US Governors | ExtraCharts

us state governors

INTRODUCTION

The United States is a Federal Republic. The states have a significant amount of reserved powers. A state can decide on whether it has the death penalty or not for example. The head of state government is the Governor. This page looks at state governors in 3 different years over the span of nearly 70 years to look at how the composition of the Governors have changed. The 3 charts look at the composition of US governors by party, gender and military service.

Charts

1. US Governors in 1950, 1985 & 2019 by party

2. US Governors in 1950, 1985 & 2019 by Gender

3. Percentage of Male Governors with Military Service

4. National Popularity of Governors of 3 Most Populated States

Data Table

5. US Governors in 1950, 1985 and 2019 by Party and Gender

For a long time, Governership positions were dominated by the Democratic party. In 1985, 70% of US Governors were Democratic. This was also the period in which Congress was dominated by the Democrat party. However things changed since. In 2019, there were more Republican Governors.

Nelson Rockefeller was a Republican Governor of New York from 1959 - 1973 at a time when most Governors in the United States were Democrats.

Representation for women in Governor positions has increased alongside improvements in representation of women in US politics in general. Today, around 20% of Governors are women. There were none in 1950. There wasn't much change from 1950 to 1985. The majority of the female Governors are from the Democratic party.

The first female governor was Nellie Ross who became governor of Wyoming on January 5th 1925. She was the widow of Governor William B. Ross. The first female governor who wasn't the widow or wife of a previous governor was Ella T. Grasso. She was became governor of Connecticut on 8th January 1975.

Ella T. Grasso was the first female governor who wasn't the wife or widow of a previous governor. She became governor of Connecticut on 8th January 1975.

Far more Governors used to have military service records in 1950 and 1985 than presently. This is in part a reflection of opportunity to serve since WW2 had far more participation from the US population compared to recent wars and none of the current Governors would be old enough to have served in WW2. However, that doesn't fully explain the difference. There has been a change in culture where the importance of having a military background for executive positions has become less important. This is reflected at the national level where the last two Republican Presidents, George W Bush and Donald Trump, have been draft evaders.

Jimmy Carter, who was Governor of Georgia from 1971 - 1975, had a background of military service.

DATA TABLE

5. US Governors in 1950, 1985 and 2019 by Party and Gender

Date	State	Governor	Party	Gender
1st January 1950	Alabama	Jim Folsom	Democratic	Male
	Alaska	Ernest Gruening	Democratic	Male
	Arizona	Dan Edward Garvey	Democratic	Male
	Arkansas	Sid McMath	Democratic	Male
	California	Earl Warren	Republican	Male
	Colorado	William Lee Knous	Democratic	Male
	Connecticut	Chester Bowles	Democratic	Male
	Delaware	Elbert N. Carvel	Democratic	Male
	Florida	Fuller Warren	Democratic	Male
	Georgia	Herman Talmadge	Democratic	Male
	Hawaii	Ingram Stainback	Democratic	Male
	Idaho	C.A. Robins	Republican	Male
	Illinois	Adlai Stevenson II	Democratic	Male
	Indiana	Henry F. Schricker	Democratic	Male
	Iowa	William S. Beardsley	Republican	Male
	Kansas	Frank Carlson	Republican	Male
	Kentucky	Earle Clements	Democratic	Male
	Louisiana	Earl Long	Democratic	Male
	Maine	Frederick G. Payne	Republican	Male
	Maryland	William Preston Lane Jr.	Democratic	Male
	Massachusetts	Paul A. Dever	Democratic	Male
	Michigan	G. Mennen Williams	Democratic	Male
	Minnesota	Luther Youngdahl	Republican	Male
	Mississippi	Fielding Wright	Democratic	Male
	Missouri	Forrest Smith	Democratic	Male
	Montana	John W. Bonner	Democratic	Male
	Nebraska	Val Peterson	Republican	Male
	Nevada	Vail M. Pittman	Democratic	Male
	New Hampshire	Sherman Adams	Republican	Male
	New Jersey	Alfred E. Driscoll	Republican	Male
	New Mexico	Thomas J. Mabry	Democratic	Male
	New York	Thomas E. Dewey	Republican	Male
	North Carolina	W. Kerr Scott	Democratic	Male
	North Dakota	Fred G. Aandahl	Republican	Male
	Ohio	Frank Lausche	Democratic	Male
	Oklahoma	Roy J. Turner	Democratic	Male
	Oregon	Douglas McKay	Republican	Male
	Pennsylvania	James H. Duff	Republican	Male
	Rhode Island	John Pastore	Democratic	Male
	South Carolina	Strom Thurmond	Democratic	Male
	South Dakota	George T. Mickelson	Republican	Male
	Tennessee	Gordon Browning	Democratic	Male
	Texas	Allan Shivers	Democratic	Male
	Utah	J. Bracken Lee	Republican	Male
	Vermont	Ernest W. Gibson, Jr.	Republican	Male
	Virginia	William M. Tuck	Democratic	Male
	Washington	Arthur Bernard Langlie	Republican	Male
	West Virginia	Okey L. Patteson	Democratic	Male
	Wisconsin	Oscar Rennebohm	Republican	Male
	Wyoming	Arthur G. Crane	Republican	Male
	null	null	null	null
1st January 1985	Alabama	George Wallace	Democratic	Male
	Alaska	Bill Sheffield	Democratic	Male
	Arizona	Bruce Babbitt	Democratic	Male
	Arkansas	Bill Clinton	Democratic	Male
	California	George Deukmejian	Republican	Male
	Colorado	Richard Lamm	Democratic	Male
	Connecticut	William A. O'Neill	Democratic	Male
	Delaware	Pete du Pont	Republican	Male
	Florida	Bob Graham	Democratic	Male
	Georgia	Joe Frank Harris	Democratic	Male
	Hawaii	George Ariyoshi	Democratic	Male
	Idaho	John V. Evans	Democratic	Male
	Illinois	James R. Thompson	Republican	Male
	Indiana	Robert D. Orr	Republican	Male
	Iowa	Terry Branstad	Republican	Male
	Kansas	John W. Carlin	Democratic	Male
	Kentucky	Martha Layne Collins	Democratic	Female
	Louisiana	Edwin Edwards	Democratic	Male
	Maine	Joseph E. Brennan	Democratic	Male
	Maryland	Harry R. Hughes	Democratic	Male
	Massachusetts	Michael Dukakis	Democratic	Male
	Michigan	James Blanchard	Democratic	Male
	Minnesota	Rudy Perpich	Democratic-Farmer-Labour	Male
	Mississippi	William Allain	Democratic	Male
	Missouri	Kit Bond	Republican	Male
	Montana	Ted Schwinden	Democratic	Male
	Nebraska	J. Robert Kerrey	Democratic	Male
	Nevada	Richard Bryan	Democratic	Male
	New Hampshire	John H. Sununu	Republican	Male
	New Jersey	Thomas Kean	Republican	Male
	New Mexico	Toney Anaya	Democratic	Male
	New York	Mario Cuomo	Democratic	Male
	North Carolina	James B. Hunt Jr.	Democratic	Male
	North Dakota	George A. Sinner	Democratic-NPL	Male
	Ohio	Dick Celeste	Democratic	Male
	Oklahoma	George Nigh	Democratic	Male
	Oregon	Victor Atiyeh	Republican	Male
	Pennsylvania	Dick Thornburgh	Republican	Male
	Rhode Island	Edward D. DiPrete	Republican	Male
	South Carolina	Richard Riley	Democratic	Male
	South Dakota	Bill Janklow	Republican	Male
	Tennessee	Lamar Alexander	Republican	Male
	Texas	Mark White�	Democratic	Male
	Utah	Scott M. Matheson	Democratic	Male
	Vermont	Richard A. Snelling	Republican	Male
	Virginia	Chuck Robb	Democratic	Male
	Washington	John Spellman	Republican	Male
	West Virginia	Jay Rockefeller	Democratic	Male
	Wisconsin	Anthony S. Earl	Democratic	Male
	Wyoming	Edgar J. Herschler	Democratic	Male

23rd September 2019	Alabama	Kay Ivey	Republican	Female
	Alaska	Mike Dunleavy	Republican	Male
	Arizona	Doug Ducey	Republican	Male
	Arkansas	Asa Hutchinson	Republican	Male
	California	Gavin Newsom	Democratic	Male
	Colorado	Jared Polis	Democratic	Male
	Connecticut	Ned Lamont	Democratic	Male
	Delaware	John Carney	Democratic	Male
	Florida	Ron DeSantis	Republican	Male
	Georgia	Brian Kemp	Republican	Male
	Hawaii	David Ige	Democratic	Male
	Idaho	Brad Little	Republican	Male
	Illinois	J. B. Pritzker	Democratic	Male
	Indiana	Eric Holcomb	Republican	Male
	Iowa	Kim Reynolds	Republican	Female
	Kansas	Laura Kelly	Democratic	Female
	Kentucky	Matt Bevin	Republican	Male
	Louisiana	John Bel Edwards	Democratic	Male
	Maine	Janet Mills	Democratic	Female
	Maryland	Larry Hogan	Republican	Male
	Massachusetts	Charlie Baker	Republican	Male
	Michigan	Gretchen Whitmer	Democratic	Female
	Minnesota	Tim Walz	Democratic-Farmer-Labour	Male
	Mississippi	Phil Bryant	Republican	Male
	Missouri	Mike Parson	Republican	Male
	Montana	Steve Bullock	Democratic	Male
	Nebraska	Pete Ricketts	Republican	Male
	Nevada	Steve Sisolak	Democratic	Male
	New Hampshire	Chris Sununu	Republican	Male
	New Jersey	Phil Murphy	Democratic	Male
	New Mexico	Michelle Lujan Grisham	Democratic	Female
	New York	Andrew Cuomo	Democratic	Male
	North Carolina	Roy Cooper	Democratic	Male
	North Dakota	Doug Burgum	Republican	Male
	Ohio	Mike DeWine	Republican	Male
	Oklahoma	Kevin Stitt	Republican	Male
	Oregon	Kate Brown	Democratic	Female
	Pennsylvania	Tom Wolf	Democratic	Male
	Rhode Island	Gina Raimondo	Democratic	Female
	South Carolina	Henry McMaster	Republican	Male
	South Dakota	Kristi Noem	Republican	Female
	Tennessee	Bill Lee	Republican	Male
	Texas	Greg Abbott	Republican	Male
	Utah	Gary Herbert	Republican	Male
	Vermont	Phil Scott	Republican	Male
	Virginia	Ralph Northam	Democratic	Male
	Washington	Jay Inslee	Democratic	Male
	West Virginia	Jim Justice	Republican	Male
	Wisconsin	Tony Evers	Democratic	Male
	Wyoming	Mark Gordon	Republican	Male

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Sources:

https://www.nga.org/governors/

https://www.nga.org/former-governors/

charts created using openoffice calc