Democrats Hold Majority of Governorships After Historic Sweep
The party hadn't accomplished the feat since 2010
Thirty-six states had gubernatorial elections on Tuesday, and Democrats made significant gains across the country. According to unofficial results, the party now holds a majority of governorships for the first time since 2010.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night came in Texas, as Gina Hinojosa beat incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott. She’s the first Democrat elected governor in the Lone Star State since Ann Richards in the 1990s, and the first Latina to hold the office.
“It never bothered me that they doubted me. It bothered me that they doubted us,” Hinojosa said at her victory party in Austin. “Texas, my faith in you never wavered.”
And in the Ohio governor’s race, Amy Acton, the state’s former health secretary, beat billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy to become the state’s first woman governor. An ad from Ramaswamy’s campaign late in the race that featured Acton’s estranged mother appears to have badly backfired on Ramaswamy, and boosted support for Acton.
“The healing begins today,” Acton said at a victory party in Columbus. “This was a tough race. But the campaign is over. And I want to make something very clear to the people of Ohio: I will be a governor for all Ohioans. I am in this fight for all of us.”
In Pennsylvania, incumbent Gov. Josh Shapiro easily defeated GOP challenger Stacy Garrity, with the Associated Press calling the race shortly after polls closed there at 8 p.m. Shapiro, who is widely expected to mount a campaign for president in 2028, raised nearly 10 times as much money for his campaign as Garrity, the state’s treasurer.
Former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms will be Georgia’s first woman governor and the first Black woman elected governor in the U.S. after beating GOP billionaire Rick Jackson.
“Georgia, we sent a message loud and clear that we want a leader who will put Georgia first and who will stand up to all the chaos coming out of Washington, DC,” Bottoms said Tuesday night.
Rob Sand flipped Iowa into the blue column for the first time in 20 years, and David Crowley became the first Black governor of Wisconsin.
JB Pritzker, another expected 2028 contender, easily won a third term as Illinois governor, while Wes Moore won a second term in Maryland and Maura Healy won a second term in Massachusetts. Kathy Hochul was elected to a second term in New York and Ned Lamont was elected to a third term in Connecticut. And Hannah Pingree won the open governor’s seat in Maine.
Katie Hobbs won reelection to a second term in Arizona and former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland was elected New Mexico governor. And in Michigan, Jocelyn Benson, who became known for pushing back against Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election, beat Trump-endorsed election denier Rep. John James.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar won the open seat for that state’s governor; while Xavier Becerra became the first Latino governor of California in more than 100 years. Tina Kotek was reelected in Oregon, Josh Green won reelection in Hawaii, and Aaron Ford won in Nevada.
