1994 United States gubernatorial elections explained

Election Name:	1994 United States gubernatorial elections
Country:	United States
Type:	legislative
Ongoing:	No
Previous Election:	1993 United States gubernatorial elections
Previous Year:	1993
Next Election:	1995 United States gubernatorial elections
Next Year:	1995
Seats For Election:	38 governorships 36 states; 2 territories
Election Date:	November 8, 1994
1Blank:	Seats up
2Blank:	Seats won
Party1:	Republican Party (United States)
Seats Before1:	20
Seats After1:	30
Seat Change1:	10
1Data1:	14
2Data1:	24
Party2:	Democratic Party (United States)
Seats Before2:	29
Seats After2:	19
Seat Change2:	10
1Data2:	21
2Data2:	11
Party4:	Independent (United States)
Seats Before4:	0
Seats After4:	1
Seat Change4:	1
1Data4:	0
2Data4:	1
Party5:	A Connecticut Party
Seats Before5:	1
Seats After5:	0
Seat Change5:	1
1Data5:	1
2Data5:	0
Map Size:	324px

On November 8, 1994, gubernatorial elections were held in 36 states and two territories across the United States. Many seats held by Democratic governors switched to the Republicans during the time known as the Republican Revolution. Notably, this marked the first time since 1969 that Republicans secured the majority of governorships in an election cycle.

Before the elections, 21 seats were held by Democrats, 14 held by Republicans, and one seat was held by an independent. After the elections, 11 seats would be held by Democrats, 24 by Republicans, and one seat by an independent.

The gubernatorial elections of 1994 occurred concurrently with the midterm elections for the Senate and House of Representatives. To date, it remains the last time that Democrats have won gubernatorial elections in Florida and Nebraska.

Election results

States

State	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
Alabama	Jim Folsom Jr.		Democratic	1993		Incumbent lost election to full term. New governor elected. Republican gain.	nowrap	Fob James (Republican) 50.3% Jim Folsom Jr. (Democratic) 49.4%
Alaska	Wally Hickel		Republican	1966 1969 1990		Incumbent retired. New governor elected. Democratic gain.	nowrap	Tony Knowles (Democratic) 41.1% Jim Campbell (Republican) 40.8% Jack Coghill (AK Independence) 13.0% Jim Sykes (Green) 4.1%
Arizona	Fife Symington		Republican	1990	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap	Fife Symington (Republican) 52.5% Eddie Basha (Democratic) 44.3% John A. Buttrick (Libertarian) 3.1%
Arkansas	Jim Guy Tucker		Democratic	1992	Incumbent elected to full term.	nowrap	Jim Guy Tucker (Democratic) 59.8% Sheffield Nelson (Republican) 40.2%
California	Pete Wilson		Republican	1990	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap	Pete Wilson (Republican) 55.2% Kathleen Brown (Democratic) 40.6% Richard Rider (Libertarian) 1.7% Jerome McCready (American Independent) 1.5%
Colorado	Roy Romer		Democratic	1986	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap	Roy Romer (Democratic) 55.5% Bruce D. Benson (Republican) 38.7% Kevin Swanson (Constitution) 3.6% Philip Hufford (Green) 1.5%
Connecticut	Lowell Weicker		A Connecticut Party	1990		Incumbent retired. New governor elected. Republican gain.	nowrap	John G. Rowland (Republican) 36.2% Bill Curry (Democratic) 32.7% Eunice Groark (A Connecticut Party) 18.9% Tom Scott (Independent) 11.3%
Florida	Lawton Chiles		Democratic	1990	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap	Lawton Chiles (Democratic) 50.8% Jeb Bush (Republican) 49.2%
Georgia	Zell Miller		Democratic	1990	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap	Zell Miller (Democratic) 51.0% Guy Millner (Republican) 49.0%
Hawaii	John D. Waihe'e III		Democratic	1986		Incumbent term-limited. New governor elected. Democratic hold.	nowrap	Ben Cayetano (Democratic) 36.6% Frank Fasi (Best) 30.7% Pat Saiki (Republican) 29.2% Kioni Dudley (Green) 3.5%
Idaho	Cecil D. Andrus		Democratic	1970 1977 1986		Incumbent retired. New governor elected. Republican gain.	nowrap	Phil Batt (Republican) 52.3% Larry Echo Hawk (Democratic) 43.9% Ronald D. Rankin (Independent) 3.8%
Illinois	Jim Edgar		Republican	1990	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap	Jim Edgar (Republican) 63.9% Dawn Clark Netsch (Democratic) 34.4%
Iowa	Terry Branstad		Republican	1982	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap	Terry Branstad (Republican) 56.8% Bonnie Campbell (Democratic) 41.6%
Kansas	Joan Finney		Democratic	1990		Incumbent retired. New governor elected. Republican gain.	nowrap	Bill Graves (Republican) 64.1% Jim Slattery (Democratic) 35.9%
Maine	John R. McKernan Jr.		Republican	1986		Incumbent term-limited. New governor elected. Independent gain.	nowrap	Angus King (Independent) 35.4% Joseph E. Brennan (Democratic) 33.8% Susan Collins (Republican) 23.1% Jonathan Carter (Green) 6.4% Ed Finks (Write-in) 1.3%
Maryland	William D. Schaefer		Democratic	1986		Incumbent term-limited. New governor elected. Democratic hold.	nowrap	Parris Glendening (Democratic) 50.2% Ellen Sauerbrey (Republican) 49.8%
Massachusetts	Bill Weld		Republican	1990	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap	Bill Weld (Republican) 70.9% Mark Roosevelt (Democratic) 28.3%
Michigan	John Engler		Republican	1990	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap	John Engler (Republican) 61.5% Howard Wolpe (Democratic) 38.5%
Minnesota	Arne Carlson		Republican	1990	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap	Arne Carlson (Republican) 63.3% John Marty (Democratic) 34.1% Will Shetterly (Grassroots) 1.2%
Nebraska	Ben Nelson		Democratic	1990	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap	Ben Nelson (Democratic) 73.0% Gene Spence (Republican) 25.6%
Nevada	Bob Miller		Democratic	1989	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap	Bob Miller (Democratic) 52.7% Jim Gibbons (Republican) 41.3% Daniel Hansen (Independent American) 2.6% Denis Sholty (Libertarian) 1.0%
New Hampshire	Steve Merrill		Republican	1992	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap	Steve Merrill (Republican) 69.9% Wayne King (Democratic) 25.6% Steven Winter (Libertarian) 4.4%
New Mexico	Bruce King		Democratic	1970 1974 1978 1982 1990		Incumbent lost re-election. New governor elected. Republican gain.	nowrap	Gary Johnson (Republican) 49.8% Bruce King (Democratic) 39.9% Roberto Mondragón (Green) 10.3%
New York	Mario Cuomo		Democratic	1982		Incumbent lost re-election. New governor elected. Republican gain.	nowrap	George Pataki (Republican) 48.8% Mario Cuomo (Democratic) 45.5% Tom Golisano (Independence) 4.2% Robert T. Walsh (Right to Life) 1.3%
Ohio	George Voinovich		Republican	1990	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap	George Voinovich (Republican) 71.8% Rob Burch (Democratic) 25.0% Billy R. Inmon (Independent) 3.2%
Oklahoma	David Walters		Democratic	1990		Incumbent retired. New governor elected. Republican gain.	nowrap	Frank Keating (Republican) 46.9% Jack Mildren (Democratic) 29.6% Wes Watkins (Independent) 23.5%
Oregon	Barbara Roberts		Democratic	1990		Incumbent retired. New governor elected. Democratic hold.	nowrap	John Kitzhaber (Democratic) 51.0% Denny Smith (Republican) 42.4% Ed Hickam (American) 4.8% Danford Ploeg (Libertarian) 1.6%
Pennsylvania	Bob Casey Sr.		Democratic	1986		Incumbent term-limited. New governor elected. Republican gain.	nowrap	Tom Ridge (Republican) 45.4% Mark Singel (Democratic) 39.9% Peg Luksik (Constitution) 12.8%
Rhode Island	Bruce Sundlun		Democratic	1990		Incumbent lost renomination. New governor elected. Republican gain.	nowrap	Lincoln Almond (Republican) 47.4% Myrth York (Democratic) 43.5% Robert J. Healey (Independent) 9.1%
South Carolina	Carroll A. Campbell Jr.		Republican	1986		Incumbent term-limited. New governor elected. Republican hold.	nowrap	David Beasley (Republican) 50.4% Nick Theodore (Democratic) 47.9%
South Dakota	Walter Dale Miller		Republican	1993		Incumbent lost nomination to full term. New governor elected. Republican hold.	nowrap	Bill Janklow (Republican) 55.4% Jim Beddow (Democratic) 40.5% Nathan A. Barton (Libertarian) 4.1%
Tennessee	Ned McWherter		Democratic	1986		Incumbent term-limited. New governor elected. Republican gain.	nowrap	Don Sundquist (Republican) 54.3% Phil Bredesen (Democratic) 44.7%
Texas	Ann Richards		Democratic	1990		Incumbent lost re-election. New governor elected. Republican gain.	nowrap	George W. Bush (Republican) 53.5% Ann Richards (Democratic) 45.9%
Vermont	Howard Dean		Democratic	1991	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap	Howard Dean (Democratic) 68.7% David F. Kelley (Republican) 19.0% Thomas J. Morse (Independent) 7.1% Dennis Lane (Grassroots) 1.0%
Wisconsin	Tommy Thompson		Republican	1986	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap	Tommy Thompson (Republican) 67.2% Charles Chvala (Democratic) 30.9%
Wyoming	Mike Sullivan		Democratic	1986		Incumbent term-limited. New governor elected. Republican gain.	nowrap	Jim Geringer (Republican) 58.7% Kathy Karpan (Democratic) 40.2% Seaghan Uibreaslain (Libertarian) 1.1%

Territories and federal district

Territory	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
District of Columbia	Sharon Pratt		Democratic	1990		Incumbent lost renomination. New mayor elected. Democratic hold.	nowrap	Marion Barry (Democratic) 56.0% Carol Schwartz (Republican) 41.9%
Guam	Joseph Franklin Ada		Republican	1986		Incumbent retired. New governor elected.^[1] Democratic gain.	nowrap	Carl Gutierrez (Democratic) 54.8% Tommy Tanaka (Republican) 45.2%
U.S. Virgin Islands	Alexander Farrelly		Democratic	1986		Incumbent term-limited. New governor elected.^[2] Independent gain.	nowrap	Roy Schneider (Independent) 54.7% Derek Hodge (Democratic) 42.6%

Closest races

States where the margin of victory was under 1%:

Alaska, 0.2%

Maryland, 0.4%

Alabama, 0.9%

States where the margin of victory was under 5%:

Florida, 1.5%

Maine, 1.5%

Georgia, 2.1%

South Carolina, 2.5%

New York, 3.3%

Connecticut, 3.5%

Rhode Island, 3.8%

States where the margin of victory was under 10%:

Pennsylvania, 5.5%

Hawaii, 5.9%

Texas, 7.6%

Arizona, 8.2%

Idaho, 8.4%

Oregon, 8.5%

Tennessee, 9.6%

Guam, 9.7%

New Mexico, 9.9%

See also

• 1994 United States elections
  • 1994 United States Senate elections
  • 1994 United States House of Representatives elections

Notes and References

1. Web site: Guam Governor Race - Nov 08, 1994 . Our Campaigns . July 3, 2015 .
2. Web site: USVI Governor Race - Nov 08, 1994 . Our Campaigns . January 19, 2006 .