, with the first Black woman ever to serve as state governor (Keisha Lance Bottoms). There will be two openly gay governors (Tina Kotek, D-OR and Maura Healey, D-MA), down from three with the retirement of Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO). There will be five Jewish governors (Amy Acton, D-OH; Josh Green, D-HI; J.B. Pritzker, D-IL; Josh Shapiro, D-PA and Josh Stein, D-NC). Six are Catholics (Kelly Ayotte, R-NH; Xavier Becerra, D-CA; Deb Haaland, D-NM; Gina Hinojosa, D-TX; Kathy Hochul, D-NH and Jim Pillen, R-NE). Also, two Latinos (Gina Hinojosa, D-TX and Xavier Becerra, D-CA) and one Native American (Deb Haaland, D-NM). Twenty-five of the governors in Jan. 2027—only half—will be straight, white, Christian men. That demographic used to be the overwhelming majority.
Governors have a lot of power in some states, less in others. When Republican administrations give money to states, it is often in the form of block grants that give the governor the power to decide how to spend the money within broad limits. For example, a Republican governor might use a block grant in healthcare to open yoga centers in wealthy counties. A Democratic governor might use that money to open free urgent-care clinics in poor counties. These are things voters actually notice.
Three states have a gubernatorial election in 2027: Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi. One of those states (Kentucky) has a term-limited Democratic governor, one (Louisiana) had a Democratic governor (John Bel Edwards) immediately before the current governor, and one (Mississippi) may be on the cusp of electing a Black U.S. Senator. So, if this was 2016, you would have to guess there would not be much for us to write about next year. But in 2026? There's reason to believe any or all could be quite interesting. (V)