2024 United States gubernatorial elections

Summary

United States gubernatorial elections are scheduled to be held on November 5, 2024, in 11 states and two territories. The previous gubernatorial elections for this group of states took place in 2020, except in New Hampshire and Vermont where governors only serve two-year terms and elected their governors in 2022. In addition to state gubernatorial elections, the territories of American Samoa and Puerto Rico will also hold elections for their governors.

2024 United States gubernatorial elections

← 2023 November 5, 2024 2025 →

13 governorships
11 states; 2 territories
  Majority party Minority party
 
Party Republican Democratic
Seats before 27 23
Seats up 8 3

2024 Delaware gubernatorial election2024 Indiana gubernatorial election2024 Missouri gubernatorial election2024 Montana gubernatorial election2024 New Hampshire gubernatorial election2024 North Carolina gubernatorial election2024 North Dakota gubernatorial election2024 Utah gubernatorial election2024 Vermont gubernatorial election2024 Washington gubernatorial election2024 West Virginia gubernatorial election2024 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election2024 American Samoa gubernatorial election
     Term-limited or retiring Democrat
     Republican incumbent      Term-limited or retiring Republican
     New Progressive incumbent
     Nonpartisan      No election

The elections will take place concurrently with the 2024 presidential election, elections to the House of Representatives and Senate, and numerous state and local elections.

This will be the first election cycle since 2017 that no incumbent Democrats will be running for re-election.

Partisan composition edit

Going into the election, there are 27 Republican governors and 23 Democratic governors in the United States. This class of governors is made up of 8 Republicans and 3 Democrats. Republicans are defending two governorships in states that Joe Biden won in 2020 (New Hampshire and Vermont) while Democrats are defending one governorship in a state that Donald Trump won in 2020 (North Carolina).[1]

Election predictions edit

Several sites and individuals published predictions of competitive seats. These predictions looked 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 assigned ratings to each seat, with the rating indicating a party's predicted advantage 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
State PVI Incumbent Last
race
Cook
October 23,
2023
[2]
IE
November 13,
2023
[3]
Sabato
November 9,
2023
[4]
ED
July 12,
2023
[5]
Delaware D+7 John Carney
(term-limited)
59.5% D Solid D Solid D Safe D Safe D
Indiana R+11 Eric Holcomb
(term-limited)
56.5% R Solid R Solid R Safe R Safe R
Missouri R+10 Mike Parson
(term-limited)
57.1% R Solid R Solid R Safe R Safe R
Montana R+11 Greg Gianforte 54.4% R Solid R Solid R Safe R Safe R
New Hampshire D+1 Chris Sununu
(retiring)
57.0% R Tossup Tossup Tossup Tossup
North Carolina R+3 Roy Cooper
(term-limited)
51.5% D Lean D Tossup Tossup Tossup
North Dakota R+20 Doug Burgum
(retiring)
65.8% R Solid R Solid R Safe R Safe R
Utah R+13 Spencer Cox 63.0% R Solid R Solid R Safe R Safe R
Vermont D+16 Phil Scott 69.2% R Solid R Solid R Likely R Likely R
Washington D+8 Jay Inslee
(retiring)
56.6% D Likely D Likely D Likely D Safe D
West Virginia R+22 Jim Justice
(term-limited)
63.5% R Solid R Solid R Safe R Safe R

Race summary edit

States edit

State Governor Party First elected Last race Status Candidates
Delaware John Carney Democratic 2016 59.5% D Term-limited
Indiana Eric Holcomb Republican 2016 56.5% R Term-limited
Missouri Mike Parson Republican 2018[a] 57.1% R Term-limited
  • Jay Ashcroft (Republican)[9]
  • Bill Eigel (Republican)[9]
  • Sheryl Gladney (Democratic)[9]
  • Darren Grant (Republican)[9]
  • Jeremy Gundel (Republican)[9]
  • Mike Hamra (Democratic)[9]
  • Mike Kehoe (Republican)[9]
  • Hollis Laster (Democratic)[9]
  • Darrell McClanahan (Republican)[9]
  • Eric Morrison (Democratic)[9]
  • Robert Olson (Republican)[9]
  • Crystal Quade (Democratic)[9]
  • Bill Slantz (Libertarian)[9]
  • Amber Thomsen (Republican)[9]
  • Chris Wright (Republican)[9]
Montana Greg Gianforte Republican 2020 54.4% R Running
New Hampshire Chris Sununu Republican 2016 57.0% R Retiring[11]
North Carolina Roy Cooper Democratic 2016 51.5% D Term-limited
North Dakota Doug Burgum Republican 2016 65.8% R Retiring[17]
Utah Spencer Cox Republican 2020 63.0% R Running
Vermont Phil Scott Republican 2016 69.2% R Eligible
  • Esther Charlestin (Democratic)[21]
Washington Jay Inslee Democratic 2012 56.6% D Retiring[22]
West Virginia Jim Justice Republican 2016[b] 63.5% R Term-limited

Territories edit

State Governor Party First elected Last race Status Candidates
American Samoa Lemanu Peleti Mauga Nonpartisan/Democratic[c] 2020 60.3% Eligible
  • TBD
Puerto Rico Pedro Pierluisi New Progressive[d] 2020 32.9% PNP Running

Delaware edit

Governor John Carney was re-elected to a second term in 2020 with 59.5% of the vote. He will be term-limited by the Delaware Constitution in 2024 and cannot seek re-election for a third term.

New Castle County executive Matt Meyer became the first declared candidate on June 6, 2023.[40]

Indiana edit

Governor Eric Holcomb was re-elected to a second term in 2020 with 56.5% of the vote. He will be term-limited by the Indiana Constitution in 2024 and cannot seek re-election for a third consecutive term. United States senator Mike Braun,[41] Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch,[42] former president of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation Eric Doden[43] and former attorney general Curtis Hill[44] are running for the Republican nomination.

Former Republican Indiana superintendent of Public Instruction Jennifer McCormick is running for the Democratic nomination, having switched parties in 2021.[45]

Missouri edit

Governor Mike Parson took office on June 1, 2018, upon the resignation of Eric Greitens and was elected to a full term in his own right in 2020 with 57.2% of the vote. Because Parson served more than two years of Greitens' term, he will be term-limited by the Missouri Constitution in 2024 and cannot seek re-election for a second full term. Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe and Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft are running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.[46][47] In the Democratic primary, Missouri House of Representatives minority leader Crystal Quade has declared her candidacy.[48]

Montana edit

Governor Greg Gianforte was elected in 2020 with 54.4% of the vote. He is running for re-election.[49]

On June 13, 2023, Republican state representative Tanner Smith launched a primary challenge to Gianforte.[50]

New Hampshire edit

Governor Chris Sununu won re-election to a fourth term in 2022. However on July 19, 2023 he announced he would not seek re-election.[51] Former acting governor Chuck Morse and former U.S. senator Kelly Ayotte have announced their campaigns for the Republican nomination.[52][12] Former Hillsborough County Treasurer and 2022 Congressional nominee Robert Burns has expressed interest in running.[53] In the Democratic primary, former Manchester mayor Joyce Craig[54] and Executive Council of New Hampshire member Cinde Warmington[55] have declared their candidacies.

North Carolina edit

North Carolina gubernatorial election
 
← 2020
2028 →
     
Nominee Josh Stein Mark Robinson
Party Democratic Republican

Incumbent Governor

Roy Cooper
Democratic



Governor Roy Cooper was re-elected to a second term in 2020 with 51.5% of the vote. He will be term-limited by the North Carolina Constitution in 2024 and cannot seek re-election for a third consecutive term. Attorney general Josh Stein defeated former North Carolina Supreme Court justice Michael Morgan for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, while Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson defeated State Treasurer Dale Folwell for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.[56][57][58][59]

North Dakota edit

Governor Doug Burgum was re-elected to a second term in 2020 with 65.8% of the vote. In the November 2022 elections, voters amended the North Dakota Constitution to place a limit of two, four-year terms for succeeding governors sworn into office after the amendment's effective date of January 1, 2023.[60] Burgum, sworn into office before the amendment's effective date, remained eligible to run for re-election for a third term. Burgum initially ran for the Republican nomination in the 2024 United States presidential election,[61] but dropped out before the primaries. On January 22, 2024, he announced he would not seek re-election.[17]

Utah edit

Governor Spencer Cox was elected in 2020 with 63% of the vote and is running for re-election to a second term. Although Utah does not have gubernatorial term limits, he pledged to only serve two terms.[62]

Vermont edit

Governor Phil Scott won re-election to a fourth term in 2022. Because Vermont does not have gubernatorial term limits in its constitution, he will be eligible to run for re-election for a fifth term in 2024. Scott has said that he expects to make a decision by "early spring".[63]

Washington edit

Governor Jay Inslee was re-elected to a third term in 2020 with 56.6% of the vote. Because Washington does not have gubernatorial term limits in its constitution, he is eligible to run for re-election for a fourth term but he has decided not to seek re-election.[64] Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and state senator Mark Mullet have declared their candidacies,[65][66] while in the Republican primary, former representative Dave Reichert has declared his candidacy.[67]

West Virginia edit

Governor Jim Justice was re-elected to a second term in 2020 with 63.5% of the vote. He will be term-limited by the West Virginia Constitution in 2024 and is ineligible to seek re-election for a third consecutive term.

Candidates in the Republican primary include former state delegate Moore Capito,[68] businessman Chris Miller,[69] state attorney general Patrick Morrisey,[70] and secretary of state Mac Warner.[71] Huntington mayor Steve Williams has declared he will run in the Democratic primary.[72][73]

Territories edit

American Samoa edit

Lemanu Peleti Mauga was elected Governor in the 2020 general election with 60.3% of the vote. On April 10, 2024, Mauga and incumbent Lieutenant Governor Eleasalo Ale announced their campaign for reelection under the slogan "E Lavatia le Alofa” — "Love Beareth All."[74] Prior to Magua's announcement, Paramount Chief Mauga Tasi Asuega was advocating for the Governor's reelection.[75] Pula T. I. Nikolao Pula, former Director of the Office of Insular Affairs, announced his candidacy on March 4, 2024.[76] Pula announced High Chief Pulu Ae Ae, Jr., a former faipule for Maʻopūtasi County as his running mate.[75]

Puerto Rico edit

Governor Pedro Pierluisi was elected in 2020 with 32.9% of the vote. He is eligible to run for re-election, and stated that he would on March 20, 2022 during the New Progressive Party's general assembly.[33]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Parson took office in 2018 after his predecessor (Eric Greitens) resigned. He was subsequently elected in the 2020 Missouri gubernatorial election.
  2. ^ Governor Jim Justice was originally elected as a Democrat before switching back to a Republican in 2017. Justice won re-election as a Republican in 2020.[29]
  3. ^ The governor of American Samoa is elected on a non-partisan basis, although individuals do affiliate with national parties, in Mauga's case with the Democratic Party.
  4. ^ Pierluisi affiliates with the Democratic Party on the national level.

References edit

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  15. ^ Sexton, Adam (June 1, 2023). "NH Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington launches campaign for governor". WMUR. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
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  19. ^ "Coachman running for governor as independent".
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  54. ^ Sexton, Adam (2023-07-11). "Manchester Mayor Craig officially launches campaign for governor". WMUR. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  55. ^ Sexton, Adam (2023-06-01). "NH Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington launches campaign for governor". WMUR. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
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