2020 Governor's Chairs by State

The Green Papers: 2020 General Election

2020 Governor's Chairs
by State

11 Governor's Chairs up for election in 2020

11 Elected

39 Governor's Chairs not up for election in 2020

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

8 Incumbents renominated by same party

101 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 2020 are marked as such.

There have been 0 deaths, 0 resignations, and 0 changes of party affiliation in 2020.

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



Arkansas 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2018, 2022. Term Limit: No one can serve more than 2 4-year terms in a lifetime
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican



	Republican			Lieutenant Governor John Timothy "Tim" Griffin • Previously served in the U.S. Congress: 2011-2015.
	Republican			Attorney General Leslie Rutledge

California 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2018, 2022. Term Limit: 2 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


	Republican			John Cox

Colorado 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2018, 2022. Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


	Republican			former Parker Mayor Greg Lopez

Delaware 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2016, 2020. Term Limit: No one can serve more than 2 4-year terms in a lifetime
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


	Republican	190,312	38.63%	Julianne E. Murray
Total		492,635	100.00%

Indiana 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2016, 2020. Term Limit: No more than 2 4-year terms in any 3-term period
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican


	Republican	1,706,727	56.51%	Governor Eric Joseph Holcomb • for Lieutenant Governor: Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch
Total		3,020,388	100.00%

Maine 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2018, 2022. Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms. GOVERNOR is the only Statewide elected officer
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


	Republican			former Governor Paul LePage • First elected Governor: 2010; re-elected: 2014. At term limit in 2018.

Maryland 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2018, 2022. Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican


	Republican			former state Delegate Robin Ficker

Missouri 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2016, 2020. Term Limit: No one can serve more than 2 4-year terms in a lifetime
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican


	Republican	1,720,202	57.11%	Governor Michael L. "Mike" Parson
Total		3,012,287	100.00%

Montana 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2016, 2020. Term Limit: No more than 2 4-year terms in any 4-term period
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


		Open Chair (no incumbent)
	Republican	328,548	54.43%	Member of Congress Greg Gianforte • for Lieutenant Governor: Kristen Juras • 7 June 2019: Filed to run for Governor.
Total		603,608	100.00%

Nebraska 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2018, 2022. Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican


	Republican			Charles W. Herbster

New Hampshire 2 year term, Election Cycle: 2018, 2020. Term Limit: None. GOVERNOR is the only Statewide elected officer
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican


	Republican	516,609	65.12%	Governor Chris Sununu
Total		793,260	100.00%

New Jersey 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2017, 2021. Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


	Republican			former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli
	Republican			Hirsch Singh

New York 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2018, 2022. Term Limit: None
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


	Republican			Lewis County Sheriff Mike Carpinelli

North Carolina 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2016, 2020. Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


	Republican	2,586,604	47.01%	Lieutenant Governor Daniel James "Dan" Forest • 28 January 2019: Running for Governor in 2020.
Total		5,502,777	100.00%

North Dakota 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2016, 2020. Term Limit: North Dakota passed an initiative in November 2022 to amend the state's Constitution to add Gubernatorial term limits of 2 4 year terms. Applies to individuals elected after 1 January 2023.
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican


	Republican	235,479	65.84%	Governor Doug Burgum • for Lieutenant Governor: Lieutenant Governor Brent Sanford
Total		357,659	100.00%

Ohio 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2018, 2022. Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican


	Republican			state Representative John Becker

Oklahoma 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2018, 2022. Term Limit: 2 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican


	Republican			former state Sentor Ervin Yen

South Carolina 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2018, 2022. Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican


	Republican			Peggy Kandies
	*Republican*			*Governor Henry D. McMaster*

Texas 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2018, 2022. Term Limit: None
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican


	*Republican*			*Governor Greg Abbott*
	Republican			Rusk City Councilmember Martin Holsome
	Republican			Chad Prather

Utah 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2016, 2020. Term Limit: None
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican


		Open Chair (no incumbent)
	Republican	918,754	62.98%	Lieutenant Governor Spencer J. Cox • for Lieutenant Governor: former state Senator Deidre M. Henderson
Total		1,458,878	100.00%

Vermont 2 year term, Election Cycle: 2018, 2020. Term Limit: None
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican



	Republican	248,412	66.96%	Governor Phil Scott
Total		370,968	100.00%

Virginia 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2017, 2021. Term Limit: ineligble to immediately succeed after a given 4-year term
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


	Republican			state Delegate M. Kirkland "Kirk" Cox
	Republican			Merle Rutledge, Jr.

	Independent; (Republican)			state Senator Amanda F. Chase

Washington 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2016, 2020. Term Limit: None
Partisan Composition: 1 Democratic


	Republican	1,749,066	43.12%	Loren Culp
Total		4,056,454	100.00%

West Virginia 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2016, 2020. Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican


	Republican	497,944	64.77%	Governor James C. "Jim" Justice • 7 January 2019: Announced that he would run for re-election.
Total		768,804	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-Nonpartisan League
	• Republican
Major Third Parties
	• Constitution
	• Green
	• Libertarian
Other Third Parties
	• Independent American
	• Independent Party Of Delaware
	• Mountain
	• Progressive
	• Truth Matters
Independents
	• Independent
	• No Party Affiliation
	• No Party Preference
	• 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.