2025 United States gubernatorial elections

For related races, see 2025 United States elections.

2025 United States gubernatorial elections

←  2024 November 4, 2025 2026  →
←  2021 2029 →
2 governorships
Majority party Minority party   Party Republican Democratic Seats before 27 23 Seats up 1 1
Term-limited Republican     Term-limited Democrat      No election

United States gubernatorial elections are scheduled to be held on November 4, 2025 in two states, New Jersey and Virginia. These elections will be held as part of the 2025 United States elections. The last gubernatorial elections for New Jersey and Virginia were in 2021. Both incumbents are ineligible to run for re-election due to term limits. More states may hold elections due to a gubernatorial vacancy (depending on a state's constitution) or recall of a governor. ^{[1] [2]}

In 2024, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris won both states by slightly less than 6%.

Partisan composition

Going into the election, there are 27 Republican governors and 23 Democratic governors in the United States. This class of governors is made up of 1 Republican and 1 Democrat. Republicans are defending one governorship in a state that Kamala Harris won in 2024 (Virginia). Democrats are defending one governorship in a state that Harris won (New Jersey).

Election predictions

Several sites and individuals publish predictions of competitive seats. These predictions looked at factors such as the strength of the incumbent (if the incumbent is running for re-election), the strength of the candidates, and the partisan leanings of the state (reflected in part by the state's Cook Partisan Voting Index rating). The predictions assigned ratings to each seat, with the rating indicating a party's predicted advantage in winning that seat.

Most election predictors use:

• "tossup": no advantage
• "tilt" (used by some predictors): advantage that is not quite as strong as "lean"
• "lean": slight advantage
• "likely": significant, but surmountable, advantage
• "safe" or "solid": near-certain chance of victory

State	PVI [3]	Incumbent	Last race	Cook Sep. 11, 2025 [4]	IE Aug. 28, 2025 [5]	Sabato Sep. 4, 2025 [6]	WH Sep. 13, 2025 [7]	SN Sep. 2, 2025 [8]
New Jersey	D+4	Phil Murphy (term-limited)	51.2% D	Lean D	Lean D	Lean D	Lean D	N/A
Virginia	D+3	Glenn Youngkin (term-limited)	50.6% R	Likely D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Likely D (flip)	Likely D (flip)	Solid D (flip)

Race summary

State	Governor	Party	First elected	Last race	Status	Candidates
New Jersey	Phil Murphy	Democratic	2017	51.2% D	Term-limited	▌ Jack Ciattarelli (Republican) [9] ▌Vic Kaplan (Libertarian) [10] ▌Joanne Kuniansky (Socialist Workers) [11] ▌ Mikie Sherrill (Democratic) [12]
Virginia	Glenn Youngkin	Republican	2021	50.6% R	Term-limited	▌ Winsome Earle-Sears (Republican) [13] ▌ Abigail Spanberger (Democratic) [14]

New Jersey

Main article: 2025 New Jersey gubernatorial election

New Jersey gubernatorial election

←  2021 2029 →

Nominee Mikie Sherrill Jack Ciattarelli Party Democratic Republican Running mate Dale Caldwell James Gannon

Incumbent Governor Phil Murphy Democratic

Governor Phil Murphy was re-elected to a second term in 2021 with 51.2% of the vote. He will be term-limited by the New Jersey Constitution and cannot seek re-election for a third consecutive term. Jersey City mayor Steven Fulop, former New Jersey Senate president Stephen Sweeney, U.S. Representatives Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill, and Newark mayor Ras Baraka ran for the Democratic nomination. ^{[15] [16] [17] [18] [12]} Ultimately, Sherrill won the Democratic nomination on June 10. Former state assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, who was the Republican nominee in 2021, is the Republican nominee.

Virginia

Main article: 2025 Virginia gubernatorial election

Virginia gubernatorial election

←  2021 2029 →

Nominee Winsome Earle-Sears Abigail Spanberger Party Republican Democratic

Incumbent Governor Glenn Youngkin Republican

Governor Glenn Youngkin was elected in 2021 with 50.6% of the vote. He will be term-limited by the Virginia Constitution and cannot seek re-election for a second consecutive term. Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears is the Republican nominee. ^[19] Former U.S. Representative for Virginia's 7th congressional district Abigail Spanberger is the Democratic nominee. ^[20] Both candidates won their respective party’s nominations unopposed. The winner of this election will become the first female governor in Virginia's history.

References

1. "Phil Murphy narrowly reelected governor in New Jersey, defeating Republican Jack Ciattarelli". 6abc Philadelphia. Associated Press. November 3, 2021. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
2. "Term Limits on Governor". U.S. Term Limits. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
3. "2025 Cook PVI℠: State Map and List". Cook Political Report. March 6, 2025. Retrieved May 10, 2025.
4. "2025 CPR Governor Race ratings". The Cook Political Report.
5. "Gubernatorial Ratings". insideelections.com. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
6. Coleman, J. Miles (April 30, 2025). "The Governors, Part One: Democrats Start as Favorites in 2025 New Jersey and Virginia Races". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
7. "Governor Forecast - 2025-2026". Race to the WH. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
8. "Virginia, Forecast: Gov". State Navigate. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
9. Wildstein, David (April 9, 2024). "Jack Ciattarelli launches bid for governor, pledging to cut taxes and spending". New Jersey Globe . Retrieved April 9, 2024.
10. Winger, Richard (June 9, 2025). "Libertarian Party Files 3,208 Signatures to Qualify for New Jersey Gubernatorial Race". Ballot Access News . Retrieved June 10, 2025.
11. Wildstein, David (June 17, 2025). "Two independent gubernatorial candidates likely off ballot". New Jersey Globe . Retrieved June 18, 2025.
12. Friedman, Matt (November 18, 2024). "New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill's campaign for governor takes flight". Politico . Retrieved November 18, 2024.
13. Vozzella, Laura; Schneider, Gregory S. (September 5, 2024). "Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears announces her candidacy for governor". The Washington Post . Retrieved September 5, 2024.
14. Rankin, Sarah (November 13, 2023). "Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger is running for governor instead of seeking reelection to the House". AP News. The Associated Press. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
15. Wildstein, David (April 11, 2023). "Fulop announces bid for Governor in 2025". New Jersey Globe . Retrieved April 11, 2023.
16. Racioppi, Dustin (December 11, 2023). "Sweeney enters NJ governor's race after upset loss as Senate president". Politico. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
17. Wildstein, David (February 19, 2024). "Baraka Says He'll Run For Governor In 2025". New Jersey Globe . Retrieved February 19, 2024.
18. Sobko, Katie (November 15, 2024). "Rep. Josh Gottheimer makes it official: He's running for governor of New Jersey". North Jersey . Retrieved November 15, 2024.
19. Nadeau, Ryan (April 5, 2025). "Earle-Sears secures Republican nomination for Virginia governor, creating historic gubernatorial ticket". WIRC. Retrieved April 5, 2025.
20. Fortinsky, Sarah (April 3, 2025). "Spanberger confirmed as Democratic nominee for Virginia governor's race". The Hill. Retrieved April 3, 2025.