2018 United States gubernatorial elections

United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 6, 2018, in 36 states and three territories. These elections formed part of the 2018 United States elections. Other coinciding elections were the 2018 United States Senate elections and the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections.

Many of the states holding gubernatorial elections have term limits which made some multi-term governors ineligible for re-election. Two Democratic governors were term-limited while six incumbent Democratic governors were eligible for re-election. Among Republican governors, twelve were term-limited while eleven could seek re-election. One independent governor was eligible for re-election.

Elections were held in 26 of the 33 states with Republican governors, nine of the 16 states with Democratic governors, one state (Alaska) with an independent governor, two territories (Guam and Northern Mariana Islands) with Republican governors, one territory (U.S. Virgin Islands) with an independent governor, and the District of Columbia with a Democratic mayor. Incumbent state governors running to be reelected included 14 Republicans, five Democrats, and one independent. Territorial incumbents running included one Republican and one independent. The incumbent Democratic mayor of Washington, D.C. also ran for re-election.

Democrats gained control of nine state and territorial governorships that had previously been held by Republicans and an independent. They picked up Republican-held open seats in the states of Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, and New Mexico, in addition to defeating Republican incumbents in Illinois and Wisconsin and not losing any seats of their own. Additionally, they won the Republican-controlled territory of Guam and the independent-controlled territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Republicans won the governorship of Alaska previously held by an independent. Democrats also won the total popular vote for the year's gubernatorial elections for the second year in a row.

As of , this is the last time that Republicans won governorships in Arizona, Maryland, and Massachusetts, and the last time Democrats did so in Nevada.

Election predictions

Several sites and individuals publish predictions of competitive seats. These predictions look at factors such as the strength of the incumbent (if the incumbent is running 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 assign ratings to each seat, with the rating indicating the predicted advantage that a party has in winning that seat. Most election predictors use "tossup" to indicate that neither party has an advantage, "lean" to indicate that one party has a slight advantage, "likely" or "favored" to indicate that one party has a significant but not insurmountable advantage and "safe" or "solid" to indicate that one party has a near-certain chance of victory. Some predictions also include a "tilt" rating that indicates that one party has an advantage that is not quite as strong as the "lean" rating would indicate (except Fox News, where "likely" is the highest rating given). Governors whose names are in parentheses are not contesting the election.

^ Highest rating given

Closest races

States where the margin of victory was under 1%:
# Florida, 0.4%

States where the margin of victory was under 5%:
# Wisconsin, 1.1%
# Georgia, 1.4%
# Iowa, 2.8%
# Connecticut, 3.2%
# South Dakota, 3.4%
# Ohio, 3.7%
# Nevada, 4.1%
States where the margin of victory was under 10%:
#Kansas, 5.0%
# Oregon, 6.4%
#Alaska, 7.0%
# New Hampshire, 7.0%
# Maine, 7.7%
# South Carolina, 8.0%
#U.S. Virgin Islands, 9.3%
# Michigan, 9.5%

Red denotes states won by Republicans. Blue denotes states won by Democrats.

Race summary

States

Territories and federal district

Alabama

Incumbent Kay Ivey took office upon Robert Bentley's resignation in April 2017.

Ivey won election to a full term.

Alaska

One-term incumbent Bill Walker ran for re-election as an independent but dropped out of the race on October 19 to endorse Mark Begich (several days after Lieutenant Governor Byron Mallott resigned and several weeks before election day).

Former Alaska Senate member Mike Dunleavy won the Republican nomination.

Former U.S. Senator Mark Begich ran uncontested for the Democratic nomination.

Billy Tolein ran for governor on the Libertarian party ticket.

Dunleavy won the election.

Arizona

One-term incumbent Doug Ducey sought re-election.

Professor David Garcia won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

Libertarian candidate for president in 2016 Kevin McCormick declared his candidacy.

Ducey won re-election.

Arkansas

One-term incumbent Asa Hutchinson ran for re-election.

Jared Henderson, a former state executive director for Teach For America, won the Democratic nomination.

Libertarian Mark West sought his party's nomination.

Hutchinson won re-election.

California

Two-term consecutive, four-term non-consecutive Governor Jerry Brown was term-limited, as California governors are limited to lifetime service of two terms in office. Brown previously served as governor from 1975 to 1983; California law affects only terms served after 1990.

The Democratic nominee was Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom.

The Republican nominee was businessman John H. Cox.

Libertarian candidates included transhumanist activist Zoltan Istvan.

Newsom won election in a landslide, breaking the record for the largest number of votes received in a gubernatorial election.

Colorado

Two-term Governor John Hickenlooper was term-limited, as Colorado does not allow governors to serve three consecutive terms.Jason Linkins (July 13, 2014
"The Brutalist Guide To 2016's Democratic Contenders (Not Named Hillary Clinton)"
, ''The Huffington Post''. Retrieved October 2, 2014.

The Democratic nominee was U.S. Representative Jared Polis.

The Republican nominee was Colorado State Treasurer Walker Stapleton.

Polis won the election.

Connecticut

Two-term Governor Dan Malloy was eligible to seek re-election, but declined to do so.

The Democratic nominee was former selectman from Greenwich Ned Lamont.

Republicans endorsed Mark Boughton, mayor of Danbury, at the statewide nominating convention held on May 11 and 12, 2018, at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard. Candidates qualifying to primary at the convention were former First Selectman of Trumbull Tim Herbst and former candidate for Congress Steve Obsitnik. Failing to qualify at the convention to primary were Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti, former secretary of state candidate Peter Lumaj, state representative Prasad Srinivasan, former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker and Stamford Director of Administration, Mike Handler.

Businessman Bob Stefanowski became the second candidate in the history of Connecticut to petition to be on the primary ballot on June 18, 2018, and the first for a gubernatorial race. Businessman David Stemerman became the third to do so on June 19, 2018. Neither Stefanowski nor Stemerman participated in the statewide convention. Both Lauretti and Handler pledged to conduct a petition drive to get on the August 14, 2018, primary election ballot, but dropped out.

Micah Welintukonis, former vice chair of the Coventry Town Council ran as an independent.

Lamont won the election in a close race.

Florida

Two-term Governor Rick Scott was term-limited, as Florida does not allow governors to serve three consecutive terms.

U.S. Representative Ron DeSantis won the Republican nomination.

Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum won the Democratic nomination.

Randy Wiseman sought the Libertarian nomination.

DeSantis narrowly won the election in a close race.

Georgia

Two-term Governor Nathan Deal was term-limited, as Georgia does not allow governors to serve three consecutive terms.

Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp won first and second place in the May 22 Republican primary; Cagle lost the runoff to Kemp on July 24, 2018.

State Representative Stacey Abrams garnered the Democratic nomination outright.

Ted Metz, chair of the Libertarian Party of Georgia, ran unopposed in the Libertarian primary.

Kemp won the election.

Hawaii

One-term Governor David Ige ran for re-election. Ige took office after defeating previous Governor Neil Abercrombie in the Democratic primary and then winning the general election. Ige was nominated again, after defeating a primary challenge by Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa.

The Republican nominee was state house minority leader Andria Tupola.

Ige won re-election.

Idaho

Three-term Governor Butch Otter was eligible to seek re-election, but did not do so.

Lieutenant Governor Brad Little won the Republican nomination.

Paulette Jordan, a former state representative, was nominated in the Democratic primary.

Little won the election.

Illinois

One-term incumbent Republican Bruce Rauner ran for re-election. State Representative Jeanne Ives also ran for the Republican nomination, but lost narrowly to Rauner.

On the Democratic side, Madison County Regional Superintendent of Schools Bob Daiber, former chairman of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees and member of the Kennedy family Chris Kennedy, State Representative Scott Drury, State Senator Daniel Biss, and venture capitalist J. B. Pritzker all ran for the Democratic nomination. Pritzker, who is related to former United States Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, won the primary, and became one of the wealthiest governors in United States history upon election.

Libertarian candidate Kash Jackson was nominated at the state party convention on March 3. He defeated Matt Scaro and Jon Stewart.

Pritzker won the election in a landslide.

Iowa

Incumbent Governor Kim Reynolds took office in 2017, upon the resignation of Terry Branstad, following his confirmation as ambassador to China. Reynolds sought election to a full term in 2018.

Former gubernatorial aide John Norris, state Senator Nate Boulton, former state party chairwoman Andy McGuire, SEIU leader Cathy Glasson, attorney Jon Neiderbach, former Iowa City Mayor Ross Wilburn, and businessman Fred Hubbell sought the Democratic nomination, which Hubbell won.

Jake Porter, who was the Libertarian nominee for secretary of state in 2010 and 2014, ran for the Libertarian nomination for governor.

Reynolds won the election.

Kansas

Jeff Colyer succeeded Sam Brownback in January 2018 after he was confirmed as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom.

Secretary of State Kris Kobach defeated Governor Colyer, Kansas Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer, former state Senator Jim Barnett, and former state Representative Mark Hutton for the Republican nomination.

The Democratic nominee was state Senator Laura Kelly

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