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%

New Jersey

1981 New Jersey gubernatorial election

←  1977 November 3, 1981 1985  →

Candidate Thomas Kean James Florio Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,145,999 1,144,202 Percentage 49.46% 49.38%

County results Congressional district results Kean:     50–60%     60–70% Florio:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%

Governor before election Brendan Byrne Democratic Elected Governor Thomas Kean Republican

The 1981 New Jersey gubernatorial election was held November 3, 1981. Republican Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly Thomas Kean narrowly defeated Democratic U.S. Representative James Florio, 49.46%-49.38, following a recount. ^[5] Kean's margin of victory was 1,797 votes out of more than two million votes cast. As of 2025, the 1981 gubernatorial election remains the closest gubernatorial contest in New Jersey history. ^[6]

Virginia

1981 Virginia gubernatorial election

←  1977 November 3, 1981 1985  →
Turnout	64.8% (voting eligible) [7]
Nominee Chuck Robb Marshall Coleman Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 760,357 659,398 Percentage 53.56% 46.44%
County and independent city results Robb:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90% Coleman:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%
Governor before election John N. Dalton Republican Elected Governor Chuck Robb Democratic

In the 1981 Virginia gubernatorial election, Republican incumbent Governor John N. Dalton was unable to seek re-election due to term limits. Chuck Robb, the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, was nominated by the Democratic Party to run against the Republican nominee, state Attorney General J. Marshall Coleman.

Robb's victory ended 12 consecutive years of Republican control of the Governor's Mansion. Fairfax County voted Democratic for Governor for the first time since 1949.

Territories

Northern Mariana Islands

Northern Marina Islands election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Pedro Tenorio	{{{votes}}}	56.68%
	Independent	Carlos Camacho	{{{votes}}}	23.07%
	Democratic	Herman R. Guerrero	{{{votes}}}	20.26%
Total votes			{{{votes}}}	100.00
	Republican hold

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.
5. "Election night 1981, when the N.J. governor's race was too close to call". NJ.com. November 3, 2009. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
6. Brindle, Jeffrey (October 3, 2022). "Former Governor Jim Florio – A Public Servant Right to the End". insidernj.com.
7. Virginia Department of Elections (2016). "Registration/Turnout Statistics". The Commonwealth of Virginia. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved July 25, 2016.