Why Earlier Decades Had More Campaigns
The higher campaign counts in the 1960s and 1970s reflect two structural features of that era that have since changed. First, many states had two-year gubernatorial terms: Arkansas, Rhode Island, Iowa, Kansas, and others held governor’s elections every two years rather than every four. A sitting governor in one of those states could seek reelection multiple times within a single decade, inflating the campaign count considerably. States phased out two-year terms throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and the drop from 98 campaigns in the 1960s to 73 in the 1980s tracks closely with that conversion. New Hampshire and Vermont are the only two states that still hold two-year governor’s elections today.
Second, term limits were rare before the 1990s. The wave of gubernatorial term limit adoptions came largely after 1990, when voters in several states added or tightened restrictions through ballot initiatives. Before that, governors in many states could run indefinitely, and the ones who kept winning simply kept running. Together, the shift to four-year terms and the spread of term limits explain most of the structural decline in reelection campaign volume from the 1960s to the present.
How We Define a Reelection Campaign
For each gubernatorial general election, we look at whether the sitting governor appeared on the ballot. If they ran and received votes, the race result determines the outcome. If a governor lost their party primary before the general election, we count that defeat against the reelection rate even though it doesn’t show up in the general election results. If a governor stepped aside entirely, whether term-limited, retired, or running for a different office, they are excluded from the denominator. The rate measures only governors who actually sought another term.
What counts as a reelection campaign
- Governor appeared on the general election ballot for the same office → ran (result: won or lost)
- Governor lost their primary and never appeared in the general election → lost primary (counted as ran + lost)
- Governor withdrew from a race they had entered → ran + lost (e.g., Gov. Walker AK 2018)
- Governor was term-limited, retired, resigned, died in office, or ran for a different office → did not run (excluded from rate denominator)
The reelection rate is wins divided by campaigns, where campaigns includes all general election appearances plus primary losses. A governor who won their primary and then lost the general counts against the rate. A governor who was term-limited, stepped aside voluntarily, or left to run for Senate or president does not factor in at all.
The Succession Question
We count succession governors as incumbents when they run for a full term of their own. A lieutenant governor who assumes the governorship after their predecessor resigns, dies, or leaves for another position is still the governor. They have executive power, command the news cycle, and face the electorate as the person who has been running the state. If they have been in office long enough to establish a governing record, voters are making a judgment about that record when they vote.
Notable Edge Cases
Gov. Bill Walker (I), Alaska, 2018
Gov. Walker (I) withdrew from the general election race with about three weeks remaining after his running mate became embroiled in a sexual assault allegation. He had received 5,757 early/absentee votes before withdrawing. We count this in the Lost (General) column: he entered the race as the sitting governor seeking another term and did not win.
Gov. Mel Thomson (R), New Hampshire, 1978
Gov. Thomson (R), a three-term governor, lost the GOP primary in 1978. Because New Hampshire uses two-year terms, he had run for reelection three times after his initial 1972 election (in 1974, 1976, and 1978). He did not appear in the 1978 general election, but his tenure ended in an election loss, so we count him in the primary loss column.
Gov. Fob James (D), Alabama, 1982
Gov. James (D) lost the Democratic primary in 1982 after one term. One of several southern governors in the 1960s through 1980s who were turned out in primaries rather than general elections, when the Democratic Party’s intraparty contests were often the real election in one-party states. Primary losses are disproportionately concentrated in the 1960s and 1970s for this reason.
Gov. Steve Sisolak (D), Nevada, 2022
The most recent incumbent governor to lose a general election reelection bid. Gov. Sisolak (D) was defeated by Joe Lombardo (R) in a race decided by about 1.5 points. He is, as of 2025, the only governor to lose a general election reelection campaign since 2020, in a stretch where otherwise 42 of 43 incumbents who ran won.
Gov. Bruce Babbitt (D), Arizona, 1978
Gov. Babbitt (D) became governor in February 1978 when Gov. Raul Castro (D) resigned to become U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, leaving him less than nine months before facing voters that November. He won anyway, then won reelection again in 1982. His case illustrates why we include succession governors in the incumbent count: voters knew who he was, evaluated his record, and returned him to office.