Daily Brew: March 11, 2026
Welcome to the Wednesday, March 11, 2026, Brew.
By: Lara Bonatesta
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Both gubernatorial and U.S. Senate elections are happening in 26 states in 2026
- South Dakota’s June 2 GOP gubernatorial primary draws four candidates as incumbent Larry Rhoden seeks first election to the office
- You’re Invited: Join the Ballotpedia Society Today and Help Us Make a Difference Throughout This Election Year
Both gubernatorial and U.S. Senate elections are happening in 26 states in 2026
Twenty-six states are holding elections for both governor and the U.S. Senate on Nov. 3.
Below is an overview of these elections and their key competitiveness indicators, including which races are open, how the incumbents’ political parties stack up to the 2024 presidential election results, and where voters have already elected officeholders of different parties. We’ll also take a look at how these elections fit into the full landscape of this year’s gubernatorial and U.S. Senate elections.
Let's dive in.
The open races
The gubernatorial elections in 16 states are open either due to term limits or because the incumbent is retiring. The U.S. Senate elections in eight states are open due to retiring incumbents. Six states — Alabama, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Wyoming — are holding open elections for both governor and U.S. senator.
How these states voted in the 2024 presidential election
In the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump (R) won 16 of the 26 states. Kamala Harris (D) won eight. Not including Maine and Nebraska, which split their electoral votes, only Kansas and New Hampshire have incumbent governors from the party opposite the candidate who won that state in the 2024 presidential election. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly is a Democrat, and Trump won the state 57.2%-41%. Kelly is term-limited and cannot run for re-election. New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte is a Republican, and Harris won the state 50.7%-47.9%. As of this writing, Ayotte has not yet announced whether she will run for re-election, though media outlets consider her likely to do so.
Also, excluding Maine and Nebraska, Georgia is the only one of these states with an incumbent U.S. senator from the party opposite the candidate who won that state in the 2024 presidential election. U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is a Democrat, and Trump won the state 50.7%-48.5%. Ossoff is running for re-election.
In Maine, which has a Democratic governor and a Republican Senator, Harris won three electoral votes, and Trump won one. In Nebraska, which has a Republican governor and a Republican U.S. Senator, Trump won four electoral votes, while Harris won one.
Split-party states
In eight states, the incumbent governor and U.S. senator are Democrats. In 14 states, both are Republicans. The incumbent governors and U.S. senators in four states are from opposite parties. In Georgia and New Hampshire, the incumbent governors are Republicans and the incumbent U.S. senators are Democrats. In Kansas and Maine, the incumbent governors are Democrats and the incumbent U.S. senators are Republicans.
Electoral history
How have the 26 states holding both a governor's race and a U.S. Senate race in 2026 voted when they've faced that same combination before? The table below shows the results from the last two times each of those states held both elections in the same year.
Straight-party outcomes — either both Republican or both Democratic — accounted for roughly 75% of results. The most common outcome across both sets of elections was voters electing both a Republican governor and a Republican U.S. senator.
Broader context
In total, 36 gubernatorial offices — 18 Democratic-held and 18 Republican-held — are up for election in 2026. Nationally, Republicans control 26 governorships, and Democrats control 24.
In total, 33 U.S. Senate seats — 13 Democratic-held and 20 Republican-held — are up for election in 2026. Another two U.S. Senate seats — both Republican-held — are up for special election. Currently, Republicans have a 53-45 majority in the U.S. Senate. There are two independents who caucus with Democrats.
Click here to see our complete analysis of states holding both gubernatorial and U.S. Senate elections in 2026.
South Dakota’s June 2 GOP gubernatorial primary draws four candidates as incumbent Larry Rhoden seeks first election to the office
Four candidates are running in South Dakota’s Republican gubernatorial primary on June 2.
Incumbent Larry Rhoden, who was elected lieutenant governor 62%-35.2% in 2022, is running for the office for the first time. Rhoden replaced former Gov. Kristi Noem (R) on Jan. 25, 2025, when Noem became the Secretary of Homeland Security under President Donald Trump (R).
The race has drawn other prominent political figures in the state. Also running are Aberdeen businessman and conservative activist Toby Doeden, state House speaker Jon Hansen, and South Dakota’s only U.S. House member, Dusty Johnson.
South Dakota Searchlight's Seth Tupper said: "[P]eople are viewing this as an open seat. Kristi Noem resigned, and yes, the Lieutenant Governor [Rhoden] came in and you could call him an incumbent, sort of, not really, but kind of. ... And I think a lot of people underestimated Governor Rhoden's ability to campaign for this seat. ... [B]ut I don't think it caused anybody to say, oh, I'm not going to run now, because open seats don't come along very often, obviously, in South Dakota Republican politics."
Property taxes are a major campaign issue.
Rhoden and Johnson propose to reform the property tax system. Rhoden’s proposal would allow counties to decide whether to replace property taxes with a half-cent sales tax increase. Johnson's proposal would exempt first-time homebuyers from paying property taxes for two years and provide a $400 property tax credit to owner-occupied properties via a planned increase in the statewide sales tax. According to University of South Dakota professor Julia Hellwege, both Rhoden and Johnson “present as moderate Republicans.”
Hansen, who belongs to the populist branch of the Republican Party, also proposes a property tax relief program for owner-occupied single-family dwellings via the increased statewide sales tax.
Doeden wants to immediately eliminate property taxes. According to Hellwege, Doeden is running a populist campaign and describes himself as a political outsider.
In South Dakota, the gubernatorial nominee is selected in the primary. If no candidate wins 35% of the vote, the top two vote-getters will advance to a July 28 runoff election.
South Dakota is one of 11 states where gubernatorial nominees choose their lieutenant gubernatorial running mates after the primary, and they run together as a ticket in the general election.
The gubernatorial nominee then chooses a lieutenant gubernatorial running mate, and they run together as a ticket in the general election. One candidate, Hansen, has already announced a running mate. Hansen announced that he had selected state Rep. Karla Lems (R) when he launched his bid for governor in April 2025.
According to SoDak Governors, a history blog which current lieutenant governor Tony Venhuizen (R) writes, “Hansen’s decision to announce Lems as his running mate is unusual in South Dakota history. Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor have run as a ticket since 1974. Since that time, there have only been four instances where a non-incumbent gubernatorial candidate picked his running mate before the primary. Hansen’s selection of Lems is the first time the running mate selection in conjunction with the launch of a gubernatorial candidacy.”
Click here to learn more about South Dakota’s Republican gubernatorial primary.
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