Election night records for women governors

Election night 2026 was one for the history books, especially for women running for governor in 36 states. When the votes were counted, 15 women were elected, and come January, at least 17 women will be running state capitals. That's a new record, and it could still grow, with two races featuring women in Alaska and Kansas too close to call as of Nov. 5.

The night also knocked down some barriers that had stood for more than two centuries. Georgia elected Keisha Lance Bottoms (D), who will be the first Black woman to serve as governor of any state. New Mexico elected Deb Haaland (D), the nation’s first Native American woman governor. And in Texas, Gina Hinojosa (D) unseated Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to become the state's first Latina governor.

Nine of the winners are first-time governors. Their stories are as varied as their states: a former pediatrician who grew up partly in a tent, a single mom who once canned salsa to pay the bills, and a CVS executive who beat a sitting governor in her own party's primary. Here's a look at who won, what they promised, and why it matters.

Why it Matters

Governors decide things that land on kitchen tables fast: issues like Medicaid, school funding, childcare, housing rules, and state taxes. Having a third of those jobs held by women, a record, changes who is in the room when those decisions are made.

The rise of women in power also mirrors who shows up to vote. Women have outvoted men for decades, both in presidential and non-presidential election years, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. CAWP's Kelly Dittmar told U.S. News that women tend to see directly how government decisions shape their lives. This year, that showed up as one dominant issue: affordability.

A September poll from The 19th and YouGov found women more worried than men about costs in every category, from groceries to retirement.

By the Numbers

Here's the scoreboard, courtesy of CAWP's election-night tally:

15 women won governor's races on Tuesday: 12 Democrats and 3 Republicans. Six were incumbents, eight won open seats, and one (Hinojosa) beat a sitting governor.
At least 17 women will serve as governor in 2027 (14 Democrats, 3 Republicans), counting two Democratic governors who weren't on the ballot. That's 34% of all governors and a record both for women overall and for Democratic women.
Today, 14 women are governors (10 Democrats, 4 Republicans), or 28% of the seats.
No incumbent woman governor lost on Tuesday.

The Republican side of the ledger includes Tennessee's Marsha Blackburn, the only new Republican woman governor, plus re-elected incumbents Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire. The Democrats returning to the governor’s mansion include Tina Kotek of Oregon.

What about Lieutenant Governors?
CAWP hasn't yet broken out a separate count of women lieutenant governors, but the bigger picture is striking. At least 101 women (68 Democrats, 32 Republicans, one nonpartisan) will hold statewide executive offices, including governor and lieutenant governor, in 2027, more than ever before, according to CAWP.

And in eight states, women will hold both the governor's and lieutenant governor's offices at the same time: Arkansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia.

For context, before this cycle, only four states had ever had women in both jobs at once, according to CAWP. Of note, Adrienne Adams, elected lieutenant governor in New York, becomes the first Black woman to hold that position in state history.

Milestones and Historic Firsts

The Nov. 3 election produced a long list of firsts, according to CAWP and NPR:

First Black woman governor in U.S. history: Keisha Lance Bottoms, Georgia.
First Native American woman governor: Deb Haaland, New Mexico.
First all-women-of-color gubernatorial ticket: Haaland and Lt. Gov.-elect Stephanie Garcia Richard, New Mexico.
First Latina governor of Texas: Gina Hinojosa, who is also the state's first Democratic governor in more than 30 years.
Four states elected their first woman governor: Georgia (Bottoms), Minnesota (Amy Klobuchar), Tennessee (Blackburn) and Ohio (Amy Acton). Ohio technically had a woman governor before. Nancy Hollister held the job for less than two weeks via succession in 1998–99, which makes Acton the first woman elected to it.

Meet Some of the New Governors

Many of the newly elected women were very open about their family upbringing and struggles. Many focused on issues facing families every day: the cost of living, education, crime, and jobs.

Keisha Lance Bottoms (D-Georgia). The former Atlanta mayor can trace her family back five generations to a plantation near Crawfordville, and her father was R&B singer Major Lance. She has talked openly about his addiction and prison time when making the case for criminal justice reform. She and her husband adopted all four of their children after years of infertility.

Her platform: Medicaid expansion, lower health care costs, pre-K for every family that wants it, and no state income tax for teachers.

Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico). She is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe and served as Secretary of the Department of the Interior under President Biden as the nation’s first Native American cabinet secretary. From 2019 to 2021, she served as U.S. representative for New Mexico’s 1st congressional district. A military child, Haaland attended 13 public schools before graduating in Albuquerque. She raised her child as a single mom, working catering jobs and running a small business that made and canned salsa. Her campaign spoke openly about her family once relying on SNAP, WIC, and Medicaid, and about her more than 30 years of sobriety.

Her platform: Lowering costs, tackling crime, lowering housing costs, improving schools.

Gina Hinojosa (D-Texas). She has represented Austin in the Texas House since 2017. Raised in the Rio Grande Valley, Hinojosa grew up around politics; her dad chaired the Texas Democratic Party from 2012 to 2025. In one of the campaign's most personal ads, she described a pregnancy complication and the daughter who did not survive; she now has two sons, whom she called her reason for running.

Her platform. Lowering costs for families, opposing school choice, expanding access to healthcare, and reining in corporate influence in politics.

Amy Acton (D-Ohio). During her childhood, her family moved through roughly 18 homes, including a bare basement and a tent outside Youngstown, and a stepfather's abuse led to criminal charges. She waited tables and delivered newspapers to get through medical school, became a pediatrician, and led Ohio's health department during COVID.

Her platform: Cutting costs for families, improving education, growing jobs, reproductive freedom.

Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota). A Former U.S. Representative, she was re-elected three times since first winning her seat in 2006. The daughter of a newspaper columnist and a teacher, Klobuchar grew up in Plymouth. Her father's alcoholism, including three DUI arrests before he got sober, shaped her push for mental health and addiction.

Her platform: Lowering costs for healthcare, childcare, and housing. Fighting crime and developing the workforce of Minnesota.

Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee). First female Senator elected from Tennessee in 2018. Born in Laurel, Miss., Blackburn went to Mississippi State on a 4-H scholarship and earned a home economics degree. She is a grandmother of four, and at 74, is the oldest woman elected governor. She will need to resign from the U.S. Senate before being sworn in on Jan. 16, 2027.

Her platform: Lowering taxes, lightening regulation, energy production, parental control over education, immigration enforcement, and opposition to abortion, and protecting Second Amendment rights.

Jocelyn Benson (D-Michigan). The secretary of state and 22-time marathoner ran the 2016 Boston Marathon while eight months pregnant. She was appointed Dean of Wayne State University Law School at age 35, making her the youngest woman to lead an accredited law school in American history.

Her platform: Fighting increased costs for housing, healthcare, and childcare.

Hannah Pingree (D-Maine). Pingree grew up on North Haven, an island of a few hundred people. Her mother is U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree. Elected to the state legislature at 26, she became the country's youngest woman House speaker, then ran her family's inn while raising two kids.

Her Platform: Affordable housing, clean energy, reproductive rights, marriage equality.

Helena Foulkes (D-Rhode Island). A Harvard Business School graduate, the former CVS Pharmacy president beat a sitting governor, Dan McKee, in her own party's primary. She was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at 35 while raising four young children and has been cancer-free since surgery.

Her Platform: Fighting healthcare costs and improving accessibility, education, job training and creation, energy costs, and childcare.

Resources

CAWP Election Watch 2026: candidate lists and a results tracker for women running in every state.
CAWP list of women in statewide office in 2027: a sortable list of the governors, lieutenant governors and other officials who will take office.

WRDI Watch