United States gubernatorial elections were held on Tuesday November 8, in 35 states. 12 Democratic governors and 23 Republican governors won election, bringing the partisan reflection of the U.S. states to 25 Democrats and 25 Republicans. This election coincided with the Senate and the House elections. As of 2026, this is the last time the amount of governorships each party held was tied.
Closest races
States where the margin of victory was under 5%:
- Georgia, -0.31%
- Alaska, 1.62%
- Hawaii, 2.12%
- New Mexico, 3.47%
- Idaho, 4.30%
- Nevada, 4.32%
States where the margin of victory was under 10%:
- Minnesota, 5.61%
- Pennsylvania, 5.97%
- Maine, 6.24%
- New York, 6.50%
- Wisconsin, 7.42%
- Arizona, 7.54%
- New Hampshire, 7.97%
- Wyoming, 8.58%
- Arkansas, 8.72%
- Maryland, 8.89%
Red denotes states won by Republicans. Blue denotes states won by Democrats.
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.