While most of the political world was fixated on 2018, the 2019 gubernatorial contests got up and running. The three contests (2 Republican seats and 1 Democratic seat) have developed to the point that any race a year from an election does.
The 2020 contests haven’t left the starting gate, particularly in New Hampshire and Vermont which have two-year terms and haven’t cleaned up after 2018 yet. There are 11 races; Democrats are defending four seats, including an open seat due to term limits in Montana. Republicans have seven seats on the ballot. In Utah, GOP Gov. Gary Herbert has already said that he will not seek another term.
None of these races are starting the Toss Up column, but there is plenty of potential for them to get there, especially the 2019 races in Kentucky and Louisiana. Democrats are convinced that they can put the open seat in Mississippi on the board next year. Download a copy of the ratings here.
2019/2020 Governors Race Ratings:
2019/2020 Governors At-A-Glance:
Apart from the 2019 contests, the At-A-Glance is our first take on potential challengers. Culled from conversations with consultants and operatives in various states, as well as news reports and our own knowledge of what is going on in various states, these lists are still very speculative. Some of these candidates will, in fact, jump into races over the next year, others will signal a lack of interest.
As a reminder, the numbers following potential candidate names indicates:
- an announced candidate
- an all-but-announced candidate
- mentioned as a potential candidate and may or may not run
- mentioned as a potential candidate, but almost certainly won’t run
Subscribe Today
Our subscribers have first access to individual race pages for each House, Senate and Governors race, which will include race ratings (each race is rated on a seven-point scale) and a narrative analysis pertaining to that race.