Fun Gubernatorial Facts
07 Jul 2018, 7:23 am
The following states have had female governors:
Alabama: Lurleen Wallace, Kay Ivey
Alaska: Sarah Palin
Arizona: Rose Mofford, Jane Hull, Janet Napolitano, Jan Brewer
Connecticut: Ella Grasso, Jodi Rell
Delaware: Ruth Minner
Hawaii: Linda Lingle
Iowa: Kim Reynolds
Kansas: Joan Finney, Kathleen Sebelius
Kentucky: Martha Collins
Louisiana: Kathleen Blanco
Massachusetts: Jane Swift
Michigan: Jennifer Granholm
Montana: Judy Martz
Nebraska: Kay Orr
New Hampshire: Vesta Roy, Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan
New Jersey: Christine Whitman
New Mexico: Susana Martinez
North Carolina: Beverly Perdue
Ohio: Nancy Hollister
Oklahoma: Mary Fallin
Oregon: Barbara Roberts, Kate Brown
Rhode Island: Gina Raimondo
South Carolina: Nikki Haley
Texas: Ma Ferguson, Ann Richards
Utah: Olene Walker
Vermont: Madeline Kunin
Washington: Dixy Ray, Chris Gregoire
Wyoming: Nellie Ross
The following states have had African-American governors:
Louisiana: P.B.S. Pinchback
Massachusetts: Deval Patrick
New York: David Paterson
Virginia: Douglas Wilder
The following states have had Hispanic governors:
Arizona: Raul H. Castro
California: Romualdo Pacheco
Florida: Bob Martinez
Nevada: Brian Sandoval
New Hampshire: Chris Sununu
New Mexico: Ezequiel Cabeza de Baca, Octaviano Larrazolo, Jerry Apodaca, Toney Anaya, Bill Richardson, Susana Martinez
The following states have had Asian-American governors:
Hawaii: George Ariyoshi, Ben Cayetano, David Ige
Louisiana: Bobby Jindal
South Carolina: Nikki Haley
Washington: Gary Locke
The following states have had Jewish governors:
California: Washington Bartlett
Connecticut: Abe Ribicoff
Hawaii: Linda Lingle
Idaho: Moses Alexander
Illinois: Henry Horner, Samuel Shapiro
Maryland: Marvin Mandel
Missouri: Eric Greitens
New Mexico: Arthur Seligman
New York: Herbert Lehman, Eliot Spitzer
Oregon: Julius Meier, Neil Goldschmidt
Pennsylvania: Milton Shapp, Ed Rendell
Rhode Island: Frank Licht, Bruce Sundlun
Utah: Simon Bamberger
Vermont: Madeline Kunin, Peter Shumlin
Non-Judeo-Christian governors:
Hawaii: David Ige (Buddhist)
Minnesota: Jesse Ventura (Atheist)
LGBT governors:
New Jersey: Jim McGreevey
Oregon: Kate Brown
Miscellania:
Ella Grasso (CT) was the first female governor who wasn't married or related to a previous governor.
Terry Branstad (IA) holds the record of longest gubernatorial tenure of any governor. He served as governor of Iowa from 1983-99, and from 2011-2017
From 2001-2006, with the exception of Jim McGreevey's term, New Jersey went through a cycle of acting governors that included Don DiFrancesco, John Farmer, John Bennett, and multiple stints by Richard Codey. Jon Corzine would be the next full-time governor.
Jane Swift (MA) and Sarah Palin (AK) are the only two female governors to have given birth while in office.
Lurleen Wallace (AL) is, to date, the only female governor to have died in office.
The following states do not have term limits for governor:
Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Virginia is the only state that does not allow governors to serve consecutive terms.
New Hampshire and Vermont are the only states that have 2-year terms, rather than 4-year terms.
Scott Walker (WI) is, to date, the only governor to have survived a recall election.
Arnold Schwarzenegger (CA) and Jennifer Granholm (MI) were both contestants on the Dating Game. Incidentally, both were foreign-born (Schwarzenegger is Austrian, Granholm is Canadian)
Utah currently holds the longest streak without a Democratic governor (the most recent, Scott Matheson, left office in 1985). Washington holds the longest streak without a Republican governor (the most recent, John Spellman, leaving office in 1985).
There have, to date, been four gubernatorial elections in which both major party candidates were women:
1986, Nebraska: Kay Orr vs. Helen Boosalis
2002, Hawaii: Linda Lingle vs. Mazie Hirono
2010, New Mexico: Susana Martinez vs. Diane Denish
2010, Oklahoma: Mary Fallin vs. Jari Askins
All four were won by the Republican candidate (Orr, Lingle, Martinez, and Fallin, respectively). In 2012, Linda Lingle and Mazie Hirono would face each other again for Hawaii's open senate seat vacated by Daniel Akaka. Hirono won the election by a landslide.
Sam Houston is, to date, the only person to have been governor of more than one state (Tennessee and Texas).
Jerry Brown (CA) has the highest salary of any current governor, at just over $200,000/year. Paul LePage (ME) has the lowest, at $70,000/year. Bill Haslam (TN) is currently the wealthiest governor, owing to being the son of Pilot-Flying J founder Jimmy Haslam.
George Wallace (AL) likely holds the record for most dramatic political transformation over his three stints as governor of Alabama. In his first term (1963-1967), he was infamous for his stand at UA, and his vow of "segregation forever". By the end of his fourth term (1983-1987), he held the still-standing record of most African-Americans appointed to high-ranking positions in Alabama. It is believed that being shot in 1972, during his second presidential run, greatly humbled him. Despite Nixon's "southern strategy" in which many conservative Democrats in the South joined the GOP, Wallace remained in the Democratic Party for the rest of his life (with the exception of his 1968 presidential bid).
John Patterson (AL) is currently the oldest and earliest-serving governor of any state (currently 96 years old, served from 1959-1963).
Illinois holds the record for most governors convicted of major crimes, with four: Otto Kerner, Dan Walker, George Ryan, and Rod Blagojevich.
Ironic twist: After leaving office, Deval Patrick (MA) would join the Board of Directors at Bain Capital, the company once led by his predecessor, Mitt Romney.
John Gilligan (OH) and Kathleen Sebelius (KS) are the only father-daughter gubernatorial duo to date. There have been many father-son duos.
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