Governors Races 2024: First Look

In a presidential year, they may be forgotten, but the governors races 2024 will feature several interesting and contentious campaigns.

A total of 11 states will elect a new governor or decide on whether to re-elect their current one. Most of the 11 will get someone fresh in office, as a majority of governorships this time are either impacted by term limits, or the governor is stepping down.

At this time, eight of the 11 are held by Republicans, while the other three are by Democrats. None of the three incumbent Democratic governors are seeking re-election (whether they are eligible or not), while just three GOP governors are running again in 2024.

Election Yard also took early looks at the Electoral College states in play, US House, and US Senate races in 2024 on our YouTube channel.

Governors Races 2024: First Look Video

The 11 states electing governors this year are (current party held in parenthesis):

• Delaware (D-open)
• Indiana (R-open)
• Missouri (R-open)
• Montana (R)
• New Hampshire (R-open)
• North Carolina (D-open)
• North Dakota (R-open)
• Utah (R)
• Vermont (R)
• Washington (D-open)
• West Virginia (R-open)

Of those, we would identify just two of them as being competitive races, and both are open seats – New Hampshire and North Carolina. One is held by a Republican, and the other by a Democrat.

Current Balance of Power

At present, Republicans hold 27 governorships in the United States, while Democrats hold 23.

Governorship vs. 2020 Presidential Election

Below is a chart of how the current party of the governorship in a state compares to how the state voted in the 2020 presidential election. Though these will not always align (for example, Vermont will vote Democratic for president by a large margin, while re-electing their Republican governor by a similar scope), they can indicate partisan headwinds in certain states.