Will a Record Number of Governors Seek a 3rd+ Consecutive 4-Year Term in 2026?
As many as seven incumbents could seek their third (or fourth) straight victory to four-year terms
Coming off an election cycle with the lowest percentage of gubernatorial incumbents since at least 1900, the 2026 cycle could see a plethora of very seasoned incumbents on the ballot.
With most reelection plans still unannounced at this early stage of the cycle, six governors are eligible to run for what would be their third straight four-year term: Republicans Brad Little of Idaho and Kim Reynolds of Iowa and Democrats Ned Lamont of Connecticut, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Tim Walz of Minnesota, and Tony Evers of Wisconsin (pictured).
Texas Republican Greg Abbott has already officially launched his campaign for a fourth four-year term.
[Note: Vermont Republican Phil Scott is eligible to run for a sixth two-year term].
Until recent decades, relatively few governors have been in a position to win three or more consecutive four-year terms due to a variety of factors – electoral laws, traditions, and, perhaps, voter weariness.
From the late 1700s until 1949, there were only nine such attempts across the nation and just one incumbent was successful.
The only governor to win three straight four-year terms before 1950 was Montana Democrat John Erickson in 1932, although his third term was short-lived.
Despite running below Franklin Roosevelt at the top of the ticket (FDR carried the state by 22.7 points), Erickson only just eked out a 1.8-point victory against Republican Lieutenant Governor Frank Hazelbaker. Erickson had cruised to 8.4- and 17.7-point wins with Democratic presidential nominees losing the state by wide margins in 1924 and 1928 respectively.
However, Erickson only served a few months of his third term. The death of Thomas Walsh in March 1933 opened up a U.S. Senate seat and Erickson resigned to essentially appoint himself to the seat.
Since 1950, there have been 43 attempts by incumbents to win a third (or fourth) consecutive four-year term, of which 30 have been successful (69.8 percent).
The largest number of governors to seek a third or fourth consecutive four-year term in a single cycle is four. This has occurred in three cycles to date:
- 1966: California Democrat Pat Brown (lost general), Idaho Republican Robert Smylie (lost primary for fourth term), Nevada Democrat Grant Sawyer (lost general), and New York Republican Nelson Rockefeller (won)
- 1990: Iowa Republican Terry Branstad (won), Michigan Democrat Jim Blanchard (lost), Minnesota DFLer Rudy Perpich (lost), and New York Democrat Mario Cuomo (won)
- 1994: Colorado Democrat Roy Romer (won), Iowa Republican Terry Branstad (won 4th term), New York Democrat Mario Cuomo (lost fourth term), and Wisconsin Republican Tommy Thompson (won)
Since 1994 there have been just three cycles in which more than one governor sought a third straight four-year term:
- 1998: Michigan Republican John Engler (won) and Wisconsin Republican Tommy Thompson (won fourth term)
- 2002: Connecticut Republican John Rowland (won) and New York Republican George Pataki (won)
- 2018: New York Democrat Andrew Cuomo (won) and Wisconsin Republican Scott Walker (lost)
Governor Abbott of Texas is the most recent incumbent to achieve this feat with a 10.9-point win over former U.S. Representative Beto O’Rourke in 2022.
The first governor to make an attempt was Nevada Democrat Lewis Bradley. Bradley, a former California Assemblyman, won his first two gubernatorial terms by 7.9 and 14.0 points in 1870 and 1874 respectively. But a third term proved elusive in 1878 as Bradley lost by 2.6 points to former state Treasurer John Kinkead.
More than three decades would pass before the next governor would make an attempt at a third straight four-year term.
Illinois Republican Charles Deneen entered the office with a blowout 27.9-point win in 1904 and held on to win a second term with a narrow 2.0-point victory in 1908.
But in 1912 Deneen lost to former Democratic Chicago Mayor Edward Dunne by 10.7 points – barely winning a quarter of the vote and nearly placing third behind the Progressive nominee.
Overall, governors seeking a third straight four-year term have 28 wins in 47 attempts (59.5 percent) while those seeking a fourth in a row have won a similar 60 percent of the time (three of five).
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– Since the ’28 cycle will definitively not have an (elected) incumbent seeking to retain the presidency, any governor contemplating a jump (e.g. “Tim” Walz of MN, who may not de deterred by the candidacy of his former running mate, who is now in the analogous position as Romney 2012 and HRC 2016) arguably need to carefully consider the upsides and downsides of being governor while bidding for that other position.
– The number of eligible governors markedly declined since 1994 as the proximate result of more states instituting term limits (ones proposed against US Congress would be struck down by SCOTUS).
– J R “Big Jim” Thompson sought – and fortuitously won – a third 4-year term in *1986* (the Inland Empire switched its officers’ elections from presidential to midterm cycles starting in 1978).
Thanks for the Big Jim Thompson catch (text corrected above). Similarly, though not identically, Democrat Albert Ritchie of Maryland won consecutive terms of 4-3-4-4 years (and thus did not make this list) after the state switched its gubernatorial elections from odd years to midterm cycles in 1926.
– “…Erickson in 1932, although his third term was short-lived.” “Tom” Dewey, is he not the first governor to have *completed three 4-year terms* ? (~though not by his own intention, for he sought another office in 1944 and 1948~)
– 3 or more + 3 or more:
HI: John Anthony Burns (1962, 1966, 1970) & George Ryoichi Ariyoshi (1974, 1978, 1982)
CO: Richard Douglas Lamm (1974, 1978, 1982) & Roy Rudolf Romer (1986, 1990, 1994)
NY: Mario Cuomo (1982, 1986, 1990) & George Pataki (1994, 1998, 2002)
– “Rick” Perry, who became governor first by ascension in 12 of 2000, and “Greg” Abbott seems to be the only active back-to-back pair today.
– Of the aforementioned 2026 contenders, a winning bid by “Tim” Walz of the Democratic Farmer Labor Party would make state history – at least *recent* history (Pawlenty – the ‘Other Tim’ – chose to stand down in 2010, and Rudy Perpich lost in 1990, though he in fact had already served three, having initially ascended to the post in late 1976).