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 after 26 24 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 2,833,572 3,781,314 Percentage 42.66% 56.93% Seats up 1 1 Seats won 0 2
Democratic gain     Democratic hold      No election

Gubernatorial elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2025, in New Jersey and Virginia. Both states had last elected governors in 2021, with both incumbents being ineligible to seek re-election due to term limits in their respective state constitutions. ^{[1] [2]}

In the 2024 United States presidential election, both states voted for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris by a 5-6% margin. ^[3] New Jersey in particular had a large swing to the right in 2024, with Donald Trump losing the state by only 6%, and had narrowly re-elected Democrat Phil Murphy in 2021, leading some to expect a close race. ^{[4] [5]} Ultimately, Democratic nominees Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger won their races in New Jersey and Virginia, respectively, by wide margins and outperformed Harris. ^[6] For the first time since 2013, Virginia voted to the left of New Jersey.^{[ citation needed ]}

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 one Republican and one 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 [7]	Incumbent	Last race	Cook Sep. 11, 2025 [8]	IE Aug. 28, 2025 [9]	Sabato Sep. 4, 2025 [10]	WH Sep. 13, 2025 [11]	SN Sep. 30, 2025 [12] [13]	Result
New Jersey	D+4	Phil Murphy (term-limited)	51.2% D	Lean D	Lean D	Lean D	Likely D	Likely D	Sherrill 56.5% D
Virginia	D+3	Glenn Youngkin (term-limited)	50.6% R	Likely D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Likely D (flip)	Safe D (flip)	Solid D (flip)	Spanberger 57.4% D (flip)

Race summary

State	Governor	Party	First elected	Status	Candidates [14] [15]
New Jersey	Phil Murphy	Democratic	2017	Incumbent term-limited. Democratic hold.	▌Y Mikie Sherrill (Democratic) 56.5% ▌ Jack Ciattarelli (Republican) 42.9% ▌Vic Kaplan (Libertarian) 0.4% ▌Joanne Kuniansky (Socialist Workers) 0.2%
Virginia	Glenn Youngkin	Republican	2021	Incumbent term-limited. Democratic gain.	▌Y Abigail Spanberger (Democratic) 57.3% ▌ Winsome Earle-Sears (Republican) 42.6%

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 Jim Gannon Popular vote 1,840,416 1,394,910 Percentage 56.55% 42.86%

County results

Governor before election Phil Murphy Democratic Elected Governor Mikie Sherrill Democratic

Governor Phil Murphy was elected to a second term in 2021 with 51.2% of the vote. He was term-limited by the New Jersey Constitution and couldn't 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. ^{[16] [17] [18] [19] [20]} Ultimately, Sherrill won the Democratic nomination on June 10. Former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, who was the Republican nominee in 2021, was the Republican nominee.

Virginia

Main article: 2025 Virginia gubernatorial election

Virginia gubernatorial election

←  2021 2029 →

Nominee Abigail Spanberger Winsome Earle-Sears Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,940,898 1,438,662 Percentage 57.32% 42.48%

County and independent city results

Governor before election Glenn Youngkin Republican Elected Governor Abigail Spanberger Democratic

Governor Glenn Youngkin was elected in 2021 with 50.6% of the vote. He was term-limited by the Virginia Constitution and could not seek election to a second consecutive term. Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears was the Republican nominee. ^[21] Former U.S. Representative for Virginia's 7th congressional district Abigail Spanberger was the Democratic nominee. ^[22] Both candidates won their respective party’s nominations unopposed. Spanberger won the election, becoming the first female governor in Virginia's history. ^[23]

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. Jamerson, Joshua. "New Jersey and Virginia Are Typically Blue States—but They Got Bluer". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
4. Friedman, Matt; Han, Daniel. "New Jersey might be a swing state now". Politico. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
5. Catalini, Mike; Peoples, Steve. "Democrats wary support may be sliding among typically loyal voters in New Jersey governor's race". AP News. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
6. Oliphant, James. "Takeaways from US election night 2025". Reuters. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
7. "2025 Cook PVI℠: State Map and List". Cook Political Report. March 6, 2025. Retrieved May 10, 2025.
8. "2025 CPR Governor Race ratings". The Cook Political Report.
9. "Gubernatorial Ratings". insideelections.com. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
10. 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.
11. "Governor Forecast - 2025-2026". Race to the WH. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
12. "Virginia, Forecast: Gov". State Navigate. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
13. "2025 NJ Forecasts". projects.statenavigate.com. Retrieved October 1, 2025.
14. "New Jersey Governor Election Results". The New York Times . November 4, 2025. Retrieved November 5, 2025.
15. "Virginia Governor Election Results". The New York Times . November 4, 2025. Retrieved November 5, 2025.
16. Wildstein, David (April 11, 2023). "Fulop announces bid for Governor in 2025". New Jersey Globe . Retrieved April 11, 2023.
17. Racioppi, Dustin (December 11, 2023). "Sweeney enters NJ governor's race after upset loss as Senate president". Politico. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
18. Wildstein, David (February 19, 2024). "Baraka Says He'll Run For Governor In 2025". New Jersey Globe . Retrieved February 19, 2024.
19. 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.
20. Friedman, Matt (November 18, 2024). "New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill's campaign for governor takes flight". Politico . Retrieved November 18, 2024.
21. Nadeau, Ryan (April 5, 2025). "Earle-Sears secures Republican nomination for Virginia governor, creating historic gubernatorial ticket". WIRC. Retrieved April 5, 2025.
22. Fortinsky, Sarah (April 3, 2025). "Spanberger confirmed as Democratic nominee for Virginia governor's race". The Hill. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
23. "Abigail Spanberger Flips Virginia, Becomes State's First Female Governor". November 5, 2025. Retrieved November 5, 2025.