Kelly Ayotte Attempts to Make History with New Hampshire Gubernatorial Bid
No sitting or former U.S. Senator in the direct election era has won an election for governor in the Granite State; only one has made an attempt
Former Republican U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte launched her bid to become the next New Hampshire governor on Monday, less than a week after Chris Sununu announced he would not seek a fifth term.
Smart Politics has previously documented how it has been exceedingly rare for U.S. Senators – former or sitting – to go home and win gubernatorial elections.
Since 1900, just 21 sitting or former U.S. Senators have been elected governor – none from New Hampshire. [An additional six officeholders served as governor, then U.S. Senator, and then as governor again for a subsequent stint].
By comparison, 153 sitting or former governors were elected or appointed to the U.S. Senate during this period.
Though there has been an uptick during the last few decades of politicians who were first elected to the U.S. Senate and subsequently won a governorship.
During the 75 years from 1914 through 1989, just six directly elected U.S. Senators were subsequently elected governor: Georgia Democrat Thomas Hardwick, West Virginia Democrat Matthew Neely, Washington Democrat Monrad Wallgren, South Carolina Democrat James Byrnes, Arizona Democrat Ernest McFarland, and Texas Democrat Price Daniel.
[Minnesota Farmer-Laborite Elmer Benson and Republican Ernest Gibson of Vermont were appointed to the U.S. Senate and subsequently elected governor].
During the 33 years since, there have already been 10 U.S. Senators who accomplished this feat: Connecticut Republican (turned A Connecticut Party nominee) Lowell Weicker, Florida Democrat Lawton Chiles, California Republican Pete Wilson, Idaho Republican Dirk Kempthorne, Alaska Republican Frank Murkowski, New Jersey Democrat Jon Corzine, Rhode Island Republican (turned-independent-turned-Democrat) Lincoln Chafee, Kansas Republican Sam Brownback, Minnesota DFLer Mark Dayton, and Ohio Republican Mike DeWine.
Since the beginning of the primary era in 1914, a total of 191 different candidates have appeared on a Democratic or Republican primary gubernatorial ballot in New Hampshire.
Of these 191 candidates, only one was a sitting or former U.S. Senator – Republican Gordon Humphrey.
Humphrey served in the Senate from 1979 to 1990 and later made gubernatorial bids in 2000 and 2002.
In 2000, Humphrey won the GOP nomination by 29.2 points against State Senator Jim Squires, only to fall five points short of unseating Governor Jeanne Shaheen in the general election.
In 2002, Humphrey placed third in a six-candidate Republican primary field with 27.9 percent – 8.8 points behind winner and former networking computer equipment executive Craig Benson.
And what is the likelihood Ayotte will ultimately get a free pass to the GOP nomination? Not high.
Of the 55 gubernatorial primaries in New Hampshire since 1914, just four Republican nominees ran unopposed: State Representative John Bartlett in 1918, State Representative Jim Coburn in 2006, State Senator Joe Kenney in 2008, and Governor Chris Sununu running for his second term in 2018.
Ayotte is also vying to become the first woman to win a Republican nomination for governor in New Hampshire.
It should be noted that seven New Hampshire governors have gone on to win a U.S. Senate seat during the direct election era: Republicans Henry Keyes, Charles Tobey, Styles Bridges, and Judd Gregg and Democrats Fred Brown, Jeanne Shaheen, and Maggie Hassan.
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By comparison, 153 sitting or governors…during this period, though there has been an uptick…governorship.
(Though substantively no different from the text, I sincerely believe the REVISED version flows better – just my humble opinion, at least!)
Ayotte’s primary opponent Chuck Morse seeks to be the state’s first former acting governor to win a full term. Acting / short-serving unelected governors in other states who managed to return to office for a non-consecutive stint include:
*Thomas Talbot (R-Mass.): as lieutenant governor, acted as governor for eight months in 1874-75 after William B. Washburn resigned having been elected to the U.S. Senate. Talbot later served a full term as governor from 1879 to 1880.
*Isaac P. Gray (D-Ind.): as lieutenant governor, ascended to the governorship for two months in 1880-81 after James D. Williams died in office. Gray later served a full term as governor from 1885 to 1889.
*Foster McGowan Voorhees (R-N.J.): as state senate president, acted as governor for eight months in 1898 after John W. Griggs resigned to become U.S. attorney-general. Voorhees ran successfully for a full term in 1898, but in order to be eligible, had to step down as acting governor before the election.
*John M. Slaton (D-Ga.): as state senate president, acted as governor for two months in 1911-12 after M. Hoke Smith resigned having been elected to the U.S. Senate. Slaton later served a full term as governor from 1913 to 1915.
*James Fairman Fielder (D-N.J.): as state senate president, acted as governor for eight months in 1913 after Woodrow Wilson resigned to become president. Fielder ran successfully for a full term in 1913, but in order to be eligible, had to step down as acting governor before the election.
*Junius Marion Futrell (D-Ark.): one of two state senate presidents to act as governor in 1913 after Joseph Taylor Robinson resigned having been elected to the U.S. Senate. Futrell later served two terms as governor from 1933 to 1937.
*Dennis Murphree (D-Miss.): as lieutenant governor, acted as governor on two occasions: for ten months in 1927-28 following the death of Henry L. Whitfield, and for less than one month in 1943-44 following the death of Paul B. Johnson, Sr.
*Earl Long (D-La.): as lieutenant governor, ascended to the governorship for just under a year from 1939 to 1940 after Richard W. Leche resigned amidst legal troubles. Long later served two full terms as governor, from 1948 to 1952 and from 1956 to 1960.
*Herman Talmadge (D-Ga.): occupied the governor’s office in early 1947 as one of three who claimed the title after his father Gov.-elect Eugene Talmadge died before inauguration day; the state supreme court ruled in March 1947 that Lt. Gov. Melvin E. Thompson was the rightful governor. Talmadge defeated Thompson in the 1948 special election and served until 1955.
*Burton M. Cross (R-Maine): as state senate president already elected governor in November 1952, he acted as governor for a few days from December 1952 to January 1953, after Frederick G. Payne resigned having been elected to the U.S. Senate. Cross’s state senate term expired a day before his inauguration as governor, however, so Nathaniel M. Haskell acted as governor from Jan. 6, 1953 to Jan. 7, 1953 before Cross took over again.
*George Nigh (D-Okla.): as lieutenant governor, ascended to the governorship for eight days in 1963 after J. Howard Edmondson appointed himself to the U.S. Senate. Nigh later ascended to the governorship again for a few days in 1979, for an early start to his two full terms as governor from 1979 to 1987.
*Rudy Perpich (D-Minn.): as lieutenant governor, ascended to the governorship for just over two years from 1976 to 1979 after Wendell R. Anderson appointed himself to the U.S. Senate. Perpich later served two full terms as governor from 1983 to 1991.
*Richard Codey (D-N.J.): as state senate president, acted as governor on two occasions: for three days in 2002 as one of four state officials to act as governor after Christine Todd Whitman resigned to become administrator of the EPA, and for over a year from 2004 to 2006 after Jim McGreevey resigned amidst scandal.
Gordon John Humphrey actually went directly from the US Senate to NH Senate (24 members) prior to his unsuccessful gubernatorial bids.
Should Ayotte win and serve as governor (for whatever duration) it seems highly highly unlikely that she will then return to the US senate; no one apparently has even attempted THAT particular political route, at least since popular election of US senators began.
Joseph M. Dixon (R-Montana) did. He served in the U.S. Senate 1907-13, was Governor 1921-25, and then was Republican nominee for U.S. Senator in 1928.
Very true. In addition, AZ Democrat “Mac” McFarland served in the US senate – in his case a directly-elected occupant – from 1941 to 1953, then was elected to the governorship in 1954 and 1956, then sought a return to the chamber in 1958, but lost badly to future presidential aspirant Barry Morris Goldwater.