Center on the American Governor | Eagleton Institute of Politics

Governors in the
50 States

Home / Governors in the 50 States / Fast Facts

Fast Facts about American Governors - 2013

Overview

On November 8, 2012, eleven states held gubernatorial elections. While no incumbents were defeated, the political party make-up of the nation’s 50 governors shifted from 29 Republicans, 20 Democrats and one Independent to 30, 19 and one respectively.
Five states elected new governors:

Indiana Mike Pence (R)
Montana Steve Bullock (D)
New Hampshire Maggie Hassan (D)
North Carolina Pat McCrory (R)
Washington Jay Inslee (D)

Six states returned their incumbent governors for another term:

Delaware Jack Markell (D)
Missouri Jay Nixon (D)
North Dakota Jack Dalrymple (R)
Utah Gary Herbert (R)
Vermont Peter Shumlin (D)
West Virginia Earl Ray Tomblin (D)

In 2013, only two states will hold gubernatorial elections, New Jersey and Virginia. Both currently have Republican governors, Chris Christie (NJ) and Robert McDonnell (VA). While Governor Christie has already declared his candidacy for reelection, Governor McDonnell is blocked from running again by Virginia’s single term limit for governors.

Below are some fast facts about the nation’s 50 governors for 2013. For more information about all the nation’s governors, see the Center on the American Governor’s 2013 Governors Biographical Dataset.

By political party:
Governors' Political Parties 2011

30 Republicans
19 Democrats
1 Independent (Rhode Island)

The Republican Party picked up one new seat in 2013, gaining the governorship of North Carolina when incumbent Democratic Governor Bev Perdue opted not to run for reelection and Republican Pat McCrory won the seat. This gives the Republican Party control of 30 governorships, with the Democratic Party holding 19. One governor, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, is an Independent.

By partisan control of government:

		State Legislature
	Governor	Democratic	Republican	Divided	Total
	Democrat	13	3	3	19
	Republican	4	24	1	29*
	Independent	1	0	0	1
	Total:	18	27	4	49*
* Nebraska has a unicameral, non-partisan legislature

Governors by:
Gender:
		In 2013, five of the nation’s governors are women (AZ, NH, SC, NM), a decline of one seat from 2012. Christine Gregoire (WA) was prevented from running for a third term by term limits, and Bev Perdue (NC) opted not to seek a second term. Maggie Hassan won the governorship of New Hampshire and will be the only new female Democrat to hold a governorship. 45 males 5 females (Jan Brewer, AZ; Maggie Hassan, NH; Susana Martinez, NM; Mary Fallin, OK; Nikki Haley, SC) For information about all women governors in the nation's history, please view the Center on American Women and Politics fact sheet on women governors here.
Race:
		Forty-five of the nation’s governors are white, with two Indian-Americans, two Hispanics and one African-American. There is no change from the previous year. 45 White 2 Indian American (Bobby Jindal, LA; Nikki Haley, SC) 2 Hispanic (Susana Martinez, NM; Brian Sandoval, NV) 1 African American (Deval Patrick, MA)
Religion:
		17 Roman Catholic 6 Presbyterian 5 Methodist 4 Baptist 4 Episcopalian 3 Christian – No denomination listed 2 Christian – Church of God 2 Lutheran 2 No religious affiliation 1 Church of Jesus Chris of Latter Day Saints 1 Evangelical Christian 1 Jewish 1 Protestant 1 United Methodist
Military Service: Twelve governors have served in the Armed Forces, one of whom served overseas during a foreign war (Terry Branstadt, IA – Vietnam).
		38 No military service 5 Army (Nathan Deal, GA; Terry Branstadt, IA; Dave Heineman, NB; Tom Corbet, PA; Robert McDonnell, VA) 2 Air Force (Robert Bentley, AL; Rick Perry, TX) 2 Army Reserve (Mike Beebe, AR; Steven Beshear, KT) 2 National Guard (Butch Otter, ID; Gary Herbert, UT) 1 Navy (Rick Scott, FL)
Age:
	Average: Youngest: Oldest:	59.8 41 (Nikki Haley, South Carolina born on January 20, 1972) 74 (Jerry Brown, California, born on April 7, 1938)
Marital status:
		46 currently married 4 divorced and single
Children:
		3 have no children 5 have 1 child 18 have 2 children 13 have 3 children 6 have 4 children 5 have 5 children 2 have 6 children Average 2.6 children
Education:
		47 bachelor’s degree 35 advanced degree 25 law degree (JD) 6 Master’s in Business (MBA) (Jack Markell, DE; Paul LePage, ME; Rick Snyder, MI; Robert McDonnell, VA; Earl Ray Tomblin, WV) 4 Master’s degree (MA) (John Hickenlooper, CO – Geology; Terry Branstadt, IA - Education; Bobby Jindal, LA - Political Science; Phil Bryant, MS – Political Science) 2 Medical degree (MD) (Robert Bentley, AL; John Kitzhaber,OR) 1 Doctorate (PhD) (Neil Abercrombie, HI – American Studies) 1 Rhodes Scholar (Bobby Jindal, LA)
Previous political experience: The nation’s governors bring a variety of past professional experiences with them into the office. Half previously served in a state legislature, and nearly a quarter were at some point their state’s lieutenant governor. Three were previously governors and have now returned to the office (Terry Branstad, IA; Jerry Brown, CA; John Kitzhaber, OR). In Jerry Brown’s (CA) case, nearly three decades passed between his terms in the governor’s chair.
		3 previously served as governor and have returned to office 12 lieutenant governor 5 state attorney general 4 state treasurer 1 secretary of state 15 in the lower chamber of their state government 10 in the upper chamber of their state government 4 in county government 7 as mayor 10 in the United States House of Representatives. 3 in the United States Senate (Kansas, Rhode Island, and Minnesota) 2 no prior elective office
Place of birth:
		17 not born in the state they now lead 4 born in Pennsylvania (more than any other state) (John Hickenlooper, Colorado; John Kasich, Ohio; Tom Corvet, Pennsylvania; Robert McDonnell, Virginia)