1981 United States gubernatorial elections

1981 United States gubernatorial elections

←  1980 November 3, 1981 1982  →
3 governorships 2 states; 1 territory
Majority party Minority party   Party Democratic Republican Seats before 27 23 Seats after 27 23 Seat change Seats up 1 1 Seats won 1 1
Republican gain   Democratic gain

United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 3, 1981, in two states and one territory. Both state seats were open due to term limits, and both also switched parties, resulting in zero net change for both parties. As of 2025, this is the last time where Virginia and New Jersey's governorships switched to opposite parties.

Election results

States

State	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
New Jersey [1]	Brendan Byrne	Democratic	1973	Incumbent term-limited. New governor elected. Republican gain.	Y Thomas Kean (Republican) 49.5% James Florio (Democratic) 49.4%
Virginia [2]	John N. Dalton	Republican	1977	Incumbent term-limited. New governor elected. Democratic gain.	Y Chuck Robb (Democratic) 53.6% Marshall Coleman (Republican) 46.4%

Territories

State	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
Northern Mariana Islands [3] [4]	Carlos Camacho	Democratic	1977	Incumbent lost re-election. New governor elected. Republican gain.	Y Pedro Tenorio (Republican) 3,447 (56.68%) Carlos Camacho (Popular Democratic) 1,403 (23.07%) Herman R. Guerrero (Democratic) 1,232 (20.26%)

Close states

States where the margin of victory was under 1%:

1. New Jersey, 0.1%

States where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. Virginia, 7.2%

References

1. "Votes Cast for the Office of Governor of the State of New Jersey" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. 1981. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
2. "Official Election Results 1981" (PDF). Virginia State Board of Elections. 1981. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
3. "Outcome Unchanged By Ballot Count". Marianas Variety . Vol. 10, no. 35. November 13, 1981. p. 3. Retrieved June 12, 2024– via eVols. With all the absentee votes counted and challenges disposed of, the results of the Nov. 1 election remain the same.
4. "Incomplete Semi-Official Election Results". Marianas Variety . Vol. 10, no. 34. November 6, 1981. p. 2. Retrieved December 17, 2021– via eVols.