Election results, 2020: Partisan balance of governors

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Ballotpedia Analysis: 2020 elections

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Last update: December 14, 2020
Eleven states held elections for governor on November 3, 2020. Incumbents won nine of the races. Spencer Cox (R) won in Utah, where Republican incumbent Gary Herbert (R) did not run for re-election. Greg Gianforte (R) won in Montana, making it the only governorship to change partisan control in 2020. As a result of the 2020 elections, Republicans held 27 governorships to Democrats' 23 beginning in 2021.

Ballotpedia identified six races as battlegrounds, including four with a Republican incumbent and two with a Democratic incumbent. Both parties were defending two governorships in states where the other party's presidential candidate won in 2016; Democrats were defending governorships in Montana and North Carolina, while Republicans were defending governorships in New Hampshire and Vermont.

Two of the races were for an open seat, meaning the incumbent was not running for re-election. In Montana, incumbent Steve Bullock (D) was term-limited and ran for U.S. Senate instead. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) also did not seek re-election in 2020. Seven of the elections were in states with a Republican governor, and four were in states with a Democratic governor.

The last time this set of offices was up was 2016. That year, Republicans gained three governorships (in Missouri, New Hampshire, and Vermont) and Democrats gained one (in North Carolina). New Hampshire and Vermont also held gubernatorial elections in 2018, and Republicans retained control of the office in both states.

Gubernatorial races, 2020
Race	Pre-election incumbent	Post-election incumbent
Delaware	John Carney Jr.	John Carney Jr.
Indiana	Eric Holcomb	Eric Holcomb
Missouri	Mike Parson	Mike Parson
Montana	Steve Bullock	Greg Gianforte
New Hampshire	Chris Sununu	Chris Sununu
North Carolina	Roy Cooper	Roy Cooper
North Dakota	Doug Burgum	Doug Burgum
Utah	Gary Herbert	Spencer Cox
Vermont	Phil Scott	Phil Scott
Washington	Jay Inslee	Jay Inslee
West Virginia	Jim Justice	Jim Justice

See also

• Election results, 2020
• Election results, 2020: State government trifectas
• Election results, 2020: Incumbents defeated in state legislative elections
• Election results, 2020: State legislative veto-proof majorities
• Election results, 2020: State government triplexes
• Election results, 2020: Control of the U.S. House
• Election results, 2020: Control of the U.S. Senate
• Election results, 2020: Split-ticket states in the 2020 presidential and gubernatorial elections

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