United States gubernatorial elections were 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 held elections for their governors. This was also the first time since 1988 that a Republican nominee won the gubernatorial election in American Samoa and also the first time since 1996 that an incumbent governor there lost re-election. Also, this was the first time since 2008 that a Republican-affialiated nominee won a gubernatorial election in Puerto Rico.
The elections took place concurrently with the 2024 presidential election, elections to the House of Representatives and Senate, and numerous state and local elections. This was the first election cycle since 2017 that no incumbent Democratic governors ran for re-election. With the primary defeat of Puerto Rico governor Pedro Pierluisi, this was also the first cycle since 2020 in which an incumbent governor lost renomination, also in Puerto Rico. This was the first election cycle since 2015 in which there was no net change in state governorships held by either party, and the first since 2011 in which no seat changed parties. However, both territorial gubernatorial seats flipped from Democratic-affiliated to Republican-affiliated control.
Partisan composition
Going into the election, there were 27 Republican governors and 23 Democratic governors in the United States. This class of governors was made up of 8 Republicans and 3 Democrats. Republicans were defending two governorships in states that Joe Biden won in 2020 (New Hampshire and Vermont) while Democrats were defending one governorship in a state that Donald Trump won in 2020 (North Carolina).
Both the parties successfully defended their seats. The Republicans defended New Hampshire and Vermont successfully despite Kamala Harris winning from there in the concurrent presidential election. The Democrats defended their seat of North Carolina despite Donald Trump winning from there in the concurrent presidential election.
Republicans also made inroads in American Samoa as they flipped the seat from the Democrats.
Election 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 runs 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
Closest states
States where the margin of victory was between 5% and 10%:
- New Hampshire, 9.26%
Red denotes states won by Republicans.
Delaware
Governor John Carney was re-elected to a second term in 2020 with 59.5% of the vote. He was term-limited by the Delaware Constitution in 2024 and could not seek re-election for a third term. New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer defeated Lieutenant Governor Bethany Hall-Long and President of the National Wildlife Federation and former secretary of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Collin O'Mara for the Democratic nomination and state House Minority Leader Michael Ramone defeated Police Officer Jerry Price and Contactor Bobby Williamson for the Republican nomination.
Meyer comfortably won the election, albeit by the closest margin since 2004. Meyer's 56% of the vote is the lowest for the Democrats since that election, while Ramone's 44% is the highest since for Republicans.
Indiana
Governor Eric Holcomb, who was re-elected in the 2020 with 57% of the vote, was term-limited by the Indiana Constitution in 2024 and could not seek re-election for a third consecutive term. U.S. Senator Mike Braun has won the Republican nomination, defeating Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch, former president of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation Eric Doden and former Attorney General Curtis Hill.
Former Republican state Superintendent of Schools Jennifer McCormick won the Democratic nomination, previously switching parties in 2021. Braun won the election.
Missouri
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 was term-limited by the Missouri Constitution in 2024 and could not seek re-election for a second full term. Incumbent Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe won the Republican gubernatorial nomination with 39% of the vote, defeating state Senator Bill Eigel and Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft. In the Democratic primary, state House Minority Leader Crystal Quade won the nomination.
Montana
Governor Greg Gianforte was elected in 2020 with 54.4% of the vote. He ran for re-election and defeated State Representative Tanner Smith in the primary.
Businessman Ryan Busse won the Democratic nomination and faced Gianforte in the general election. Gianforte prevailed.
New Hampshire
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. Former U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte won the Republican gubernatorial nomination, defeating former state Senator Chuck Morse.
In the Democratic primary former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig defeated state Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington for the Democratic nomination.
North Carolina
Governor Roy Cooper was re-elected to a second term in 2020 with 51.5% of the vote. He was term-limited by the North Carolina Constitution in 2024 and could not seek re-election for a third consecutive term. Attorney General Josh Stein defeated former state 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.
Stein won the election with the largest percent of the vote since 2004 and the largest margin of victory since 1980.
North Dakota
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. 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, but dropped out before the primaries. On January 22, 2024, he announced he would not seek re-election as Governor. United States Representative Kelly Armstrong won the Republican nomination and defeated Lieutenant Governor Tammy Miller.
On the other side, state Senator Merrill Piepkorn won the Democratic nomination unopposed.
Utah
Governor Spencer Cox was elected in 2020 with 63% of the vote and ran for re-election to a second term. He won the Republican primary over conservative state Representative Phil Lyman to be the nominee.
On the other side, state Representative Brian King won the Democratic nomination unopposed.
Vermont
Governor Phil Scott won re-election to a fourth two-year term in 2022.
Washington
Washington 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 was eligible to run for re-election for a fourth term, but he has decided not to seek re-election. State Attorney General Bob Ferguson won the Democratic nomination. In the Republican primary, former U.S. representative Dave Reichert won the nomination.
West Virginia
Governor Jim Justice was re-elected to a second term in 2020 with 63.5% of the vote. He was term-limited by the West Virginia Constitution in 2024 and ineligible to seek re-election for a third consecutive term. Justice won the 2024 United States Senate election in West Virginia and succeeded Joe Manchin.
State Attorney General Patrick Morrisey won the Republican nomination, defeating former state Delegate Moore Capito, businessman Chris Miller, and Secretary of State Mac Warner.
Huntington Mayor Steve Williams won the Democratic nomination unopposed.
Morrisey won the election in a landslide by over 30 points and managed to carry every single county.
Territories
American Samoa
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." Prior to Magua's announcement, Paramount Chief Mauga Tasi Asuega was advocating for the Governor's reelection. Pula T. I. Nikolao Pula, former Director of the Office of Insular Affairs, announced his candidacy on March 4, 2024. Pula announced High Chief Pulu Ae Ae Jr., a former faipule for Maʻopūtasi County as hran mate.
Neither Mauga nor Pula won an outright majority in the November 5, 2024, election, triggering a runoff election on November 19. In the runoff, Pula took 59.8% of the 9,771 votes cast to win the governorship, flipping the seat for the Republicans by a margin of nearly 20 percentage points in the runoff.
Puerto Rico
Governor Pedro Pierluisi was elected in 2020 with 32.9% of the vote. He announced his re-election campaign on March 20, 2022, during the New Progressive Party's general assembly. However, he was defeated by Jenniffer González-Colón, the Republican affiliated resident commissioner, in the New Progressive Party primary election.
Territorial legislator Jesús Manuel Ortiz won the nomination of the Popular Democratic Party. Other candidates include former territorial senator Juan Dalmau of the Alianza de País (an alliance between the Puerto Rican Independence Party and Citizen's Victory Movement), and San Sebastián mayor Javier Jiménez of Project Dignity. Because Citizen's Victory was required by law to field a candidate in the governor's race, Javier Córdova Iturregui was also on the ballot. Ultimately, González won the election.