The United States gubernatorial elections are scheduled to be held on November 3, 2026. This election will take place in 36 states and three territories. The previous gubernatorial elections for this group of states took place in 2022, except in New Hampshire and Vermont, where governors serve two-year terms and elected their governors in 2024.
Fifteen of the thirty-six states with elections in this cycle have officially term-limited incumbents, while two of the three United States territories with elections this cycle have officially term-limited incumbents.
Going into the election, there are 26 Republican governors and 24 Democratic governors in the United States. This class of governors is made up of 18 Republicans and 18 Democrats. Republicans are defending two governorships in states that Kamala Harris won in 2024 (New Hampshire and Vermont). Democrats are defending five governorships in states that Donald Trump won in 2024 (Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin).
As of March 2026, five governorsâÂÂthree Democrats, one Republican, and one IndependentâÂÂhave announced they will not seek reelection.
Several sites and individuals published predictions of competitive seats. These predictions looked at factors such as the strength of the incumbent (if the incumbent was running for reelection) and the other candidates, and the state's partisan lean (reflected in part by the state's Cook Partisan Voting Index rating). The predictions assigned ratings to each seat, indicating the predicted advantage that a party had in winning that seat. Most election predictors used: