The Other Angus: Angus Wilton McLean
Angus King is not the only Angus to serve as governor in U.S. history
This week a familiar name entered the 2026 race to succeed term-limited Democratic Governor Janet Mills in Maine – Angus King III.
King, the son of former independent two-term Governor and current three-term U.S. Senator Angus King, Jr., is a renewable energy businessman making his first campaign for political office.
King will run as a Democrat and received an early endorsement from his father, who caucuses with the Democrats in the nation’s upper legislative chamber.
The elder King also joked, “I’m sure he’ll be in the top two governors named Angus ever.”
Senator King’s loyalty to his son aside, his comments also suggest he is unaware there have already been two Anguses to serve as statehood governors. As such, if Angus King III is elected in 2026, one would need to be squeezed out of that Top Two list.
In 1924, Democrat Angus Wilton McLean (pictured) was elected governor of North Carolina with a 22.7-point victory over Republican lawyer and former assistant U.S. Attorney Isaac Meekins of Elizabeth City.
McLean was a 54-year old lawyer born in Lumberton where he began his legal career. At the end of the Woodrow Wilson administration he also served as assistant U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Department under Carter Glass from 1920 to 1921.
McLean launched his gubernatorial candidacy on March 8, 1924 – nine weeks before the Democratic primary.
McLean defeated Raleigh attorney and future U.S. Senator J. William Bailey by 28.8 points in June en route to becoming the first Angus to serve as governor in the United States.
Following his gubernatorial tenure (1925-1929) McLean was involved in banking and died on June 21, 1935.
Interestingly, McLean also named one of his three children ‘Angus.’
Angus Wilton McLean, Jr. was born in 1913 and served in the U.S. Navy in World War II. However, he did not follow in his father’s footsteps – never making a gubernatorial bid during his 83 years of life.
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Trivia: Another Independent governor (James Bernard Longley; served from 1975 to 1979) also had a son who sought elective office in his own right – and on a major party at that. Two years after he lost his re-election bid to his House seat, he won the 1998 R nomination for governor, only to lose to the popular incumbent – the current Senator King.
Miscellaneous: Yet another high-profile electoral contest delivered a rebuke to the current president (and an apparent Pope wannabe). While the threat to its sovereignty was not an issue – in contrast to the Canadian election held days earlier – the right-leaning Coalition (comprised of urban-based Liberal Party & rural-based National Party) nevertheless suffered a heavy loss in the Australian parliamentary election, losing the ‘two-way preferred vote’ by about 44% to 56% and failing to win even in many outer suburban metropolitan divisions (districts). Waiting in the wings later in the year – the elections for VA House of Delegates; VA governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general; NJ legislature (at least the lower chamber); and NJ governor & lieutenant governor.
You may have covered this already, but there have been four governors in U.S. history named Tim. Minnesota has the only current Tim (Walz) and one past Tim (Pawlenty). The only other Tims (Kaine of Virginia, Babcock of Montana) were both born in Minnesota. And Minnesota’s two Tim governors have the same middle name: James.