2021 United States gubernatorial elections
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3 governorships (including a recall election in California) |
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The 2021 United States gubernatorial elections will be held on November 2, 2021, in two states, New Jersey and Virginia and a recall election in California, on September 14. These elections formed part of the 2021 United States elections. The last gubernatorial elections for New Jersey and Virginia were in 2017, the last regular gubernatorial election for California was in 2018. All three seats are currently held by Democrats. Incumbent Virginia Governor Ralph Northam is term-limited, while New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is running for re-election. Additionally, a special election for whether to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom is scheduled to be held on September 14, 2021.[1][2] More states may hold elections due to a gubernatorial vacancy or recall of a governor.
Contents
Election predictions
Several sites and individuals published predictions of competitive seats. These predictions looked at factors such as the strength of the incumbent (if the incumbent is running for re-election), the strength of the candidates, and the partisan leanings of the state (reflected in part by the state's Cook Partisan Voting Index rating). The predictions assigned ratings to each seat, with the rating indicating the predicted advantage that a party has in winning that seat.
Most election predictors use:
- "tossup": no advantage
- "tilt" (used by some predictors): advantage that is not quite as strong as "lean"
- "lean": slight advantage
- "likely": significant, but surmountable, advantage
- "safe" or "solid": near-certain chance of victory
State | PVI | Incumbent[3] | Last race |
Cook August 31, 2021[4] |
IE August 16, 2021[5] |
Sabato March 11, 2021[6] |
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California | D+14 | Gavin Newsom (D) (Recall) |
61.9% D | Lean D | Likely D | Likely D |
New Jersey | D+6 | Phil Murphy (D) | 56.0% D | Solid D | Solid D | Likely D |
Virginia | D+2 | Ralph Northam (D) (Term-limited) |
53.9% D | Lean D | Likely D | Lean D |
Race summary
State | Governor | Party | First elected | Last race | Status | Candidates |
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California (recall) |
Gavin Newsom | Democratic | 2018 | 61.9% D | Running against recall Ineligible for replacement ballot |
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New Jersey | Phil Murphy | Democratic | 2017 | 56.0% D | Renominated | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
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Virginia | Ralph Northam | Democratic | 2017 | 53.9% D | Term-limited | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
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California (recall)
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Governor Gavin Newsom was elected in 2018 with 61.9% of the vote. In 2020 and 2021, a recall petition gained momentum due to the COVID-19 pandemic in California and Newsom's responses, eventually triggering a recall election.[21][22] The ballot will feature two questions, whether to recall Newsom and who will replace him if he is recalled. Newsom is ineligible to run as a candidate for the second question.
A large number of candidates have announced their intention to replace Newsom. Among the most prominent Republicans in the race include 2018 candidate John H. Cox, former San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer, media personalities Caitlyn Jenner and Larry Elder, in addition to former U.S. representative Doug Ose.[23][24][25][26][27]
New Jersey
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Governor Phil Murphy was elected in 2017 with 56% of the vote.[28] He is running for re-election to a second term and was unopposed in the Democratic primary.
Republican Jack Ciattarelli was the earliest to announce his candidacy for the governorship in February 2018.[15] He was followed by New Jersey Republican Party chairman Doug Steinhardt, who announced his campaign in December 2020 and withdrew his candidacy the next month.[29][30] Pastor Phil Rizzo and businessman Hirsh Singh ran for the nomination.[31][32] Ciatarelli won the Republican primary.[33]
The Libertarian Party announced activist Gregg Mele as their nominee in March.[34] The Green Party nominated their candidate Madelyn Hoffman at a convention in April.[35] Other minor candidates include Socialist Workers Party nominee Joanne Kuniansky and perennial candidate Ed Forchion of the Legalize Marijuana Party[36] who is running as a write-in after challenges to signatures from the Murphy campaign.
Virginia
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Governor Ralph Northam was elected in 2017 with 53.9% of the vote.[37] He will be term-limited in 2021, as the Virginia Constitution does not allow governors to serve consecutive terms.
Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, former governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe, state senator Jennifer McClellan, state delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy, and state delegate Lee Carter announced their candidacies for the Democratic nomination for the governorship.[38][39][40] Virginia attorney general Mark Herring previously announced his intention to run for the governorship but withdrew from the race to seek reelection as attorney general.[41] McAuliffe won the Democratic primary by a wide margin despite the large field of candidates.[42]
State senator Amanda Chase announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination for the governorship in February 2020.[43][44] After initially indicating a brief attempt at an independent run because of the state Republicans' decision to hold a convention instead of a primary,[45] Chase later returned to seek her party's nomination once more.[46] Kirk Cox, the former Republican speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, filed the paperwork to run for the governorship in September 2020.[47] Businessman Glenn Youngkin won the Republican nomination after six rounds of voting at the convention.[48]
Princess Blanding, a teacher and sister of the late Marcus-David Peters, is the newly-founded Liberation Party's gubernatorial candidate.[18]
References
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