1997 United States gubernatorial elections

1997 United States gubernatorial elections

←  1996 November 4, 1997 1998  →
3 governorships 2 states; 1 territory
Majority party Minority party   Party Republican Democratic Seats before 32 17 Seats after 32 17 Seat change Seats up 2 0 Seats won 2 0
Map of the results      Republican gain     Republican hold      No election

United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 4, 1997, in two states and one territory. Republicans retained both seats.

Election results

States

State	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
New Jersey	Christine Todd Whitman	Republican	1993	Incumbent re-elected. [1]	Y Christine Todd Whitman (Republican) 46.9% Jim McGreevey (Democratic) 45.8% Murray Sabrin (Libertarian) 4.7% Richard Pezzullo (Conservative) 1.4%
Virginia	George Allen	Republican	1993	Incumbent term-limited. New governor elected. Republican hold. [2]	Y Jim Gilmore (Republican) 55.8% Don Beyer (Democratic) 42.6%

Territory

State	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
Northern Mariana Islands	Froilan Tenorio	Democratic	1993	Incumbent lost re-election. New governor elected. [3] Republican gain.	Y Pedro Tenorio (Republican) 46.5% Froilan Tenorio (Democratic) 27.3% Jesus Borja (Independent) 26.3%

Closest races

States where the margin of victory was under 5%:

1. New Jersey, 1.1%

References

1. "1997 Gubernatorial General Election Results - New Jersey". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Elections. Retrieved March 3, 2025.
2. "1997 Gubernatorial General Election Results - Virginia". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Elections. Retrieved March 3, 2025.
3. "Northern Mariana Islands Governor Race - Nov 01, 1997". Our Campaigns. January 21, 2006.