As of , 53 women have served as governor of a U.S. state, 3 as governor of an unincorporated U.S. territory, and 2 as mayor of the District of Columbia. In January 2026, women have been serving as governor in 14 U.S. states, as mayor of the District of Columbia, and as territorial governors of Guam and Puerto Rico. Of the current female state governors, 10 are Democrats and 4 are Republicans. Madeleine Kunin is the oldest living former female governor at 92.
The first woman to act as governor was Carolyn B. Shelton, who served as Acting Governor of Oregon for one weekend from 9 a.m. on February 27, through 10 a.m. on March 1, 1909. The outgoing governor, George Earle Chamberlain, had been elected to the U.S. Senate and had to leave for Washington, D.C., before his term ended; the incoming governor, Frank W. Benson, had become ill and could not assume office early. Chamberlain left Shelton, his secretary, in charge for the weekend. It was another three and a half years before women were allowed to vote in Oregon.
The first woman acting governor to be entrusted with substantial duties while in office was Soledad Chávez de Chacón, who held the powers and duties of Governor of New Mexico for two weeks in 1924 while Governor James F. Hinkle attended the Democratic Convention in New York. Lieutenant Governor José A. Baca had died in May, so Chacón, the Secretary of State, filled the position. Chacón said that she believed that her 1924 elevation was the first time in the United States that a woman had been called on to assume the responsibilities of the governor.
The first woman to assume office as governor pursuant to a special election was Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming, who was elected on November 4, 1924, following the death of her husband and former governor, William B. Ross, and was sworn in on January 5, 1925. Wyoming was the first state to provide women's suffrage after New Jersey had abolished it in 1807. Miriam A. Ferguson of Texas won the general election of November 4, 1924, and was sworn in on January 20, 1925. Her husband, former governor James Edward Ferguson, had been impeached and removed from office in 1917. The first woman elected governor who was not the wife or widow of a former state governor was Ella T. Grasso of Connecticut, elected in 1974 and sworn in on January 8, 1975. Kay Ivey of Alabama, is the longest-serving female governor in the nation. She is currently serving having been first elected in 2018.
To date, no woman has ever changed parties during her gubernatorial term or has been elected as a third-party member or an independent.
As of 2026, Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and New Mexico are the only states to have elected women as governors from both major parties. Arizona was the first state where a woman followed another woman as governor (they were from different parties). Arizona has also had the most with five, and is the first state to have three consecutive women to serve as governor.
A record 14 out of 50 state governorships were held by women following Mikie Sherrill's inauguration as the Governor of New Jersey on January 20, 2026.
As of 2026, 19 states have never elected a female governor: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Four states (Minnesota, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Utah) have never seen a major party nominate a woman in a gubernatorial election, although one woman, Olene Walker, had assumed the office of Governor of Utah from 2003 to 2005 after previous governor, Mike Leavitt, resigned.
Three women of color have been state governors: Susana Martinez and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico (both Hispanic) and Nikki Haley of South Carolina (Indian-American). Martinez and Haley are both Republican; Lujan Grisham is a Democrat. Additionally, all six women who governed an insular area have been of an ethnic minority group: Sharon Pratt and Muriel Bowser of Washington, D.C. (both African-American), Sila MarÃÂa Calderón, Wanda Vázquez Garced and Jenniffer González-Colón of Puerto Rico (all Hispanic), and Lou Leon Guerrero of Guam (Pacific Islander). Pratt, Bowser, Calderón, and Guerrero are Democrats, while Vázquez Garced and Gonzalez-Colon are Republicans.