In the next two years there will be 38 gubernatorial races. Thirty eight, ya’ll. Out of 50. That’s a big deal. Here is a quick run down of those up for re-election, from NPR:
2009 — 2 (2 Dem)
New Jersey: Jon Corzine (D) is likely to seek re-election. The Republican most often talked about is former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, but he has yet to announce his intentions. The GOP field is still being sorted out. Primary: June 2.
Virginia: Tim Kaine (D) is limited to one term. The Republican nominee will be Bob McDonnell, the state attorney general. Three Democrats have expressed interest in running: former state Del. Brian Moran, state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds and ex-Democratic National Committee Chair Terry McAuliffe. The primary is June 9. Click here for more on the race.
2010 — 36 (20 Dem, 16 GOP)
Alabama: Bob Riley (R) is term-limited. Among the Democrats looking at the race is Rep. Artur Davis.
Alaska: Sarah Palin (R) is expected to seek a second term. There have been some reports that Palin might take on GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the primary, but that’s unlikely.
Arizona: Jan Brewer (R), the secretary of state, will become governor when Janet Napolitano (D) resigns to join the Obama Cabinet as secretary of homeland security. Brewer is expected to run in 2010.
Arkansas: Mike Beebe (D) is expected to seek a second term.
California: Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) is term-limited. Former Rep. Tom Campbell, eBay exec Meg Whitman and state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner are potential GOP candidates. List of possible Dems includes Mayors Gavin Newsom of San Francisco and Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and Lt. Gov. John Garamendi.
Colorado: Bill Ritter (D) is expected to seek a second term.
Connecticut: Jodi Rell (R) is expected to seek a second full term.
Florida: Charlie Crist (R) is expected to seek a second term.
Georgia: Sonny Perdue (R) is term-limited. GOP field may include Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine.
Hawaii: Linda Lingle (R) is term-limited.
Idaho: Butch Otter (R) is expected to seek a second term.
Illinois: Rod Blagojevich (D) may resign early to become King of Neptune.
Iowa: Chet Culver (D) is expected to seek a second term.
Kansas: Kathleen Sebelius (D) is term-limited. Sen. Sam Brownback (R) is expected to run for governor.
Maine: John Baldacci (D) is term-limited.
Maryland: Martin O’Malley (D) is expected to seek a second term. Bob Ehrlich, unseated by O’Malley in 2002, is the most prominent Republican name mentioned.
Massachusetts: Deval Patrick (D) is expected to seek a second term.
Michigan: Jennifer Granholm (D) is term-limited. Among the Republicans looking at this are state Attorney General Mike Cox, Secretary of State Terri Land and Rep. Peter Hoekstra, who recently announced he won’t seek re-election to the House.
Minnesota: Tim Pawlenty (R) may seek a third term.
Nebraska: Dave Heineman (R) is expected to seek a second full term.
Nevada: Jim Gibbons (R) may seek a second term.
New Hampshire: John Lynch (D) is expected to seek a fourth two-year term.
New Mexico: Diane Denish (D) becomes governor when Bill Richardson (D) resigns to join Obama Cabinet as secretary of commerce. Denish was already planning to run to replace the term-limited Richardson.
New York: David Paterson (D), who became governor after Eliot Spitzer (D) resigned in the wake of a prostitution scandal in March, is expected to seek his first full term.
Ohio: Ted Strickland (D) is expected to seek a second term.
Oklahoma: Brad Henry (D) is term-limited.
Oregon: Ted Kulongoski (D) is term-limited.
Pennsylvania: Ed Rendell (D) is term-limited.
Rhode Island: Donald Carcieri (R) is term-limited.
South Carolina: Mark Sanford (R) is term-limited.
South Dakota: Mike Rounds (R) is term-limited.
Tennessee: Phil Bredesen (D) is term-limited.
Texas: Rick Perry (R), who became governor when George W. Bush won the presidency in 2000, may seek a third full term. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) is expected to run regardless of Perry’s decision.
Vermont: Jim Douglas (R) is expected to seek a fifth two-year term.
Wisconsin: Jim Doyle (D) is expected to seek a third term.
Wyoming:: Dave Freudenthal (D) is term-limited.
Just so you don’t have to do that counting, that’s 22 Dem seats and 16 GOP seats up for reelection. Start doing the work NOW to get the right guy elected.
Michiganders – here’s your chance to get someone in there who can begin to repair some of the damage that Granholm managed to inflict. Hint: It’s definitely not Terri Land.
New Jersey – Don’t put Christie in office please. Stop feeding the RINOs.
Side Note: I really wish people would stop with this “Charlie Crist is the GOP future” thing. He’s not at all what we want in a candidate. Not to mention that his personal would SO not hold up to the scrutiny it’s sure to be under if he runs for national office.
Highlight: Illinois: Rod Blagojevich (D) may resign early to become King of Neptune.
Just go far away, Blago.
Thoughts?
VA AG Bob McDonnell is a good guy and a fellow member of Americans For Prosperity. He will make an excellent Governor here and go a long way toward repairing the damage left in the wake of Tim (Hurri)Kaine. If you want a solid conservative, he’s the one. The Dem field will bruise each other so badly by the time their primary arrives, the one left standing will be wobbly-kneed all the way to November. I don’t see any of them beating McDonnell.
Good round-up of the other states, Tabitha. Thanks!
I wouldn’t blame Blago one bit if he wants to fly off to Neptune. Or to any other large ball of gas.
Richardson (D-NM) is under some type of investigation, and has thus decided to withdraw himself from consideration for the Obama cabinet.
NJ needs Steve Lonegan!!! Christie isn’t the best choice, but my state is right behind CA in terms of ‘doomed’ and Christie wouldn’t be the worse thing to happen. I mean, he’s better than Corzine.
It’s going to be a hard road in Virginia, but I think McDonnell is the best candidate to tackle the job. The key is NOVA or Northern Virginia. He needs to craft a positive conservative message that addresses the infrastructure needs of the region, but does not break the budget. I watched a speech by Terry McAuliffe, and he started with “we are not going to raise taxes”, but went down a laundry list of new spending. It’s scary that most democratic candidates do not realize that States cannot run deficits! The second issue is Rapid Response. In the last few state elections the Republican candidates have been derailed by individuals with a video camera, who cuts up a video to make the conservative candidate into a racist i.e. Macaca with George Allen. We must have conservative activist who video, and respond quickly to any attack. Just stay positive, be consistent, and rapidly respond to attacks, We Win. If we fail, or go super negative, it will be a blood bath!
Nice job!!
As a resident of Maine and a former resident and loyal follower of the state of NY’s politics..here’s my thoughts:
I believe that Maine’s Governor’s seat will stay Dem this time around sadly. David Paterson however may have a few Dems challenge him in the primary..minus Andrew Cuomo. Giuliani may run for Governor for the GOP..other candidates include ex-Mass. Governor William Weld and 2006 nominee John Faso.
As for the others, I can go on all day..then again..I might as well stop here.
As a Michigander, I am not real thrilled with any of the choices. Land is where she belongs, no higher. Hoekstra is too erratic and hypocritical. Cox though is worth a deeper look.
I have it on pretty good inside info that the GA secretary of state is also going to be running for it too.
I like Cox for the Michigan governor position. I heard him speak at an American’s For Prosperity summit last spring and my impression was that he was planning on running. He has also joined the masses on Twitter and Facebook recently.
I don’t want to even talk about Ohio. With the main GOP power brokers still in place – i.e. the ones who drove Ohio off the cliff in the first place – the likelihood of getting a true conservative running is pretty slim.
On the other hand, it’s not about candidates, it’s about what they believe and what they’ll stick to when the going gets tough.
http://www.reaganlegacy.wordpress.com for the blueprint for the GOP.
Too bad “principle” is a foreign word for much of the GOP.
Great work! Have already forwarded your link to folks in my address book. There’s entirely too much bitching going on about the situation and not enough people getting involved. Now that I’ve discovered your blog, I’m looking forward to reading more. May I suggest that you post this at Little Green Footballs under the links section? I think it would get a lot of attention that way.