 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3 governorships 2 states; 1 territory | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Map of the results Democratic hold Covenant gain No election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 8, 2005, in the states ofNew Jersey andVirginia as well as in theU.S. commonwealth of theNorthern Mariana Islands.
Shortly before election day, U.S. presidentGeorge W. Bush returned from a trip to Latin America to provide last-minute campaigning for Virginian gubernatorial candidateJerry W. Kilgore. After the defeat of Kilgore andDoug Forrester in New Jersey, Democrats ascribed these victories to the President's decreasing popularity. Republicans then tried to downplay these Democratic triumphs as victories exclusive to those states and their candidates. Some speculate that these two elections were harbingers of the positive momentum around the Democratic Party, and it could be said that they had some positive effect on the landmark victories in the2006 midterm elections and the2008 presidential election for the party. Republicans, however, maintain that the Democrats' advantage in 2005 was due simply to the fact that they were the incumbent party.
This was the first election since 1987 that no seats switched parties in a gubernatorial election and the first time this occurred in this cycle of governorships since 1985.
Several sites and individuals publish predictions of competitive seats. These predictions look 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 assign ratings to each state, with the rating indicating the predicted advantage that a party has in winning that seat.
Most election predictors use:
| State | Incumbent[1] | Last race | Sabato's Crystal Ball Oct 25, 2005[2] | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | Richard Codey(retired) | 56.43% D | Likely D | Corzine 53.47% D |
| Virginia | Mark Warner(term-limited) | 52.16% D | Tossup | Kaine 51.72% D |
| State | Incumbent | Party | First elected | Result | Candidates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | Richard Codey | Democratic | 2004[a] | Incumbent retired. New governorelected. Democratic hold. |
|
| Virginia | Mark Warner | Democratic | 2001 | Incumbent term-limited. New governorelected. Democratic hold. |
|
| Territory | Incumbent | Party | First elected | Result | Candidates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Mariana Islands | Juan Babauta | Republican | 2001 | Incumbent lost re-election. New governorelected. Covenant gain. |
|
States where the margin of victory was under 1%:
States where the margin of victory was under 10%:
 | |||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 45.0% 1.4[3] | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||
 County and independent city results Kaine: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Kilgore: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
The2005 Virginia gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2005 to elect thegovernor of Virginia. TheDemocratic nominee, Lieutenant GovernorTim Kaine, the son-in-law toLinwood Holton, won the election.Virginia is the only state in the United States to prohibitgovernors from servingsuccessive terms, meaning that the popular incumbent,Mark Warner, could not run for reelection.
While the previous Democratic governor,Mark Warner, was credited with doing especially well for a Democrat in rural areas of the commonwealth, Kaine's win featured surprising triumphs in traditionally Republican areas such asVirginia Beach,Chesapeake, and the Northern Virginiasuburbs ofPrince William County andLoudoun County, as well as impressive showings in Democratic strongholds such asRichmond andNorfolk.[4] This is the most recent election in which a Virginia governor and lieutenant governor of opposite parties were elected.
 | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
 County results Corzine: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Forrester: 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
The2005 New Jersey gubernatorial election was a race to determine thegovernor of New Jersey. It was held on November 8, 2005.Democratic governorRichard Codey, who replaced GovernorJim McGreevey in 2004 after his resignation, did not run for election for a full term of office.
The primary election was held on June 7, 2005. U.S. senatorJon Corzine won the Democratic nomination without serious opposition. Former West Windsor MayorDoug Forrester received the Republican nomination with a plurality of 36%. Corzine defeated Forrester in the general election. New Jersey is reliably Democratic at the federal level, but this was the first time since 1977 in which Democrats won more than one consecutive gubernatorial election in the state. This was the first time since 1965 that a Democrat won a gubernatorial race without Ocean County, and the first since 1961 that they did so without Monmouth County.
The 2005 general election also saw a public referendum question on the ballot for the voters to decide whether to create a position oflieutenant governor, alter the state's order of succession, and whether thestate's first lieutenant governor would be chosen in the subsequent gubernatorial election held in 2009.[5][6] The question passed by a tally of 836,134 votes (56.1%) to 655,333 (43.9%).[7] As of 2022, this is the most recent time thatSalem County voted for the Democratic candidate in a gubernatorial race.
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5 November 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gubernatorial election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
House election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 18 seats in theHouse of Representatives 9 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Senate election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 9 seats in theSenate 5 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
_(1).jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)