Gubernatorial elections, 2025
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There are two gubernatorial offices on the ballot in 2025. These elections are in New Jersey and Virginia. The incumbents in both races—Phil Murphy (D) in New Jersey and Glenn Youngkin (R) in Virginia—are term-limited.
| On the Ballot takes an early look at 2025's gubernatorial elections. |
In 2021, when the most recent gubernatorial elections were held for these two offices, the only governorship that changed party control was Virginia's. Youngkin was elected to succeed incumbent Ralph Northam (D), who was term-limited and could not seek re-election. Governors of Virginia may not run for consecutive terms, although they may run for another term after spending a term out of office. Youngkin became the first Republican to win a statewide election in Virginia since 2009.
Murphy won re-election to a second term in 2021. Heading into the 2021 election, the last Democratic governor to win re-election in New Jersey was Brendan Byrne in 1977. Murphy is term-limited.
Eleven states held elections for governor in 2024. Heading into the election, three states (Delaware, North Carolina, and Washington) had Democratic governors, while eight states ( Indiana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Missouri, Montana, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia) had a Republican governor. No seats changed hands as a result of the 2024 elections. To read more about those elections, click here.
Seats up for election
There is one Democratic and one Republican seat up for election in 2025. These statistics do not include elections in the U.S. territories. The table and map below shows which states are holding gubernatorial elections in 2025.
| 2025 Gubernatorial Races | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Current Incumbent | Term-limited (Y/N) | ||
| New Jersey | Yes | |||
| Virginia | Yes | |||
List of candidates
The table below contains a list of all candidates for governor in 2025. The table is fully searchable by candidate, party and candidacy status. Depending on the size of your screen, you'll either see a menu to the left of the table or an arrow at the top right corner, which you can use to select a state.
| candidate | party | office | status |
|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Republican | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Republican | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Republican | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Republican | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Republican | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Republican | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Republican | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Republican | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Republican | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Republican | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Democratic | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Democratic | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Democratic | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Democratic | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Democratic | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Democratic | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Green | Candidacy Declared General | ||
Independent | Candidacy Declared General | ||
Independent | Candidacy Declared General |
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
| candidate | party | office | status |
|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Republican | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Republican | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Republican | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Democratic | Candidacy Declared Primary | ||
Independent | Candidacy Declared General | ||
Democratic | Withdrew General |
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
What's on your ballot?
- See also: Sample Ballot Lookup
Partisan balance
The following chart displays the number of governors' offices held by each party before and after the 2025 elections.
| U.S. governors partisan breakdown | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of May 2024 | After the 2025 elections | |
| Democratic Party | 24 | TBD | |
| Republican Party | 26 | TBD | |
| Total | 50 | 50 | |
Trifectas
- See also: State government trifectas
State government trifecta is a term to describe single-party government, when one political party holds the governorship and majorities in both chambers of the state legislature.
As of March 16, 2025, there are 23 Republican trifectas, 15 Democratic trifectas, and 12 divided governments where neither party holds trifecta control.
Triplexes
- See also: State government triplexes
A state government triplex is a term used to describe when a state's governor, attorney general, and secretary of state are all members of the same party.
As of March 16, 2025, there are 25 Republican triplexes, 20 Democratic triplexes, and 5 divided governments where neither party holds triplex control.
Historical control
Republicans led in governorships from 1994 until 2006, after which there were 28 Democratic governors to the Republicans' 22. Republicans regained their national majority in the 2010 midterm elections. Between 2010 and 2017, the number of Republican governors continued to increase, reaching a high point of 33 following West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice's switch to the Republican Party in August 2017.[1] From 2017 to 2019, Democrats won Republican-held governorships in Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Wisconsin. Republicans, meanwhile, gained a governorship in Alaska previously held by independent Bill Walker. In 2020 and 2021, Republicans won Democratic-held governorships in Montana and Virginia. Four gubernatorial offices changed partisan control in 2022, with Democrats winning three previously Republican-held seats in Arizona, Maryland, and Massachusetts, and Republicans defeating the Democratic incumbent in Nevada. These changes brought Republicans to 26 governorships and Democrats to 24.
2024 gubernatorial elections
There were eight Republican-held governor's offices and three Democratic-held governor's offices on the ballot in 2024. The table and map below shows which states held gubernatorial elections in 2024.
| Gubernatorial elections, 2024 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Incumbent | Incumbent running? | Election winner | Last time office changed parties | 2020 presidential result | 2020 gubernatorial result[2] | 2024 election result |
| Delaware | No | 1993 | D+18.9 | D+20.9 | D+11.8 | ||
| Indiana | No | 2005 | R+16.0 | R+24.4 | R+15.2 | ||
| Missouri | No | 2017 | R+15.4 | R+16.4 | R+16.2 | ||
| Montana | Yes | 2021 | R+16.4 | R+12.8 | R+21.7 | ||
| New Hampshire | No[3] | 2017 | D+7.3 | R+15.0 | R+6.3 | ||
| North Carolina | No | 2017 | R+1.3 | D+4.5 | D+11.7 | ||
| North Dakota | No[4] | 1992 | R+33.3 | R+40.4 | R+44.8 | ||
| Utah | Yes | 1985 | R+20.5 | R+32.7 | R+26 | ||
| Vermont | Yes | 2017 | D+35.1 | R+47.2 | R+49.5 | ||
| Washington | No[5] | 1985 | D+19.2 | D+13.5 | D 12.8 | ||
| West Virginia | No | 2017[6] | R+38.9 | R+33.3 | R+33.6 | ||
About the office
- See also: Governor (state executive office)
In the United States, the title governor refers to the chief executive of each state. The governor is not directly subordinate to the federal authorities but is the political and ceremonial head of the state. The governor may also assume additional roles, such as the commander-in-chief of the National Guard when the role is not federalized. The governor may also have the ability to commute or pardon a criminal sentence.
In all states, the governor is directly elected and, in most cases, has considerable practical powers. Notable exceptions with weak governorships include the office of the governor in Texas, though this may be moderated by the state legislature and, in some cases, by other elected executive officials. Governors can veto state bills. The specific duties and powers vary widely between states.
Compensation
According to figures for 2022 compiled by the Council of State Governments in the Book of the States, gubernatorial offices range in size from 9 staffers in Nebraska to 277 staffers in Texas.[8]
Involvement in budget proposals
Although all governors have some involvement in the process of developing a state budget, the specific level of involvement differs from state to state. According to information published in the 2022 Book of the States, 24 governors share responsibility for developing a budget proposal, while 11 governors have full responsibility for developing an initial budget proposal and the remaining 15 have full responsibility for developing a budget.[9]
Term limits
- See also: States with gubernatorial term limits
Most states impose some form of term limits on governors; of those that do, all but Virginia limit a governor to two four-year terms or to eight years in office. Although most states' term limit laws allow a governor who has served two terms to be elected once again after time has elapsed, some states impose a lifetime term limit like that on the presidency. Although Vermont and New Hampshire do not have term limit laws, they are the only states whose governors serve two-year terms rather than four-year terms.
Line-item veto powers
The term line-item veto refers to the ability of a governor or other chief executive to veto specific parts of a bill while signing the rest of the bill into law. Currently, 44 states grant their governors line-item veto powers.[9]
See also
- State executive official elections, 2025
- Gubernatorial elections, 2023
- State executive official elections, 2023
Footnotes
- ↑ Because Justice switched his registration more than halfway through the year, he was counted as a Democrat in 2017 for the purposes of the chart.
- ↑ 2022 election for New Hampshire and Vermont.
- ↑ Sununu announced he would not run for re-election on July 19, 2023.
- ↑ Burgum announced that he was running for president of the United States on June 7, 2023.
- ↑ Inslee announced on May 1, 2023, that he would not run for re-election in 2024.
- ↑ Justice was elected as a Democrat and switched to the Republican Party in 2017.
- ↑ Book of the States, "2023 edition: Chapter 4 - Selected State Administrative Officials: Annual Salaries," accessed December 18, 2024
- ↑ Council of State Governments' Book of the States 2022 Table 4.3: The Governors: Compensation, Staff, Travel and Residence provided to Ballotpedia by CSG personnel
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Council of State Governments' Book of the States 2022 Table 4.4: The Governors: Powers provided to Ballotpedia by CSG personnel
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