2026 United States gubernatorial elections

Gubernatorial elections are scheduled to be held in the United States on November 3, 2026. This election will take place in 36 states and three territories. The previous gubernatorial elections for this group of states took place in 2022, except in New Hampshire and Vermont, where governors serve two-year terms and elected their governors in 2024.

Fifteen of the thirty-six states and two of the three United States territories with elections in this cycle have officially term-limited incumbents.

Partisan composition Going into the election, there are 26 Republican governors and 24 Democratic governors in the United States. This class of governors is made up of 18 Republicans and 18 Democrats. Republicans are defending two governorships in states that Kamala Harris won in 2024 (New Hampshire and Vermont). Democrats are defending five governorships in states that Donald Trump won in 2024 (Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin).

Retirements 22 incumbent governors (11 Democrats, 10 Republican, and 1 Independent) are retiring. 17 incumbent governors (8 Democrats and 9 Republicans) are term-limited. 5 incumbent governors (3 Democrats, 1 Republican, and 1 Independent) have announced they are not seeking reelection.

Democratic California: Gavin Newsom is term-limited after 2 terms. Colorado: Jared Polis is term-limited after 2 terms. District of Columbia: Muriel Bowser is retiring. Guam: Lou Leon Guerrero is term-limited after 2 terms. Kansas: Laura Kelly is term-limited after 2 terms. Maine: Janet Mills is term-limited after 2 terms. Michigan: Gretchen Whitmer is term-limited after 2 terms. Minnesota: Tim Walz is retiring. New Mexico: Michelle Lujan Grisham is term-limited after 2 terms. United States Virgin Islands: Albert Bryan Jr. is term-limited after 2 terms. Wisconsin: Tony Evers is retiring.

Republican Alabama: Kay Ivey is term-limited after 2 full terms. Alaska: Mike Dunleavy is term-limited after 2 terms. Florida: Ron DeSantis is term-limited after 2 terms. Georgia: Brian Kemp is term-limited after 2 terms. Iowa: Kim Reynolds is retiring. Ohio: Mike DeWine is term-limited after 2 terms. Oklahoma: Kevin Stitt is term-limited after 2 terms. South Carolina: Henry McMaster is term-limited after 2 full terms. Tennessee: Bill Lee is term-limited after 2 terms. Wyoming: Mark Gordon is term-limited after 2 terms.

Independents Northern Mariana Islands: David M. Apatang is retiring.

Incumbents defeated In primary elections Democrats One Democrat lost renomination. The last elected incumbent governor to lose renomination was Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii in 2014.

Rhode Island: Dan McKee lost renomination to Helena Foulkes.

Predictions

Several sites and individuals published predictions of competitive seats. These predictions looked at factors such as the strength of the incumbent (if the incumbent was running for reelection) and the other candidates, and the state's partisan lean (reflected in part by the state's Cook Partisan Voting Index rating). The predictions assigned ratings to each seat, indicating the predicted advantage that a party had in winning that seat. Most election predictors used: "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 Constituency IncumbentRatings State PVI Governor Lastelection Cook IE SabatoRCPFoxSilverDDHQ Alabama 66.91% R

| Alaska 50.29% R

| Arizona 50.32% D

| Arkansas 62.96% R

| California 59.18% D

| Colorado 58.53% D

| Connecticut 55.97% D

| Florida 59.37% R

| Georgia 53.41% R

| Hawaii 63.21% D

| Idaho 60.52% R

| Illinois 54.91% D

| Iowa 58.04% R

| Kansas 49.54% D

| Maine 55.69% D

| Maryland 64.53% D

| Massachusetts 63.74% D

| Michigan 54.47% D

| Minnesota 52.27% DFL

| Nebraska 59.74% R

| Nevada 48.81% R

| New Hampshire 53.64% R

| New Mexico 51.97% D

| New York 53.12% D

| Ohio 62.41% R

| Oklahoma 55.45% R

| Oregon 46.96% D

| Pennsylvania 56.49% D

| Rhode Island 57.92% D

| South Carolina 58.04% R

| South Dakota 61.98% R

| Tennessee 64.91% R

| Texas 54.76% R

| Vermont 73.43% R

| Wisconsin 51.15% D

| Wyoming 74.07% R

Race summary States

State Governor Party Firstelected Lastrace Status Candidates Alabama 2017 66.9% R Term-limited Alaska 2018 50.3% R Term-limited Arizona 2022 50.3% D Incumbent renominated Arkansas 2022 63.0% R Incumbent renominated California 2018 59.2% D Term-limited Colorado 2018 58.5% D Term-limited Connecticut 2018 56.0% D Incumbent renominated Florida 2018 59.4% R Term-limited Georgia 2018 53.4% R Term-limited Hawaii 2022 63.2% D Incumbent renominated Idaho 2018 60.5% R Incumbent renominated Illinois 2018 54.9% D Incumbent renominated Iowa 2017 58.0% R Incumbent retiring Kansas 2018 49.5% D Term-limited Maine 2018 55.7% D Term-limited Maryland 2022 64.5% D Incumbent renominated Massachusetts 2022 63.7% D Incumbent renominated Michigan 2018 54.5% D Term-limited Minnesota DFL 2018 52.3% DFL Incumbent retiring Nebraska 2022 59.7% R Incumbent renominated Nevada 2022 48.8% R Incumbent renominated New Hampshire 2024 53.6% R Incumbent renominated New Mexico 2018 52.0% D Term-limited Deb Haaland (Democratic) Gregg Hull (Republican) New York 2021 53.2% D Incumbent renominated Ohio 2018 62.4% R Term-limited Oklahoma 2018 55.4% R Term-limited Oregon 2022 47.0% D Incumbent renominated Pennsylvania 2022 56.5% D Incumbent renominated Rhode Island 2021 57.9% D Incumbent lost renomination South Carolina 2017 58.1% R Term-limited South Dakota Larry Rhoden 2025 62.0% R Incumbent nominated to full term Tennessee 2018 64.9% R Term-limited Texas 2014 54.8% R Incumbent renominated Vermont 2016 73.4% R Incumbent renominated Wisconsin 2018 51.2% D Incumbent retiring Wyoming 2018 74.1% R Term-limited

Territories and federal district Territory Governor Party Firstelected Lastrace Status Candidates District of Columbia 2014 74.7% D Incumbent retiring Guam 2018 55.5% D Term-limited Northern Mariana Islands David M. Apatang Independent 2025 54.1% I Incumbent retiring U.S. Virgin Islands 2018 56.0% D Term-limited

Alabama

Governor Kay Ivey, a Republican, was re-elected in 2022 with 67.4% of the vote. She will be term-limited by the Constitution of Alabama in 2026 and cannot seek re-election to a third consecutive full term. Republican U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville entered the gubernatorial race in May 2025, joined by former candidate for Alabama's 6th congressional district in 2024 Ken McFeeters and event center operations manager Will Santivasci.

Democratic candidates include former U.S. Senator Doug Jones; the 2022 gubernatorial nominee Yolanda Flowers; Will Boyd, a former city councilor of Greenville, Illinois, and the nominee for Alabama Lieutenant Governor in 2018 and for U.S. Senate in 2022; pastor Ja'Mel Brown; candidate for governor in 2022 Chad Chig Martin; and former state representative Nathan Mathis.

As Jones and Tuberville won their respective primaries, the gubernatorial election will be a rematch of the 2020 United States Senate election, which saw Tuberville defeat Jones. Tuberville has faced several challenges to his eligibility for the governorship.

Alaska

Governor Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, was re-elected in 2022 with 50.3% of the vote. He will be term-limited by the Constitution of Alaska in 2026 and cannot seek re-election to a third consecutive term.

A nonpartisan primary was held on August 18, 2026, with the top four candidates advancing to the general election, which will be conducted using ranked-choice voting. The advancing candidates are Republicans former state Attorney General Treg Taylor, businesswoman Bernadette Wilson; former Anchorage mayor Dave Bronson; and Democrat former state representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins.

After initially finishing second in the primary, former state senator Tom Begich withdrew and endorsed Kreiss-Tomkins, allowing fifth-place finisher Taylor to advance to the general election. However, the Alaska Public Offices Commission recommended against certifying Taylor's candidacy after finding that his financial disclosure did not substantially comply with state law. On August 31, Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom declined to certify Taylor, temporarily elevating his running mate, Candice English, to the gubernatorial nomination; English subsequently selected Taylor's wife, Jodi Taylor, as her running mate. On September 4, Dahlstrom reversed her decision and announced that Taylor would be certified after a preliminary review by the Alaska Department of Law raised questions about whether the financial-disclosure requirements had been applied consistently.

Arizona

Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, was elected in 2022 with 50.3% of the vote. Starting with this election cycle, gubernatorial candidates will be required to nominate a running mate for the newly established office of Lieutenant Governor. Hobbs is running for re-election to a second term and is the nominee, as no other candidates successfully filed for the Democratic primary.

U.S. Representative from Arizona's 5th congressional district Andy Biggs defeated U.S. Representative from Arizona's 1st congressional district David Schweikert, as well as business owner Ken Miceli and concrete plumbing contractor Scott Neely with 74% of the vote in the Republican primary.

Healthcare entrepreneur Hugh Lytle and Teri Hourihan are running in the No Labels/Arizona Independent Party primary. Former Democratic state representative Leezah Sun has announced a campaign as an independent, but will not appear on the ballot.

This will be the first gubernatorial election in which a candidate is required to select a running mate, following the passage of Proposition 131 in the 2022 elections.

Arkansas

Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Republican, was elected in 2022 with 63.1% of the vote. She is seeking re-election to a second term and ran unopposed for the Republican nomination.

State senator Fredrick Love defeated former Walmart executive Supha Xayprasith Mays in the Democratic primary on March 3, 2026.

Farmer Colt Shelby is running in the general election as a Libertarian.

California

Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom was re-elected in 2022 with 59.2% of the vote. He is term-limited by the California Constitution in 2026, and cannot seek re-election to a third term. More than sixty candidates appeared on the June 2026 primary ballot. Democrat Xavier Becerra, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and former California Attorney General, and Republican political commentator Steve Hilton advanced to the general election.

Other Democratic candidates included San Jose mayor Matt Mahan; former congresswoman for California's 47th congressional district Katie Porter; businessman and 2020 presidential candidate Tom Steyer; State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond; and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

U.S. representative Eric Swalwell initially announced a campaign in November 2025, but withdrew and resigned from Congress in April 2026 amid sexual assault allegations, with his name still on the ballot. Former state Controller Betty Yee also withdrew from the race in April 2026 and will remain on the ballot.

Former Vice President of the United States and 2024 Democratic nominee for President Kamala Harris had considered running, but ultimately decided not to enter the race.

Other Republican candidates included Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, diplomat Tim Nelson and businessman Leo Zacky.

2026 United States gubernatorial elections

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