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32 governorships | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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United States gubernatorial elections were held in 1944, in 32 states, concurrent with theHouse,Senate elections andpresidential election, on November 7, 1944. Elections took place on September 11 inMaine.
This was the last time Idaho elected its governors to 2-year terms, switching to 4-years from the 1946 election.
| State | Incumbent | Party | Status | Opposing candidates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Sidney Preston Osborn | Democratic | Re-elected, 77.91% | Jerrie W. Lee (Republican) 21.19% Charles R. Osburn (Prohibition) 0.90% [1] |
| Arkansas | Homer Martin Adkins | Democratic | Retired torun for U.S. Senate, Democratic victory | Benjamin Travis Laney (Democratic) 85.96% Harley C. Stump (Republican) 14.04% [2] |
| Colorado | John Charles Vivian | Republican | Re-elected, 52.40% | Roy Phelix Best (Democratic) 47.60% [3] |
| Connecticut | Raymond E. Baldwin | Republican | Re-elected, 50.48% | Robert A. Hurley (Democratic) 47.36% Jasper McLevy (Socialist) 1.99% Joseph C. Borden Jr. (Socialist Labor) 0.17% [4] |
| Delaware | Walter W. Bacon | Republican | Re-elected, 50.52% | Isaac J. MacCollum (Democratic) 49.19% Thomas W. Jakes (Prohibition) 0.29% [5] |
| Florida | Spessard Holland | Democratic | Term-limited, Democratic victory | Millard Caldwell (Democratic) 78.94% Bert L. Acker (Republican) 21.06% [6] |
| Idaho | C. A. Bottolfsen | Republican | Retired torun for U.S. Senate, Democratic victory | Charles C. Gossett (Democratic) 52.64% W. H. Detweiler (Republican) 47.36% [7] |
| Illinois | Dwight H. Green | Republican | Re-elected, 50.75% | Thomas J. Courtney (Democratic) 48.93% Charles Storm (Socialist Labor) 0.17% Willis R. Wilson (Prohibition) 0.14% [8] |
| Indiana | Henry F. Schricker | Democratic | Term-limited, Republican victory | Ralph F. Gates (Republican) 50.97% Samuel D. Jackson (Democratic) 48.18% Waldo E. Yeater (Prohibition) 0.74% William Rabe (Socialist) 0.11% [9] |
| Iowa | Bourke B. Hickenlooper | Republican | Retired torun for U.S. Senate, Republican victory | Robert D. Blue (Republican) 56.01% R. F. Mitchell (Democratic) 43.63% Glen Williamson (Prohibition) 0.28% Hugh Bockewitz (Socialist) 0.08% [10] |
| Kansas | Andrew Frank Schoeppel | Republican | Re-elected, 65.73% | Robert S. Lemon (Democratic) 32.84% David C. White (Prohibition) 1.11% W. W. Tamplin (Socialist) 0.32% [11] |
| Maine (held, September 11, 1944) | Sumner Sewall | Republican | Retired, Republican victory | Horace Hildreth (Republican) 70.27% Paul Julien (Democratic) 29.73% [12] |
| Massachusetts | Leverett Saltonstall | Republican | Retired torun for U.S. Senate, Democratic victory | Maurice J. Tobin (Democratic) 53.64% Horace T. Cahill (Republican) 46.00% Henning A. Blomen (Socialist Labor) 0.27% Guy S. Williams (Prohibition) 0.15% Scattering 0.01% [13] |
| Michigan | Harry Kelly | Republican | Re-elected, 54.69% | Edward J. Fry (Democratic) 44.76% Seth A. Davey (Prohibition) 0.26% Forest Odell (Socialist) 0.13% Leland Marion (America First) 0.10% Theos A. Grove (Socialist Labor) 0.06% [14] |
| Minnesota | Edward John Thye | Republican | Re-elected, 61.59% | Byron G. Allen (DFL) 37.78% Gerald M. York (Industrial Government) 0.63% [15] |
| Missouri | Forrest C. Donnell | Republican | Term-limited, Democratic victory | Phil M. Donnelly (Democratic) 50.94% Jean Paul Bradshaw (Republican) 48.97% W. F. Rinck (Socialist) 0.08% Stephen Tendler (Socialist Labor) 0.01% [16] |
| Montana | Sam C. Ford | Republican | Re-elected, 56.36% | Leif Erickson (Democratic) 43.18% Charles R. Miller (Prohibition) 0.47% [17] |
| Nebraska | Dwight Griswold | Republican | Re-elected, 76.11% | George W. Olsen (Democratic) 23.89% [18] |
| New Hampshire | Robert O. Blood | Republican | Lost Republican primary, Republican victory | Charles M. Dale (Republican) 53.11% James J. Powers (Democratic) 46.89% [19] |
| New Mexico | John J. Dempsey | Democratic | Re-elected, 51.81% | Carroll G. Gunderson (Republican) 48.19% [20] |
| North Carolina | J. Melville Broughton | Democratic | Term-limited, Democratic victory | R. Gregg Cherry (Democratic) 69.61% Frank C. Patton (Republican) 30.40% [21] |
| North Dakota | John Moses | Democratic | Retired torun for U.S. Senate, Republican victory | Fred G. Aandahl (Republican) 52.02% William T. Depuy (Democratic) 28.92% Alvin C. Strutz (Independent) 18.81% A. M. Wiley (Prohibition) 0.26% [22] |
| Ohio | John W. Bricker | Republican | Retired torun for Vice President of the United States, Democratic victory | Frank Lausche (Democratic) 51.82% James Garfield Stewart (Republican) 48.19% [23] |
| Rhode Island | J. Howard McGrath | Democratic | Re-elected, 60.65% | Norman D. MacLeod (Republican) 39.35% [24] |
| South Dakota | Merrell Q. Sharpe | Republican | Re-elected, 65.51% | Lynn Fellows (Democratic) 34.50% [25] |
| Tennessee | Prentice Cooper | Democratic | Retired, Democratic victory | Jim Nance McCord (Democratic) 62.50% John W. Kilgo (Republican) 35.98% John Randolph Neal Jr. (Independent) 1.52% [26] |
| Texas | Coke R. Stevenson | Democratic | Re-elected, 90.95% | B. J. Peasley (Republican) 9.05% [27] |
| Utah | Herbert B. Maw | Democratic | Re-elected, 50.21% | J. Bracken Lee (Republican) 49.79% [28] |
| Vermont | William Henry Wills | Republican | Retired, Republican victory | Mortimer R. Proctor (Republican) 65.90% Ernest H. Bailey (Democratic) 34.10% [29] |
| Washington | Arthur B. Langlie | Republican | Defeated, 48.12% | Monrad Wallgren (Democratic) 51.51% Allen Emerson (Prohibition) 0.20% Henry E. O. Gusey (Socialist Labor) 0.16% [30] |
| West Virginia | Matthew M. Neely | Democratic | Term-limited, Democratic victory | Clarence W. Meadows (Democratic) 54.44% Daniel Boone Dawson (Republican) 45.56% [31] |
| Wisconsin | Walter Samuel Goodland | Republican | Re-elected, 52.84% | Daniel Hoan (Democratic) 40.62% Alexander O. Benz (Progressive) 5.76% George A. Nelson (Socialist) 0.70% Georgia Cozzini (Socialist Labor) 0.09% [32] |
