United States gubernatorial elections, 1976

United States Gubernatorial elections, 1976

November 2, 1976
Governorships of AR, DE, IL, IN, MO, MT, NH, NC, ND, RI, UT, VT, WA, WV, PR
Majority party Minority party   Party Democratic Republican Last election 36 governorships 13 governorships Seats before 36 13 Seats after 37 12 Seat change +1 -1
Democratic holds   Democratic pickups   Republican holds   Republican pickups

The United States gubernatorial elections of 1976 were held on November 2, 1976 in fourteen states. Democrats achieved a net-gain of one in these elections. This coincided with the Presidential election of 1976 and with the 1976 Congressional elections.

This was the last year in which Illinois held a gubernatorial election on the same year as the presidential election. The state of Illinois moved its gubernatorial election date from Presidential election years to midterm Congressional election years.

Election results

A bolded state name features an article about the specific election.

State	Incumbent	Party	Status	Opposing Candidates
Arkansas	David Pryor	Democratic	Re-elected, 83.24%	Leon Griffith (Republican) 16.74%
Delaware	Sherman W. Tribbitt	Democratic	Defeated, 42.46%	Pierre S. du Pont, IV (Republican) 56.86% George Cripps (American) 0.55% Harry Connor (Prohibition) 0.13%
Illinois	Daniel Walker	Democratic	Defeated in Primary, Republican victory	James R. Thompson (Republican) 64.68% Michael Howlett (Democratic) 34.71% Ishmael Flory (Communist) 0.22%
Indiana	Otis R. Bowen	Republican	Re-elected, 56.85%	Larry Conrad (Democratic) 42.63% Daniel P. Talbot (American) 0.45% Samuel L. Washington (U.S. Labor) 0.08%
Missouri	Kit Bond	Republican	Defeated, 49.55%	Joseph P. Teasdale (Democratic) 50.23% Leon Striler (Nonpartisan) 0.22%
Montana	Thomas Lee Judge	Democratic	Re-elected, 61.7%	Robert Woodahl (Republican) 36.58% Charley Mahoney (Independent) 1.72%
New Hampshire	Meldrim Thomson, Jr.	Republican	Re-elected, 57.66%	Harry Spanos (Democratic) 42.32%
North Carolina	James Holshouser	Republican	Term-limited, Democratic victory	Jim Hunt (Democratic) 64.99% David Flaherty (Republican) 33.9% Herbert F. "Chub" Seawell Jr. (American) 0.82% Arlan Andrews (Libertarian) 0.29%
North Dakota	Arthur A. Link	Democratic	Re-elected, 51.58%	Richard Elkin (Republican) 46.53% Martin Vaaler (American) 1.89%
Rhode Island	Philip W. Noel	Democratic	Retired, Democratic victory	John Garrahy (Democratic) 54.82% James Taft (Republican) 44.71% John C. Swift (Independent) 0.32%
Utah	Calvin L. Rampton	Democratic	Retired, Democratic victory	Scott M. Matheson (Democratic) 52.02% Vernon B. Romney (Republican) 45.96% L. S. Brown (American) 1.33% Betty Bates (Concerned Citizens) 0.69%
Vermont	Thomas P. Salmon	Democratic	Retired, Republican victory	Richard A. Snelling (Republican) 53.39% Stella Hackel (Democratic) 40.48% Bernie Sanders (Liberty Union) 6.09%
Washington	Daniel J. Evans	Republican	Retired, Democratic victory	Dixy Lee Ray (Democratic) 53.14% John Spellman (Republican) 44.43% Art Manning (American) 0.8% Red Kelly (OWL Party) 0.8% Henry Killman (Socialist Labor) 0.27%
West Virginia	Arch A. Moore, Jr.	Republican	Term-limited, Democratic victory	Jay Rockefeller (Democratic) 66.15% Cecil H. Underwood (Republican) 33.82%

See also

• United States presidential election, 1976
• United States Senate elections, 1976
• United States House of Representatives elections, 1976