2002 Governor's Chairs by State

The Green Papers: Midterm Election 2002

2002 Governor's Chairs
by State

36 Governor's Chairs up for election in 2002

36 Elected

14 Governor's Chairs not up for election in 2002

20 Open Governor's Chairs (voluntary retirement, seeking other political office, term limits)

16 Incumbents renominated by same party

196 Candidates seeking a Governor's Chair

This is a list of the current Governors' seats, the incumbents occupying them, and the candidacy status of said incumbents. Chairs up for election in the year 2002 are marked as such.

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Governor Links



Alabama Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Don Siegelman • First elected: 1998 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002 • The current Governor is NOT affected by this state's term limit. • Renominated - 4 June 2002 Primary
	Close Race. Republican Congressman Bob Riley (670,913 votes, 49.26%) vs Incumbent Democrat Governor Don Siegelman (667,718 votes, 49.03%). Apparently, an extra several thousand votes were originally counted for Governor Siegelman in Baldwin County that were mistakenly counted twice; it was evidently on the belief- fueled, in part, by the original numbers- that a recount could possibly still give him the victory that caused Governor Siegelman to claim victory on Election Night even as Congressman Riley was doing the same. The county canvassing boards will certify election results no later than 20 November. Congressman Riley has asked the Alabama Supreme Court to block a statewide recount on grounds that, under State law, the seals on voting machines can only be broken under circumstances not applicable to the instant case: Oral Argument has been set for Thursday 21 November, the day after the deadline for the election results to be certified. For his part, Governor Siegelman is claiming that nearly 10,000 so-called "undervotes" (that is, ballots cast in which no vote for Governor appears to have been made) includes enough actual votes for Governor misread as "blank" to potentially give him the ultimate victory; in the unofficial returns, Siegelman is behind Riley by slightly more than 3,000 votes (as can be seen above). Nevertheless, it appears that- without question- this race was won by Congressman Riley.

Alaska Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Tony Knowles • First elected: 1994; re-elected: 1998 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002 • The current Governor is affected by a term limit and CANNOT run in the next election for Governor. • Open Chair
			Open Chair (no incumbent)

California Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Gray Davis • Re-elected 5 November 2002 • First elected: 1998; re-elected: 2002 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002 • The current Governor is NOT affected by this state's term limit. • Renominated - 5 March 2002 Primary

Delaware Term Limit: No one can serve more than 2 4-year terms in a lifetime
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Ruth Ann Minner • First elected: 2000 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 2 November 2004 • The current Governor is NOT affected by this state's term limit.

Georgia Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Roy E. Barnes • First elected: 1998 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002 • The current Governor is NOT affected by this state's term limit. • Renominated - 20 August 2002 - Primary

Hawaii Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Ben Cayetano • First elected: 1994; re-elected: 1998 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002 • The current Governor is affected by a term limit and CANNOT run in the next election for Governor. • Open Chair
			Open Chair (no incumbent)

Indiana Term Limit: No more than 2 4-year terms in any 3-term period
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Frank O'Bannon • First elected: 1996; re-elected: 2000 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 2 November 2004 • The current Governor is affected by a term limit and CANNOT run in the next election for Governor.

Iowa Term Limit: None; 4-year term
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Tom Vilsack • Re-elected 5 November 2002 • First elected: 1998; re-elected: 2002 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002 • The current Governor is NOT affected by this state's term limit. • Renominated - 4 June 2002 Primary

Kentucky Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Paul Patton • First elected: 1995; re-elected; 1999 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 4 November 2003 • The current Governor is affected by a term limit and CANNOT run in the next election for Governor.

Maryland Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Parris N. Glendening • First elected: 1994; re-elected: 1998 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002 • The current Governor is affected by a term limit and CANNOT run in the next election for Governor. • Open Chair
			Open Chair (no incumbent)

Mississippi Term Limit: No one can serve more than 2 4-year terms in a lifetime
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Ronnie Musgrove • First elected: 1999 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 4 November 2003 • The current Governor is NOT affected by this state's term limit.

Missouri Term Limit: No one can serve more than 2 4-year terms in a lifetime
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Bob Holden • First elected: 2000 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 2 November 2004 • The current Governor is NOT affected by this state's term limit.

New Hampshire Term Limit: None; 2-year term
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Jeanne Shaheen • First elected: 1996; re-elected: 1998, 2000 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002 • The current Governor is NOT affected by this state's term limit. • Open Chair - Nominee for U.S. Senate
			Open Chair (no incumbent)

New Jersey Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor James E. ["Jim"] McGreevey • First elected: 2001 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 8 November 2005 • The current Governor is NOT affected by this state's term limit.
	Tuesday 8 January 2002 - from Noon EST (1700 UTC) today until Noon EST (1700 UTC) on Tuesday 15 January 2002, the duties of Acting Governor of NEW JERSEY will be shared by Democrat State Senator Richard J. Codey and Republican State Senator John O. Bennett who will- after Noon (1700 UTC), 8 January- be co-Presidents of the State Senate. The reason for this is that the Senate term of Acting Governor (and outgoing State Senate President) Donald T. DeFrancesco will have ended when the Legislature elected in last November's elections takes office at Noon (1700 UTC) on 8 January: since Governor-elect James E. McGreevey will NOT take office for a full 4-year term until Noon (1700 UTC) on 15 January and the new NJ State Senate is split along party lines- 20 Democrats to 20 Republicans- this rather unique situation, lasting a week, has been created due to the fact that the State Constitution of New Jersey has not provided for a Lieutenant Governor or some similar state official to fill a vacancy in the State's Governor's Chair.

North Carolina Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Mike Easley • First elected: 2000 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 2 November 2004 • The current Governor is NOT affected by this state's term limit.

Oregon Term Limit: No more than 2 4-year terms in any 3-term period
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor John Kitzhaber • First elected: 1994; re-elected: 1998 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002 • The current Governor is affected by a term limit and CANNOT run in the next election for Governor. • Open Chair
			Open Chair (no incumbent)

South Carolina Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Jim Hodges • First elected: 1998 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002 • The current Governor is NOT affected by this state's term limit. • Renominated - 11 June 2002 Primary

Vermont Term Limit: None; 2-year term
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Howard Dean • As Lieutenant Governor, succeeded to the office upon the death of Governor Richard A. Snelling (Republican): 14 August 1991; first elected to a full term: 1992; re-elected: 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002 • The current Governor is NOT affected by this state's term limit. • Open Chair - Voluntary Retirement
			Open Chair (no incumbent)
	Since no candidate received 50% of the vote, Governor's race in will be decided by the Republican controlled State Legislature. On 6 November, Democratic Lieutenant Governor Racine (42%) conceded to Republican Jim Douglas (45%).

Virginia Term Limit: 1 4-year term
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Mark Warner • First elected: 2001 (succeeding Republican James S. Gilmore) • Chair up for election: Tuesday 8 November 2005 • The current Governor is affected by a term limit and CANNOT run in the next election for Governor.

Washington Term Limit: None; 4-year term
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Gary Locke • First elected: 1996, 2000 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 2 November 2004 • The current Governor is NOT affected by this state's term limit.

West Virginia Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat

		Democrat	Governor Robert E. Wise, Jr. • First elected: 2000 • Chair up for election: Tuesday 2 November 2004 • The current Governor is NOT affected by this state's term limit.