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- Mid-term Elections «
- Governor Races 2010
Balance
before was
26 Democrats, 24
Republicans.
37 seats at stake: 19 held by Democrats and 18 by Republicans.
24 open seats of which12 held by Democrats and 12 by Republicans.
15 Governors were term limited, 8 retiring and 1 defeated in primary.
Of 13 sitting Governors seeking re-election or election on Nov. 2, 11 succeeded.
26 new* Governors were elected: 17 Republicans, 8 Democrats and 1 Independent.
Republicans won 23 seats, Democrats 13 seats and Independent 1 seat.
Balance after is 29 Republicans, 20 Democrats and 1 Independent.
*Three had served previously.
Updated
December
23,
2010.37 seats at stake: 19 held by Democrats and 18 by Republicans.
24 open seats of which12 held by Democrats and 12 by Republicans.
15 Governors were term limited, 8 retiring and 1 defeated in primary.
Of 13 sitting Governors seeking re-election or election on Nov. 2, 11 succeeded.
26 new* Governors were elected: 17 Republicans, 8 Democrats and 1 Independent.
Republicans won 23 seats, Democrats 13 seats and Independent 1 seat.
Balance after is 29 Republicans, 20 Democrats and 1 Independent.
*Three had served previously.
Overview
Most noteworthy was the large number of open seats. Compare to 2006 when 36 seats were up but only nine governors were term limited or retiring. Five former governors sought to reclaim their old offices: CA-Jerry Brown (D), GA-Roy Barnes (D), IA-Terry Branstad (R), MD-John Ehrlich (R), and OR-John Kitzhaber (D); three succeeded. Ten of the 74 major party nominees were women; four of the five Republican women were elected and none of the five Democratic women were elected. There were a few strong independent candidates; Lincoln Chaffee won in Rhode Island, Eliot Cutler came very close in Maine and Tim Cahill faded in Massachusetts. The strongest third party candidates included Tom Tancredo (C) in Colorado, Tom Horner (IP) in Minnesota, and Rich Whitney (G) in Illinois. Heading into Election Day most observers foresaw a likelihood of Republican gains, although Democrats pointed to opportunities (>) in the difficult environment. Also note in addition to the elections listed below, there were elections for mayor of the District of Columbia and governors of Guam and USVI. In Dec. 2010 and Jan. 2011, 26 new governors will take office.
See also: NGA | DGA | RGA.
By Party: D | R | L | G | C | O/I.
Winners in bold; not every third party and independent candidate is shown.
Primary |
DEMOCRATIC INCUMBENTS |
REPUBLICAN CHALLENGERS |
MORE |
|
AR |
May 18 |
Mike Beebe |
businessman Jim
Keet |
Frank Gilbert (C) |
CO |
Aug. 10 |
*[Bill Ritter
(retiring-01/06/10)] Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper |
businessman Dan Maes |
Tom
Tancredo
(C) Jaimes Brown (L) Jason R. Clark (una) Paul Noel Fiorino (una) Peter J. Carr (una) |
IL |
Feb. 2 |
Pat Quinn |
state Sen. Bill Brady |
Michael White (C) Rich Whitney (G) Lex Green (L) Scott Lee Cohen (I) William Walls III (I) |
IA |
June 8 |
Chet Culver |
former Gov. Terry
Branstad |
Eric
Cooper (L) Jonathan Narcisse (Iowa) David Rosenfeld (SWP) > Gregory Hughes (Pet.) |
KS |
Aug. 3 |
*[Mark Parkinson
(retiring)] State Sen./IT exec. Tom Holland |
Sen. Sam
Brownback |
Andrew
Gray (L) Ken Cannon (Ref.) |
ME |
June 8 |
*[John Baldacci
(term limited)] State Senate President Libby Mitchell |
Waterville Mayor Paul LePage | Eliot Cutler (I) Shawn Moody (I) Kevin Scott (I) |
MD |
Sept. 14 |
Martin O'Malley |
former Gov. Bob
Ehrlich |
Eric
Knowles
(C) Maria Allwine (G) Susan Gaztañaga (L) |
MA |
Sept. 14 |
Deval
Patrick |
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care CEO Charlie Baker |
Treasurer Tim
Cahill (I) Jill Stein (GRP) |
MI |
Aug. 3 |
*[Jennifer Granholm
(term limited)] Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero |
venture capitalist Rick
Snyder |
Ken Proctor (L) Stacey Mathia (USTPM) |
NH |
Sept. 14 |
John Lynch |
attorney John Stephen |
John Babiarz (L) |
NM |
June 1 |
*[Bill Richardson
(term limited)] Lt. Gov. Diane Denish |
Doña Ana County District
Attorney Susana Martinez |
|
NY |
Sept. 14 |
*[David
Paterson
(retiring-02/26/10)] AG Andrew Cuomo |
Buffalo real estate developer Carl Paladino |
Howie Hawkins (G) Warren Redlich (L) |
OH |
May 4 |
Ted Strickland |
former Rep. John
Kasich |
Ken Matesz (L) Dennis Spisak (G) |
OK |
July 27 |
*[Brad Henry (term
limited)] Jari Askins |
Rep. Mary
Fallin |
|
OR |
May 18 |
*[Ted Kulongoski
(term limited)] former Gov. John Kitzhaber |
former NBA player Chris
Dudley |
Greg Kord (C) Wes Wagner (L) Jerry Wilson (Prog) |
PA |
May 18 |
*[Ed Rendell (term
limited)] Allegheny County Exec. Dan Onorato |
AG Tom
Corbett |
|
TN |
Aug. 5 |
*[Phil Bredesen (term limited)] businessman Mike McWherter |
Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam | Howard
Switzer (G) |
WI |
Sept. 14 |
*[Jim Doyle
(retiring-08/15/09)] Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett |
Milwaukee County Executive Scott
Walker |
James James Jim Langer |
WY |
Aug. 17 |
*[Dave Freudenthal
(term limited)] (some talk of a challenge, but ruled out on 03/04/10) former Dem. chair Leslie Petersen |
former U.S. Attorney Matt
Mead |
Primary |
DEMOCRATIC CHALLENGERS |
REPUBLICAN INCUMBENTS |
More |
|
AL |
June
1 |
Ag. Comm. Ron Sparks |
*[Bob Riley (term
limited)] State Rep. Robert Bentley (won July 13 runoff) |
|
AK |
Aug.
24 |
former House Minority Leader Ethan Berkowitz | Sean Parnell |
Don
Wright
(AIP) Billy Toien (L) |
AZ |
Aug.
24 |
AG Terry Goddard |
Jan Brewer |
Larry Gist (G) Barry Hess (L) |
CA |
June
8 |
AG Jerry
Brown |
*[Arnold
Schwarzenegger (term limited)] former eBay CEO Meg Whitman |
Chelene Nightingale (AIP) Laura Wells (G) Dale F. Ogden (L) Carlos Alvarez (P&F) |
CT |
Aug.
10 |
Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy | *[Jodi Rell
(retiring-11/09/09)] businessman and former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley |
Tom Marsh (IP) |
FL |
Aug.
24 |
CFO Alex Sink |
*[Charlie Crist
(running for Senate)] health care executive Rick Scott |
others |
GA |
July
20 |
former Gov. Roy Barnes |
*[Sonny Purdue
(term limited)] former Rep. Nathan Deal (won Aug. 10 runoff) |
John Monds (L) |
HI |
Sept.
18 |
former Rep. Neil
Abercrombie |
*[Linda Lingle
(term limited)] Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona |
Tony Clapes (I) Tom Pollard (I) |
ID |
May
25 |
mediator and 501(c)(3) founder Keith
Allred |
C.L. "Butch" Otter |
Ted Dunlap (L) Jana Kemp (I) Pro-Life |
MN |
Aug.10 |
former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton |
*[Tim Pawlenty
(retiring-06/02/09)] State Rep. Tom Emmer |
Tom Horner (IP) |
NE |
May
11 |
attorney Mike Meister Note: The original nominee, investment banker Mark Lakers, who was unopposed in the May primary, withdrew on July 2 due to poor fundraising. |
Dave
Heineman |
|
NV |
June
8 |
Clark County Commission Chair Rory Reid |
*[Jim Gibbons (defeated in primary)] former federal Judge Brian Sandoval |
Floyd
Fitzgibbons (IAP) David Scott Curtis (G) Art Lampitt, Jr. (L) Gino DiSimone (I) Aaron Y. Honig (I) |
RI |
Sept.
14 |
Treasurer Frank Caprio | *[Don Carcieri
(term limited)] John Robitaille |
Lincoln Chafee
(I) Ken Block (M) Todd Giroux (I) |
SC |
June
8 |
State Sen. Vincent
Sheheen |
*[Mark Sanford
(term limited)] State Rep. Nikki Haley (won June 22 runoff) |
Morgan
Reeves (G/UCP) |
SD |
June
8 |
State Senate Majority Leader Scott Heidepriem |
*[Mike Rounds (term
limited)] Lt. Gov. Dennis Daugaard |
|
TX |
March
2 |
former Mayor Bill
White |
Rick Perry |
Deb Shafto (G) Kathie Glass (L) |
UT |
none |
Salt Lake County Mayor Peter
Corroon |
Gary
Herbert
|
Andrew McCullough
(L) |
VT |
Aug.
24 |
Senate President pro-tem Peter Shumlin | *[Jim Douglas
(retiring-08/27/09)] Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie |
Chris Ericson (USMJ) Dan Feliciano (I) Ben Mitchell (Soc.) Em Peyton (I) Dennis Steele (I) |
February |
March |
April |
May |
June |
July |
August |
September |
IL
Feb. 2 |
TX
Mar. 2 |
OH
May 4 NE May 11 AR May 18 OR PA ID May 25 |
AL
June 1 NM CA June 8 IA ME NV SC SD |
GA
July 20 OK July 27 |
KS
Aug. 3 MI TN Aug. 5 CO Aug. 10 CT MN WY Aug. 17 AK Aug. 24 AZ FL VT |
MD Sept.
14 MA NH NY RI WI HI Sept. 18 |
An Overview of Interesting Primaries
September
18 |
HI
DEM
GOP: Former Rep. Neil
Abercrombie who resigned from his seat in Congress to focus on
his campaign, defeated former Honolulu MayorMufi Hannemann by a 60% to 38%
margin. |
|
September
14 |
MD
GOP: Former Gov. Bob
Ehrlich had no trouble
defeating investor Brian
Murphy, who was endorsed by Sarah Palin. MA GOP: The nomination was determined back in April, when health care executive Charlie Baker defeated Christie Mihos at the State Convention. NH GOP: Attorney and former Health Commissioner John Stephen obtained 61.5% of the vote, defeating businessman Jack Kimball, Karen Testerman, and state Rep. Frank Emiro. NY GOP: Former Rep. Rick Lazio won the GOP nomination over Steve Levy on June 2, but on primary day Buffalo developer Carl Paladino, who had to petition to get on the primary ballot, prevailed in a big upset. RI GOP: John Robitaille easily defeated former state Rep. Victor Moffit. WI GOP: Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker defeated builder and former Rep. Mark Neumann |
|
August
24 |
AK DEM: Former State House
Minority Leader Ethan
Berkowitz,
who
ran
for
Lt.
Gov.
on the Knowles ticket in 2006 and for U.S. House
in 2008, defeated state Sen. Hollis
French. VT DEM: Five credible candidates sought the nomination and the outcome was very close. Senate President pro-tem Peter Shumlin, state Sen. Doug Racine and Secretary of State Deb Markowitz were separated by fewer than a thousand votes; former state Sen. Matt Dunne finished fourth and state Sen. Susan Bartlett rounded out the field. |
AZ
GOP: Early on in the cycle it
appeared that
Gov. Jan Brewer might face
a strong
challenge from within the party, but her signature on S.B. 1070 gave
her a huge boost. FL GOP: The bitter campaign between establishment-backed Attorney General Bill McCollum and health care executive Rick Scott went through a number of ups and downs. When outsider Scott entered the race in April, McCollum was the decided favorite; later Scott seemed to pull ahead, but as the primary approached the race seemed to tilt back to McCollum's favor. Scott and his wife together spent more than $50 million. Scott obtained 46% of the vote to 43% for McCollum and 10% for Mike McCalister. |
August 17 |
WY DEM: Former Democratic chair Leslie Petersen finished
ahead of pilot
and former Univ. of Wyoming football star Pete Gosar and three other candidates. |
WY GOP: Former U.S. Attorney Matt Mead, finished atop the field of seven candidates with 29%, followed very closely by Auditor Rita Meyer (endorsed by Sarah Palin) with 28%. Former director of the WY Dept. of Agriculture and former House Majority Leader Ron Micheli was a close third and state House Speaker Colin Simpson finished fourth. |
August 10 |
CT DEM: Businessman Ned
Lamont reportedly spent more
than $7
million of his own money but Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy, who won the party's endorsement at its convention in May,
secured a broad victory. MN DFL: House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher won the DFL endorsement at the party's convention in Duluth on April 24 (it took six ballots for her to vanquish four challengers including Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak), but former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton edged to a narrow primary victory; former House Minority Leader Matt Entenza placed third. |
CO GOP: The
Republican
contest became something of a soap opera. Former Rep. Scott
McInniss was favored until July when plagarism charges arose;
meanwhile the other
Republican candidate, Dan
Maes,
was charged
with campaign finance violations. One scenario had it that
Republicans would force McInniss out after he won the primary.
Former Rep. Tom
Tancredo added to the mix by announcing on July 26 that he is running
under the
banner of the American Constitution Party (+).
The McInniss scenario became moot when Maes
upset him by 50.6% to 49.3% CT GOP: Businessman and former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley defeated Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele and businessman Oz Griebel. GA GOP runoff: Former Rep. Nathan Deal (endorsed by N.Gingrich and in the runoff by M.Huckabee) edged to a 50.2% to 49.8% win over former Sec. of State Karen Handel (endorsed by S.Palin and in the runoff by M.Romney) in the runoff. |
August 5 |
TN GOP: Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam garnered about
47.6% of the vote to
about 28.9% for Rep. Zach Wamp
and 22.1% for Senate
Speaker and
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey. |
|
August 3 |
MI DEM: Lansing Mayor Virg
Bernero defeated House Speaker Andy Dillon by a margin of 58.6% to 41.4%. |
MI GOP: Out of a field of five Republican candidates the outsider prevailed as venture capitalist Rick Snyder secured 36.4% of the Republican vote; Rep. Pete Hoekstra (26.8%), Attorney General Mike Cox (23.0%), Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard (12.2%) and state Sen. Tom George (1.6%) trailed. |
July 27 | OK
DEM: Lt. Gov. Jari
Askins edged out Attorney
General
Drew Edmondson by
50.3% to 49.7%. |
OK GOP: Four candidates competed
for the nomination; Rep. Mary
Fallin obtained about 55% of the vote to 39% for state Sen. Randy
Brogdon. |
July 20 |
GA DEM: Former Gov. Roy Barnes secured about
65% of the
vote; the next closest candidate was Attorney General Thurbert Baker
with 21.5%. |
GA GOP: Seven candidates sought
the nomination. Former Sec. of
State Karen Handel (endorsed
by S.Palin) and former Rep. Nathan Deal (endorsed by
N.Gingrich) are headed for an Aug. 10
runoff; State Senate President Eric Johnson finished third and Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine was fourth. |
July 13 |
AL GOP runoff:
State Sen. Bradley
Byrne defeated state Rep. Robert Bentley by 54% to
46%, although Bentley had the backing of the GOP establishment.
Voter turnout was just under 20%. |
|
June 22 |
SC GOP runoff: State Rep. Nikki
Haley defeated Rep. Gresham
Barrett by 65% to 35%. Haley gained the support of third
place finisher Henry
McMaster while Andre Bauer backed Barrett. |
|
June 8 |
ME DEM: Senate President Libby Mitchell (35%) won
the nomination in a four-way contest over former AG Steve Rowe (23%),
affordable housing executive Rosa
Scarcelli (21%), and former Commissioner of the Maine Department of
Conservation Pat McGowan
(20%). SC DEM: State Sen. Vincent Sheheen defeated State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex and state Sen. Robert Ford by 59.0% to 23.0% and 18.0%. |
CA GOP: After a closely fought campaign, former
E-Bay CEO Meg Whitman
trounced Insurance
Commissioner Steve Poizner by 64.2% to 26.9%. Whitman spent
more than
$81 million on her campaign, at least $71 million of it her own money,
while Poizner invested $24 million of his money in the race. IA GOP: Former Gov. Terry Branstad, the longest serving governor in Iowa's history (1983-98), defeated former Lt. Gov. Bob Vander Plaats and Assembly Minority Leader Rod Roberts by 50.3% to 40.9 and 8.8%. ME GOP: Seven Republicans vied for the nomination. Waterville Mayor Paul LePage won (38%), followed by Les Otten (17%), state Sen. Peter Mills (14%), Collins' chief of staff Steve Abbott (13%), Husson University CEO Bill Beardsley (10%) and Bruce Polquin and Matt Jacobson rounding out the field. NV GOP: Former Federal Judge Brian Sandoval defeated scandal-plagued Gov. Jim Gibbons by 55.5% to 27.2% SC GOP: State Rep. Nikki Haley finished with 48.9%, just shy of the requisite 50%, and faces a runoff against Rep. Gresham Barrett (21.8%); also running were AG Henry McMaster (16.3%) and Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer (12.5%). SD GOP: Lt. Gov. Dennis Daugaard obtained 50.4% of the vote followed by Brookings Mayor Scott Munsterman (17.6%), Senate Majority Leader Dave Knudson (15.8%), "Tea Party Republican" Gordon Howie (12.44%) and Ken Knuppe (3.8%). |
June 1 |
AL DEM: In an upset,
Agriculture
Commissioner Ron Sparks
handily defeated Rep. Artur
Davis, who
was seeking to become the first African-American governor of the state. |
AL GOP: In a
crowded field state
Sen. Bradley Byrne finished
first
(27.9%) and faces a runoff with state Rep. Robert Bentley (25.1%). Businessman Tim James
(25.1%) finished a very close third even after a recount;
former Chief Justice Roy Moore
finished fourth (19%). NM GOP: Prosecutor Susana Martinez defeated former state party chair Allen Weh by 50.7% to 27.6% with PR executive Doug Turner, attorney Pete Domenici, Jr. and state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones rounding out the field. |
May 18 | OR DEM: Former
Gov. John Kitzhaber,
who served two terms as governor from 1995-2003,
easily defeated former Sec. of State Bill Bradbury by 65% to 30%. PA DEM: Allegheny County Exec. Dan Onorato won 45% of the vote in a four-man primary, defeating Auditor General Jack Wagner (24%), Tony Williams (18%) and former Rep. Joe Hoeffel (13%). |
OR GOP: Former
NBA basketball player Chris
Dudley defeated '08 Treasurer candidate Allen Alley by 39% to 32% with
15% going to John Lim. |
March 3 |
TX GOP: Gov. Rick Perry won the primary
convincingly, gaining 51.1% of the vote to 30.3% for U.S. Sen. Kay
Bailey Hutchison and 18% for
tea party-backed Debra
Medina. |
|
Feb. 2 |
IL DEM: Gov. Pat Quinn, who succeeded impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich, defeated Comptroller Dan Hynes by less than 10,000 votes out of 915,726 cast. | IL GOP: The field included four major candidates: State Sen. Bill Brady, state Sen. Kirk Dillard, former AG Jim Ryan and former state GOP chair Andy McKenna; Brady edged out Dillard by less than 200 votes. |