The 2025 Jewish Autonomous Oblast gubernatorial election took place on 12–14 September 2025, on common election day. Acting Governor of Jewish Autonomous Oblast Maria Kostyuk was elected for a full term in office.
Background Then-Federation Council member Rostislav Goldstein was appointed acting Governor of Jewish Autonomous Oblast in December 2019, replacing retiring first-term incumbent Alexander Levintal. Golstein ran for a full term in 2020 and overwhelmingly won the election with 82.50% of the vote in absence of CPRF and LDPR candidates.
On November 5, 2024, President of Russia Vladimir Putin appointed Goldstein acting Head of the Komi Republic, simultaneously he appointed Maria Kostyuk to replace Goldstein as Governor of Jewish Autonomous Oblast. Kostyuk previously worked as Goldstein's aide and regional official until 2023, when she moved to Moscow to work for "Defenders of the Fatherland" foundation and RANEPA asTime of Heroes training programme head. Kostyuk also became the first and only serving female Russian governor since the resignation of Natalya Komarova as Governor of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug in May 2024 and until March 2025, when Irina Gecht was appointed acting Governor of Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
Candidates In Jewish Autonomous Oblast candidates for Governor of Jewish Autonomous Oblast can be nominated only by registered political parties. Candidate for Governor of Jewish Autonomous Oblast should be a Russian citizen and at least 30 years old. Candidates for Governor of Jewish Autonomous Oblast should not have a foreign citizenship or residence permit. Each candidate in order to be registered is required to collect at least 7% of signatures of members and heads of municipalities. Also gubernatorial candidates present 3 candidacies to the Federation Council and election winner later appoints one of the presented candidates.
Declared Candidate name,political partyOccupationStatusRef.Vasily GladkikhLiberal Democratic Party Member of Legislative Assembly of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast (2021–present)RegisteredMaria KostyukUnited Russia Acting Governor of Jewish Autonomous Oblast (2024–present)Former Deputy Chairwoman of the Government of Jewish Autonomous Oblast (2021–2023)RegisteredAleksandr KrupskyCommunists of Russia Pensioner2020 CPSS gubernatorial candidateRegisteredAleksandr ShcherbinaCommunist Party Member of Birobidzhan City Duma (2024–present)RegisteredVladimir PotapenkoNew People Individual entrepreneur Withdrew after registrationSergey AntropenkovRodina UnemployedFailed to qualifyVladimir DudinSR–ZP Member of Legislative Assembly of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast (2011–present)2015 and 2020 gubernatorial candidateFailed to qualifyYelena VoroshilovaParty of Pensioners Former Member of Birobidzhan City Duma (2014–2019)Social services centre directorFailed to qualifyDmitry VedernikovThe Greens Security guardDid not file
Eliminated in the primary Danil Skibinsky (United Russia), First Deputy Mayor of Obluchye (2022–present) Mikhail Yurkin (United Russia), community activist
Candidates for Federation Council Incumbent Senator Yuri Valyaev (Independent) was not renominated. Head candidate,political partyCandidates for Federation CouncilStatusVasily GladkikhLiberal Democratic Party * Sergey Gotovchenko, Member of Obluchensky District Council of Deputies (2019–present), train car repairman* Olga Shupilova, teacher * Tatyana Slutskaya, Member of Birobidzhan City Duma (2024–present), natural reserve methodologistRegisteredMaria KostyukUnited Russia * Anton Akimov, Deputy Governor of Jewish Autonomous Oblast (2025–present)* Natalya Khorova, Deputy Minister of Health of Russia (2014–present) * Natalya Kuzmina, Rector of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Institute for Education Development (2022–present)RegisteredAleksandr KrupskyCommunists of Russia* Andrey Anoshkin, geographer* Sergey Khorshev, individual entrepreneur * Leonid Popov, businessmanRegisteredAleksandr ShcherbinaCommunist Party* Vladimir Fishman, Member of Legislative Assembly of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast (2006–present)* Nina Kalyukina, party secretary * Yevgeny Konopatkin, former Member of Birobidzhan City Duma (2019–2024), aide to State Duma member Alexey KornienkoRegisteredVladimir PotapenkoNew People* Aleksandr Abakumets, former Member of Ptichninskoye Rural Council of Deputies (2013–2018), businessman* Dmitry Levkovsky, forestry director * Eduard Penyak, individual entrepreneur Withdrew after registrationVladimir DudinSR–ZP* Irina Menshoykina, chemical lab assistant* Natalya Polodyuk, Member of Birobidzhan City Duma (2024–present), youth methodologist * Viktor Yeryomichev, retired train driverFailed to qualify
Polls Fieldwork datePolling firm Kostyuk Gladkikh Shcherbina Krupsky PotapenkoNoneLead14 September 20252025 election83.07.34.93.0–1.775.7 28 August 2025 Potapenko withdraws from the raceMarch – August 2025INSOMAR749832465
Results
|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" ! style="text-align:left;" colspan=2| Candidate ! style="text-align:left;"| Party ! width="75"|Votes ! width="30"|% |- | style="background-color:"| | style="text-align:left;"| Maria Kostyuk (incumbent) | style="text-align:left;"| United Russia | | 83.02 |- | style="background-color:"| | style="text-align:left;"| Vasily Gladkikh | style="text-align:left;"| Liberal Democratic Party | | 7.33 |- | style="background-color:"| | style="text-align:left;"| Aleksandr Shcherbina | style="text-align:left;"| Communist Party | | 4.91 |- | style="background-color:"| | style="text-align:left;"| Aleksandr Krupsky | style="text-align:left;"| Communists of Russia | | 3.01 |- | style="text-align:left;" colspan="3"| Valid votes | | 98.27 |- | style="text-align:left;" colspan="3"| Blank ballots | | 1.73 |- style="font-weight:bold" | style="text-align:left;" colspan="3"| Total | | 100.00 |- | style="background-color:#E9E9E9;" colspan="6"| |- | style="text-align:left;" colspan="3"| Turnout | | 74.22 |- | style="text-align:left;" colspan="3"| Registered voters | | 100.00 |- | colspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9;"| |- style="font-weight:bold" | colspan="4" |Source:
Governor Kostyuk appointed Deputy Minister of Health of Russia Natalya Khorova (Independent) to the Federation Council, replacing incumbent Senator Yuri Valyaev (Independent).
See also 2025 Russian regional elections
References