Gubernatorial elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2026. These elections took place in 36 states and three territories. The governorships up for election in 2026 were split evenly - 18 Republicans and 18 Democrats. Democrats won 24 of them, while Republicans won 12, as the Democrats achieved turn-overs in Alaska, Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Texas. Republicans successfully defended two governorships in states that Kamala Harris won in 2024 (New Hampshire and Vermont), while Democrats successfully defended five governorships up for election in states that Donald Trump won in 2024 (Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin).
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 had officially term-limited incumbents.
The Democrats flipped six state governorships, while the Republicans flipped one in the territory of Guam. As a result, this was the first time since 2009 that Democrats won a majority of governorships. At 30 governorships after these elections, this represents the most for the Democrats since 1992.
Partisan composition
Going into the election, there were 26 Republican governors and 24 Democratic governors in the United States. The governorships up for election in 2026 were split evenly – 18 Republicans and 18 Democrats. Republicans held two governorships up for election in states that Kamala Harris won in 2024 (New Hampshire and Vermont), while Democrats held five governorships up for election in states that Donald Trump won in 2024 (Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin).
Retirements
There were 22 incumbent governors (11 Democrats, 10 Republicans, and one Independent) who retired, of which 17 incumbent governors (eight Democrats and nine Republicans) were term-limited. The remaining five incumbent governors (three Democrats, one Republican, and one Independent) did not seek reelection.
Democratic
- California: Gavin Newsom was term-limited after 2 terms.
- Colorado: Jared Polis was term-limited after 2 terms.
- District of Columbia: Muriel Bowser retired.
- Guam: Lou Leon Guerrero was term-limited after 2 terms.
- Kansas: Laura Kelly was term-limited after 2 terms.
- Maine: Janet Mills was term-limited after 2 terms.
- Michigan: Gretchen Whitmer was term-limited after 2 terms.
- Minnesota: Tim Walz retired.
- New Mexico: Michelle Lujan Grisham was term-limited after 2 terms.
- United States Virgin Islands: Albert Bryan Jr. was term-limited after 2 terms.
- Wisconsin: Tony Evers retired.
Republican
- Alabama: Kay Ivey was term-limited after 2 full terms.
- Alaska: Mike Dunleavy was term-limited after 2 terms.
- Florida: Ron DeSantis was term-limited after 2 terms.
- Georgia: Brian Kemp was term-limited after 2 terms.
- Iowa: Kim Reynolds retired.
- Ohio: Mike DeWine was term-limited after 2 terms.
- Oklahoma: Kevin Stitt was term-limited after 2 terms.
- South Carolina: Henry McMaster was term-limited after 2 full terms.
- Tennessee: Bill Lee was term-limited after 2 terms.
- Wyoming: Mark Gordon was term-limited after 2 terms.
Independents
- Northern Mariana Islands: David M. Apatang retired.
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.
In general elections
Republicans
Two Republicans lost reelection.
- Nevada: Joe Lombardo lost reelection to Aaron Ford.
- Texas: Greg Abbott lost reelection to Gina Hinojosa.
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
Closest races
16 races had a margin of victory under 10%:
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.
On November 4, 2026, Tuberville was declared the winner by the Associated Press. He won 52% to Jones's 48%, making it the closest gubernatorial election in Alabama since 2002.
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 by vote count (using first past the post) advancing to the general election, which will be conducted using instant-runoff ranked-choice voting. The advancing candidates are Republicans former state Attorney General Treg Taylor, businesswoman Bernadette Wilson; former Anchorage mayor Dave Bronson; and Democratic 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.
Kreiss-Tomkins won the election, receiving more than 50% of the first-choice vote and avoiding a ranked-choice runoff.
Arizona
Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, was elected in 2022 with 50.3% of the vote. Starting with this election cycle, gubernatorial candidates were required to nominate a running mate for the newly established office of Lieutenant Governor. Hobbs ran for re-election to a second term and was 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 ran in the No Labels/Arizona Independent Party primary. Former Democratic state representative Leezah Sun announced a campaign as an independent, but did not appear on the ballot.
This was 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.
Hobbs defeated Biggs by 13 points.
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.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders was re-elected. Shelby became the first third-party Arkansas gubernatorial candidate to win a county since 1896 when he carried his home county of Franklin.
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. Becerra won the 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.
Butch Ware, the Green Party's 2024 vice presidential nominee, announced his candidacy but did not meet the requirements to appear on the primary ballot and instead ran as a write-in candidate.
Becerra won the election by over 30 points.
Colorado
Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, was re-elected in 2022 with 58.5% of the vote. He will be term-limited by the Colorado Constitution in 2026 and cannot seek re-election to a third consecutive term.
State Attorney General Phil Weiser defeated U.S. Senator Michael Bennet for the Democratic nomination.
On the Republican side, ministry leader Victor Marx defeated state representative Scott Bottoms and state senator Barbara Kirkmeyer for the nomination.
Former U.S. Representative for Colorado's 4th congressional district Greg Lopez initially announced his campaign as a Republican but later left the party in January 2026 and is continuing his campaign as an independent.
Weiser defeated Marx and Lopez in a landslide.
Connecticut
Governor Ned Lamont, a Democrat, was re-elected in 2022 with 56% of the vote. Because Connecticut does not have gubernatorial term limits in its Constitution, Lamont has announced that he is running for a third term. Lamont fended off a primary challenge from State representative for the 88th district Josh Elliott.
State senator for the 36th district Ryan Fazio is the Republican nominee. Former lieutenant governor of New York Betsy McCaugheyinitially announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination in March 2026 but withdrew after not receiving 15% of the convention vote in May. New Britain mayor Erin Stewart initially ran but dropped out of the race in May 2026, after allegations of misconduct during her tenure as mayor.
Lamont defeated Fazio by nearly 20 points.
Florida
Republican Governor Ron DeSantis was re-elected in 2022 with 59.4% of the vote. He is term-limited by the Florida Constitution in 2026 and cannot seek re-election to a third consecutive term.
U.S. representative for Florida's 19th congressional district Byron Donalds announced his candidacy on February 25, 2025, becoming the first major Republican to enter the race. Paul Renner, former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, announced his candidacy in September 2025, and Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins joined the race in January 2026. Other Republican candidates included entrepreneur James Fishback. Donalds won the nomination with 47.8% of the vote.
Former Republican U.S. representative for Florida's 13th congressional district David Jolly, a staunch critic of Trump, joined the Democratic Party in 2025 and announced his candidacy June 2025. He won the Democratic nomination with 61.0% of the vote.