Which States Have the Most Living Ex-Governors?

250 ex-governors are still living in the United States; New Jersey has five times more living former governors (10) than Connecticut and Wyoming (2)

This is the fourth in a series of historical reports leading up to the gubernatorial elections of 2010. Past reports have examined the historic Class of 2002 and its large number of first-term governors, the success rate of ex-governors trying to reclaim their office, and plurality winning gubernatorial campaigns.

With ex-governors enjoying a 57 percent success rate in comeback bids since World War II, and a 63 percent success rate in open contests, it should be no surprise that five former governors are vying for their old jobs back in the 2010 election cycle – the largest number in a quarter century.

But what states have the largest pools of ex-governors who could be tempted to run again if they should get the itch?

A Smart Politics analysis of National Governors Association data finds that 250 ex-governors are still living today, or an average of five per state.

New Jersey leads the way with 10 surviving governors, followed by Delaware (8), Virginia (8), Florida (7), and Kentucky (7).

Of New Jersey’s 10 ex-governors, four were not elected: Donald T. DiFrancesco (2001-2002) assumed office after Christine Todd Whitman resigned to become EPA Administrator under George W. Bush, John Bennett (2002) was governor for four days after DiFrancesco and prior to Jim McGreevey’s first day in office, and Senate President Richard Codey became acting governor in 2004 when McGreevey resigned from office. Attorney General John Farmer was also briefly acting governor during the transition from DiFrancesco to Bennett.

On the margins, it makes sense that certain states would have a larger number of living ex-governors – namely, those states with laws that encourage a high turnover of officeholders.

For example, Virginia (8 surviving ex-governors) turns over governors with a greater frequency than most states due to its constitution forbidding a governor to run for consecutive four-year terms.

Meanwhile, states like New Hampshire (6) and Vermont (5) have the potential for quicker turnover – and thus younger governors out of office – as gubernatorial elections are held every two years.

Interestingly, the five former governors running for their old office in 2010 all come from states that are at or below the nationwide average for the number of living ex-governors per state: Georgia (with 5, Roy Barnes), Maryland (5, Robert Erhlich), Oregon (5, John Kitzhaber), Iowa (4, Terry Branstad), and California (4, Jerry Brown, pictured).

Washington (6) is home to the nation’s oldest current living ex-governor with Democrat Albert Rosellini (pictured at top). Rosellini, who turned 100 in January, governed the Evergreen State from 1957 to 1965 and has seen seven other governors succeed him.

Fifteen other former governors are more than 90 years old while another 58 are at least 80 years of age.

But not every state has a large pool of ex-governors to dust off and bring back onto the campaign trail. Wyoming, which has seen each of its last five governors serve at least eight years in office, only has two surviving ex-governors – Michael Sullivan and Jim Geringer.

Connecticut also only has two living ex-governors, with one of them essentially unelectable as a former federal felon on corruption charges (John Rowland).

Michigan’s three surviving ex-governors (William Milliken, James Blanchard, John Engler) were in office a combined 34 years dating back to the 1960s. Similarly, Hawaii’s three living ex-governors (George Ariyoshi, John Waihee III, Ben Cayetano) served a combined 28 years from 1974-2002.

With more than two-dozen governors term-limited or retiring from office at the end of this year, it is conceivable some will attempt to resurrect their political careers like Brown, Barnes, Erhlich, Kitzhaber, and Branstad) with a run for office down the road in 2014 or 2018.

Number of Living Ex-Governors by State

National Governors Association data compiled by Smart Politics. Data includes former acting governors and other governors who were not elected to the office. Data excludes territorial governors (e.g. Alaska’s Michael Stepovich).

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