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Gubernatorial elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2025, inNew Jersey andVirginia. Both states had last elected governors in2021, with both incumbents being ineligible to seek re-election due to term limits in their respective state constitutions.[1][2]
In the2024 United States presidential election, both states voted for Democratic nomineeKamala Harris by a 5-6% margin.[3] New Jersey in particular had a large swing to the right in 2024, withDonald Trump losing the state by only 6%, and had narrowly re-elected DemocratPhil Murphy in 2021, leading some to expect a close race.[4][5]
Ultimately, Democratic nomineesMikie Sherrill andAbigail Spanberger won their races in New Jersey and Virginia, respectively, by wide margins and outperformed Harris.[6] This is the first time since 1985 that every race in this cycle of governorships was decided by double digits.
Heading into the election, there were 27 Republican governors and 23 Democratic governors in the United States.
The gubernatorial seats were up in the moderately blue states of Virginia and New Jersey where there was one Republican and one Democratic seat. Republicans were defending one governorship in a state thatKamala Harris won in 2024 (Virginia). Democrats were defending one governorship in a state that Harris won (New Jersey).
Several sites and individuals publish predictions of competitive seats. These predictions looked at factors such as the strength of theincumbent (if the incumbent is running for re-election), the strength of the candidates, and the partisan leanings of the state (reflected in part by the state'sCook Partisan Voting Index rating). The predictions assigned ratings to each seat, with the rating indicating a party's predicted advantage in winning that seat.
Most election predictors use:
| State | PVI[7] | Incumbent | Last race | Cook Sep. 11, 2025[8] | IE Aug. 28, 2025[9] | Sabato Sep. 4, 2025[10] | WH Oct. 24, 2025[11] | SN Sep. 30, 2025[12][13] | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | D+4 | Phil Murphy (term-limited) | 51.22% D | Lean D | Lean D | Lean D | Likely D | Likely D | Sherrill 56.88% D |
| Virginia | D+3 | Glenn Youngkin (term-limited) | 50.58% R | Likely D(flip) | Lean D(flip) | Likely D(flip) | Safe D(flip) | Solid D(flip) | Spanberger 57.58% D(flip) |
| State | Governor | Party | First elected | Status | Candidates[14][15] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | Phil Murphy | Democratic | 2017 | Incumbent term-limited. Democratic hold. |
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| Virginia | Glenn Youngkin | Republican | 2021 | Incumbent term-limited. Democratic gain. |
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GovernorPhil Murphy was elected to a second term in2021 with 51.2% of the vote. He wasterm-limited by theNew Jersey Constitution and couldn't seek re-election for a third consecutive term.Jersey CitymayorSteven Fulop, formerNew Jersey Senate presidentStephen Sweeney, U.S. RepresentativesJosh Gottheimer andMikie Sherrill, andNewarkmayorRas Baraka ran for the Democratic nomination.[16][17][18][19][20] Ultimately, Sherrill won the Democratic nomination on June 10. Former state AssemblymanJack Ciattarelli, who was the Republican nominee in2021, was the Republican nominee.
Sherrill won the election, becoming the second female governor of New Jersey when several media outlets called the race for her over Ciattarelli on November 4, 2025.[21][22][23] In addition, she won three consecutive terms for her party for the first time in the state since 1961.[21] Sherrill outperformed expectations after Republicans outperformed in2021 &2024, winning by approximately 14 points against Ciattarelli.[24]
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GovernorGlenn Youngkin was elected in2021 with 50.6% of the vote. He wasterm-limited by theVirginia Constitution and could not seek election to a second consecutive term.Lieutenant GovernorWinsome Earle-Sears was the Republican nominee.[25] FormerU.S. Representative forVirginia's 7th congressional districtAbigail Spanberger was the Democratic nominee.[26] Both candidates won their respective party’s nominations unopposed. Spanberger won the election by over 15 points, becoming the firstfemale governor in Virginia's history.[27]
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