United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 6, 1990, in 36 states and two territories. Most elected in these elections would serve for a 4-year term, while those in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont would serve for a 2-year term. The elections coincided with the mid-term elections for the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. Heading into the elections, there were 20 seats held by Democrats and 16 held by Republicans. By the end of the elections, 19 seats would be held by a Democrat, 15 would be held by a Republican, and two would be held by other parties.
Notably, in these elections, there were two people elected from a third party: former Alaskan governor and Secretary of the Interior under President Nixon Walter Joseph Hickel was elected governor as a part of the Alaskan Independence Party, and former U.S. Senator Lowell Weicker of Connecticut won on A Connecticut Party's ticket. In addition to Weicker, two other U.S. senators were elected governors that year, Republican Pete Wilson of California and Democrat Lawton Chiles of Florida. The 1990 cycle saw six incumbent governors defeated. These were Republicans Mike Hayden of Kansas, Kay Orr of Nebraska, Bob Martinez of Florida and Edward DiPrete of Rhode Island, as well as Democrats James Blanchard of Michigan and Rudy Perpich of Minnesota.
In 1988, Arizona voters approved a runoff-style election following the impeachment of governor Evan Mecham. Because no candidate received a majority (50%) of the vote in the November election, a run-off election occurred on February 26, 1991. This style of voting was later repealed in 1992.
Closest states
States where the margin of victory was under 1%:
- Michigan, 0.7%
- Nebraska, 0.7%
States where the margin of victory was under 5%:
- Illinois, 2.5%
- Texas, 2.6%
- Maine, 2.7%
- Connecticut, 2.9%
- Massachusetts, 3.3%
- Minnesota, 3.3%
- California, 3.4%
- Alabama, 4.2%
- Arizona, 4.8%
States where the margin of victory was under 10%:
- Oregon, 5.7%
- Vermont, 5.8%
- Kansas, 6.0%
- Alaska, 8.0%
- Georgia, 8.4%
- New Mexico, 9.4%
Alabama
The 1990 Alabama gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990, to select the governor of Alabama. The election saw incumbent Republican governor Guy Hunt defeat Democrat Paul Hubbert, executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association. This marked the first time in history that a Republican won a second gubernatorial term in Alabama.
Alaska
The 1990 Alaska gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1990, for the open seat of Governor of Alaska. In 1989, incumbent governor Steve Cowper, a Democrat, had announced that he would not seek re-election for a second term.
In a rare third-party win in American politics, former Republican governor Wally Hickel, running on the ticket of the Alaskan Independence Party, defeated Democratic candidate Tony Knowles and Republican candidate Arliss Sturgulewski.
Arizona
The 1990–91 Arizona gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1990, for the post of Governor of Arizona. Incumbent Democratic Governor Rose Mofford declined to run for a full term. Republican Fife Symington defeated the Democratic nominee and Mayor of Phoenix Terry Goddard. Because no candidate received a majority of votes, a runoff election was held later on February 26, 1991, which Symington also won. This is the only election where Arizona used a runoff election.
Evan Mecham, a former governor who was removed from office in 1988 upon being convicted in his impeachment trial, unsuccessfully ran for another term. This would be the last gubernatorial election until 2018 when the victorious gubernatorial candidate in the state would be of the same party as the incumbent president.
Arkansas
The 1990 Arkansas gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1990. Incumbent Democratic governor Bill Clinton won re-election in a two-way race against Democrat turned Republican Sheffield Nelson with 57.5% of the vote. This was Clinton's fourth consecutive, and fifth overall, term as Governor of Arkansas, as well as his final term (he was elected to the presidency in 1992).
California
The 1990 California gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990. The Republican candidate, Senator Pete Wilson, defeated the Democratic candidate, former San Francisco mayor Dianne Feinstein.
Colorado
The 1990 Colorado gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990. Incumbent Democrat Roy Romer defeated Republican nominee John Andrews with 61.89% of the vote.
Connecticut
The 1990 Connecticut gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1990, to elect the governor of Connecticut. It was a three-way race for a seat left open when Governor William A. O'Neill declined to run for re-election. A Connecticut Party nominee Lowell Weicker narrowly won the election, becoming the first candidate who was not a member of one of the two major parties to win a gubernatorial election since the 1974 election in Maine.
Florida
The 1990 Florida gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1990. Incumbent Republican governor Bob Martinez ran for a second term in office, but was defeated by Democratic challenger Lawton Chiles, a former U.S. senator.
Georgia
The 1990 Georgia gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990. Lieutenant Governor Zell Miller ran for governor after incumbent Joe Frank Harris was term-limited, defeating Andrew Young, Roy Barnes, and Lester Maddox for the Democratic nomination, and defeated Johnny Isakson, a member of the Georgia House of Representatives.
Hawaii
The 1990 Hawaii gubernatorial election was Hawaii's ninth gubernatorial election. The election was held on November 6, 1990, and resulted in a victory for the Democratic candidate, incumbent Governor John D. Waiheʻe III over the Republican candidate, State Representative Fred Hemmings. Waihee received more votes than Hemmings in every county in the state.
Idaho
The 1990 Idaho gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990, to elect the Governor of the state of Idaho. Cecil Andrus, the Democratic incumbent, ran for an unprecedented fourth term. Roger Fairchild, a former state senate majority leader from Fruitland, won the Republican nomination in May, but was easily defeated in November by the popular Andrus.
This was the sixth consecutive win for the Democrats, which started with Andrus' first victory twenty years earlier in 1970.
Illinois
The 1990 Illinois gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990 to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of Illinois. The incumbent Governor Jim Thompson chose to retire instead of seeking reelection to a fifth term. The Republican nominee, Secretary of State Jim Edgar, narrowly defeated the Democratic nominee, Attorney General Neil Hartigan, by about 80,000 votes out of the over 3.2 million cast (a margin of 2.58%).
This was the first open-seat gubernatorial election in Illinois since 1952, which was 38 years previously. A competitive race, it had the narrowest margin of victory for a statewide election in Illinois that cycle and was one of the closest gubernatorial races in the nation that year. At the time, it was the costliest campaign in state history.
Iowa
The 1990 Iowa gubernatorial election took place November 8, 1990. Incumbent Republican Governor of Iowa Terry Branstad ran for re-election to a third term as governor. On the Democratic side, state representative Donald Avenson won his party's nomination and both Branstad and Avenson moved on to the general election. Branstad won re-election to a third term as governor, defeating Avenson by a margin of over 20 points.
Kansas
The 1990 Kansas gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1990. Incumbent Republican Governor Mike Hayden lost re-election to Democratic nominee Joan Finney.
Maine
The 1990 Maine gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1990 to elect the governor of Maine. Incumbent Republican governor John McKernan won re-election to a second term, defeating Democratic nominee, former governor Joseph E. Brennan in a tight contest. Independent Andrew Adam took in 9.3% of the vote. Both Brennan and McKernan were unopposed in their respective primaries.
This was the last election until 2010 that Maine elected a Republican governor. This was also the last Maine gubernatorial election until 2022 in which the winner was of the same party as the incumbent president.
Maryland
The 1990 Maryland gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990. Incumbent Democrat William Donald Schaefer defeated Republican nominee William S. Shepard handily (59.76% to 40.23%).
Massachusetts
The 1990 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990. Incumbent Democratic governor Michael Dukakis, his party's nominee for president in 1988, opted to not seek a fourth term. Republican Bill Weld won the open seat, beating Democrat John Silber to become the first Republican governor of Massachusetts elected since 1970. This was the first open-seat gubernatorial election in Massachusetts since 1960.
Michigan
The 1990 Michigan gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990, to elect the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the state of Michigan. John Engler, a member of the Republican Party and State Senate majority leader, was elected over Democratic Party nominee, incumbent governor James Blanchard, who was seeking his third term.
In what turned out to be one of the closest elections in recent Michigan history, Engler defeated Blanchard by less than 18,000 votes and a 0.7% margin. Engler's victory was considered a major upset and became infamous among pollsters. The final Detroit News poll showed Engler trailing by 14 points, and the final Detroit Free Press poll showed Engler behind by 4 points. A retrospective of the polling suggests the News poll may have had questions that favored Blanchard and too heavily incorporated the opinions of registered voters rather than likely voters, and thus failed to correctly gauge turnout.
Minnesota
The 1990 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1990. Independent-Republican Party Auditor Arne Carlson defeated incumbent Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party Governor Rudy Perpich. This remains the last gubernatorial election in Minnesota to date in which an incumbent governor ran for reelection to a third consecutive term.
Nebraska
In the 1990 Nebraska gubernatorial election, Democratic challenger Ben Nelson narrowly defeated first-term Republican incumbent Kay Orr for the governorship of the state of Nebraska.
Nevada
The 1990 Nevada gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990, to elect the next governor of Nevada, alongside an election to the United States House of Representatives and other state and local elections. Incumbent two-term Democratic Governor Richard Bryan resigned in 1989 after being elected to the United States Senate and under the Nevada succession law, Democrat Lieutenant Governor Bob Miller became the next governor. Miller won in a landslide victory to a full term, defeating Republican nominee Jim Gallaway.
New Hampshire
The 1990 New Hampshire gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1990. Incumbent Governor Judd Gregg won reelection to a second term that would be his last, as he ran for and won election to the United States Senate in 1992.
New Mexico
The 1990 New Mexico gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1990, in order to elect the Governor of New Mexico. Due to term limits, incumbent Republican Garrey Carruthers was ineligible to seek a second term as governor. Democrat Bruce King won his third and final term overall as governor, defeating Republican Frank Bond. King won the largest share of the vote out of his four gubernatorial campaigns. This is the most recent election in which Catron County has voted for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
New York
The 1990 New York gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990, to elect the governor and Lieutenant Governor of New York. Democratic governor Mario Cuomo won a third term in office, making him the first Democrat elected to three terms as Governor of New York since Herbert H. Lehman.
Ohio
The 1990 Ohio gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990. Incumbent Democratic governor Dick Celeste was unable to run for a third consecutive term due to term limits. Former mayor of Cleveland George Voinovich, who also ran for the United States Senate in 1988, was uncontested for the Republican nomination, while Ohio Attorney General Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr. emerged from the Democratic primary. In the end, Voinovich was able to defeat Celebrezze by a fairly wide margin, winning his first term in office.
Oklahoma
The 1990 Oklahoma gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990, to elect the governor of Oklahoma. Democratic businessman David Walters won the election easily despite his lack of political experience.
Oregon
The 1990 Oregon gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 1990. Democratic nominee Barbara Roberts defeated Republican David B. Frohnmayer and Independent Al Mobley to win the election.
Pennsylvania
The 1990 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990. Incumbent Democratic governor Robert P. Casey easily defeated Republican Barbara Hafer. Governor Casey defeated Hafer by a margin of 35.29%, and carried 66 out of 67 Pennsylvania counties.
Rhode Island
The 1990 Rhode Island gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990. Democratic nominee Bruce Sundlun defeated incumbent Republican Edward D. DiPrete with 74.15% of the vote.