2016 Governor's Chairs by State

The Green Papers: 2016 General Election

2016 Governor's Chairs
by State

12 Governor's Chairs up for election in 2016

12 Elected

38 Governor's Chairs not up for election in 2016

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

4 Incumbents renominated by same party

111 Candidates seeking a Governor's Chair (Candidates may run under the banner of multiple parties. Hence, the number of parties may be greater than the number of candidates.)

This is a list of the current Governors' chairs, the incumbents occupying them, and the candidacy status of said incumbents. Chairs up for election in the year 2016 are marked as such.

There have been 0 deaths, 0 resignations, and 0 changes of party affiliation in 2016.

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

Gubernatorial Links



Alabama 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2014, 2018. Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican



	Democratic			Christopher A. Countryman

California 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2014, 2018. Term Limit: 2 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


	Democratic			David Asem
	Democratic			Treasurer John Chiang • 17 May 2016: Announced his candidacy for Governor in 2018.
	Democratic			former Public Instruction Superintendent Delaine Eastin
	Democratic			Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom • 11 February 2015: Announced his candidacy for Governor in 2018.
	Democratic			ex-Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa • 10 November 2016: Announced his candidacy for Governor in 2018.
	Democratic			former state Controller Steve Westly • Possible candidate. Served as Controller 2002 - 2006.

Delaware 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2012, 2016. Term Limit: No one can serve more than 2 4-year terms in a lifetime
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


		Open Chair (no incumbent)
	Democratic	248,404	58.34%	Congressman John Charles Carney, Jr. • 16 September 2015: Announced his run for Governor.
Total		425,812	100.00%

Florida 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2014, 2018. Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican


	Democratic			Richard Dembinsky

Indiana 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2012, 2016. Term Limit: No more than 2 4-year terms in any 3-term period
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican


		Open Chair (no incumbent)
	Democratic	1,235,503	45.42%	former state Representative John R. Gregg • for Lieutenant Governor: state Representative Christina Hale
Total		2,719,968	100.00%

Missouri 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2012, 2016. Term Limit: No one can serve more than 2 4-year terms in a lifetime
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


		Open Chair (no incumbent)
	Democratic	1,277,360	45.57%	Attorney General Chris Koster
Total		2,803,046	100.00%

Montana 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2012, 2016. Term Limit: No more than 2 4-year terms in any 4-term period
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


	Democratic	255,933	50.25%	Governor Steve Bullock • for Lieutenant Governor: Lieutenant Governor Mike Cooney
Total		509,360	100.00%

Nevada 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2014, 2018. Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican


	Democratic			Clark County Commissioner Stephen F. "Steve" Sisolak

New Hampshire 2 year term, Election Cycle: 2014, 2016. Term Limit: None. GOVERNOR is the only Statewide elected officer
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


		Open Chair (no incumbent)
	Democratic	337,589	46.57%	Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern
Total		724,863	100.00%

New Jersey 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2013, 2017. Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican


	Democratic			Bill Brennan
	Democratic			Jim Johnson
	~~Democratic~~			~~state Senator Raymond J. "Ray" Lesniak - apparently not a candidate~~
	Democratic			former Ambassador to Germany Phil Murphy
	Democratic			state Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski

North Carolina 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2012, 2016. Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican


	Democratic	2,309,157	49.02%	Attorney General Roy Asberry Cooper
Total		4,711,014	100.00%

Oregon 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2014, 2018. Term Limit: No more than 2 4-year terms in any 3-term period
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


	Democratic; Working Families	985,027	50.62%	Governor Kate Brown • 21 September 2015: Governor Kate Brown (Democratic) announced that she will run for the remainder of the term in the special election.
Total		1,946,046	100.00%

Utah 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2012, 2016. Term Limit: None
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican


	Democratic	323,349	28.74%	Mike Weinholtz • for Lieutenant Governor: Kim Bowman
Total		1,125,035	100.00%

Vermont 2 year term, Election Cycle: 2014, 2016. Term Limit: None
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


		Open Chair (no incumbent)
	Democratic	139,253	43.45%	former state Representative Sue Minter
Total		320,467	100.00%

Virginia 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2013, 2017. Term Limit: ineligble to immediately succeed after a given 4-year term
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


	Democratic			Lieutenant Governor Ralph S. Northam • 24 February 2015: Announced candidacy.

Washington 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2012, 2016. Term Limit: None
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


	Democratic	1,760,520	54.25%	Governor Jay R. Inslee
Total		3,245,282	100.00%

West Virginia 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2012, 2016. Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


		Open Chair (no incumbent)
	Democratic	350,408	49.09%	Jim Justice
Total		713,858	100.00%

Political Parties Parties appear in parenthesis and italics when a candidate receives the endorsement of a given Party and/or official sources indicate a candidate's association with a particular Party but only where the Party in question does not appear on the actual ballot as such.

Major Parties
	• Democratic
	• Democratic-Farmer Labor
	• Democratic-Nonpartisan League
	• Republican
Major Third Parties
	• Constitution
	• Green
	• Libertarian
Other Third Parties
	• America First
	• Independent American
	• Independent Party of Oregon
	• Liberty Union
	• Mountain
	• Unity
	• Working Families
Independents
	• Independent
	• No Affiliation
	• No Party Affiliation
	• Unaffiliated
Write-in/Scattered/otherwise not readily classifiable
	• Scattering
	• Write-in

Notes

Candidates for office appear on this page in italics where 'The Green Papers' does not yet have independent confirmation from a legal election authority that the person has been officially certified to appear on the ballot.