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As of January 10, 2023, 49 women have served or are serving as the governor of a U.S. state (2 acting governors due to vacancies) and 3 women have served or are serving as the governor of an unincorporated U.S. territory. 2 women have served or are serving as Mayor of the District of Columbia. Currently, 12 women are serving as governors of U.S. states, along with the Mayor of the District of Columbia Muriel Bowser and territorial governor Lou Leon Guerrero of Guam. Of the current state governors, 8 are Democrats and 4 are Republicans.
Madeleine Kunin is the oldest living former female governor at 90.
History
The first woman to act as governor was Carolyn B. Shelton, who served as Acting Governor of Oregon for one weekend – 9 a.m. Saturday, February 27, through 10 a.m. Monday, March 1, 1909. The outgoing governor, George Earle Chamberlain, had been elected to the U.S. Senate and had to leave for Washington, D.C., before his term was over; the incoming governor, Frank W. Benson, had become ill and could not assume office early. Chamberlain left Shelton, his secretary, in charge for the weekend.[1] It was another three and a half years before women were allowed to vote in Oregon.[2][a]
The first woman acting governor to be entrusted with substantial duties while in office was Soledad Chávez de Chacón, who held the powers and duties of Governor of New Mexico for two weeks in 1924 while Governor James F. Hinkle attended the Democratic Convention in New York. Lieutenant Governor José A. Baca had died in May, so Chacón, the Secretary of State, filled the position. Chacón said that she believed that her 1924 elevation was the first time in the United States that a woman had been called on to assume the responsibilities of the governor.[4]
The first woman to assume office as governor pursuant to a special election was Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming (widow of late Governor William B. Ross, served from January 1923 to October 1924), who was elected on November 4, 1924, and sworn in on January 5, 1925.[5] Wyoming was the first state to provide women's suffrage[6] after New Jersey had abolished it in 1807. Miriam A. Ferguson of Texas won the general election of November 3, 1924, and was sworn in on January 20, 1925. Her husband, former governor James Edward Ferguson, had been impeached and removed from office in 1917.[7] The first woman elected governor who was not the wife or widow of a past state governor was Ella T. Grasso of Connecticut, elected in 1974 and sworn in on January 8, 1975.[8]
To date, no woman has ever changed parties during her gubernatorial term or has been elected as a third party member or an independent.
Demographics
Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, and New Mexico are the only states to have elected women as governors from both major parties. Arizona was the first state where a woman followed another woman as governor (they were from different parties). Arizona also has had the most with 5, and is the first state to have 3 women in a row serve as governor.
A record 12 out of 50 state governorships have been held by women since Sarah Huckabee Sanders was inaugurated as Governor of Arkansas on January 10, 2023.
As of January 10, 2023, 18 states have never had a female governor: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. 4 states (Minnesota, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Utah) have never seen a major party nominate a woman in a gubernatorial election, although one woman has served as governor of Utah and 9 consecutive lieutenant governors have been women in Minnesota, from 1983 to the present day.[9]
3 women of color have been state governors: Susana Martinez and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico (both Hispanic) and Nikki Haley of South Carolina (Indian American). Martinez and Haley are both Republican; Lujan Grisham is a Democrat. Additionally, all 5 women who governed an insular area have been of an ethnic minority group: Sharon Pratt and Muriel Bowser of Washington, D.C. (both African American), Sila María Calderón and Wanda Vázquez Garced of Puerto Rico (both Hispanic) and Lou Leon Guerrero of Guam (Pacific Islander), all Democratic, with the exception of Vázquez Garced, who is a Republican.
Histograph
| Starting | Total | Graph |
|---|---|---|
| March 4, 1789 | 0 | |
| January 5, 1925 | 1 | ❚ |
| January 20, 1925 | 2 | ❚❚ |
| January 3, 1927 | 1 | ❚ |
| January 17, 1927 | 0 | |
| January 17, 1933 | 1 | ❚ |
| January 15, 1935 | 0 | |
| January 16, 1967 | 1 | ❚ |
| May 7, 1968 | 0 | |
| January 8, 1975 | 1 | ❚ |
| January 12, 1977 | 2 | ❚❚ |
| December 31, 1980 | 1 | ❚ |
| January 14, 1981 | 0 | |
| December 13, 1983 | 1 | ❚ |
| January 10, 1985 | 2 | ❚❚ |
| January 9, 1987 | 3 | ❚❚❚ |
| December 8, 1987 | 2 | ❚❚ |
| April 4, 1988 | 3 | ❚❚❚ |
| January 9, 1991 | 2 | ❚❚ |
| January 10, 1991 | 1 | ❚ |
| January 14, 1991 | 3 | ❚❚❚ |
| January 15, 1991 | 4 | ❚❚❚❚ |
| March 6, 1991 | 3 | ❚❚❚ |
| January 18, 1994 | 4 | ❚❚❚❚ |
| January 9, 1995 | 2 | ❚❚ |
| January 17, 1995 | 1 | ❚ |
| January 9, 1997 | 2 | ❚❚ |
| September 5, 1997 | 3 | ❚❚❚ |
| December 31, 1998 | 4 | ❚❚❚❚ |
| January 11, 1999 | 3 | ❚❚❚ |
| January 1, 2001 | 4 | ❚❚❚❚ |
| January 3, 2001 | 5 | ❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 31, 2001 | 4 | ❚❚❚❚ |
| April 10, 2001 | 5 | ❚❚❚❚❚ |
| December 2, 2002 | 6 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 1, 2003 | 7 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 2, 2003 | 6 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 9, 2003 | 5 | ❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 13, 2003 | 6 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| November 5, 2003 | 7 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 12, 2004 | 8 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| July 1, 2004 | 9 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 3, 2005 | 7 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 12, 2005 | 8 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| December 4, 2006 | 9 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 14, 2008 | 8 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 10, 2009 | 9 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 20, 2009 | 8 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| April 28, 2009 | 7 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| July 26, 2009 | 6 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| December 6, 2010 | 5 | ❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 5, 2011 | 4 | ❚❚❚❚ |
| January 10, 2011 | 5 | ❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 12, 2011 | 6 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 3, 2013 | 7 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 5, 2013 | 6 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 16, 2013 | 5 | ❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 5, 2015 | 4 | ❚❚❚❚ |
| January 6, 2015 | 5 | ❚❚❚❚❚ |
| February 16, 2015 | 6 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 2, 2017 | 5 | ❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 24, 2017 | 4 | ❚❚❚❚ |
| April 10, 2017 | 5 | ❚❚❚❚❚ |
| May 24, 2017 | 6 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 1, 2019 | 7 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 2, 2019 | 8 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 5, 2019 | 9 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| March 2, 2021 | 8 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| August 24, 2021 | 9 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 2, 2023 | 10 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 5, 2023 | 11 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
| January 10, 2023 | 12 | ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚ |
State governors
| Image | Name (lifespan) |
State | Term start | Term end | Party | Notes | Departure | Time in office |
Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Nellie Ross (1876–1977) |
 Wyoming
|
January 5, 1925 | January 3, 1927 | Democratic | First and only woman as Governor of Wyoming. First woman elected in a special election. |
Lost reelection | 1 year, 363 days | [10] |
|
Miriam A. Ferguson (1875–1961) |
 Texas
|
January 20, 1925 | January 17, 1927 | Democratic | First woman as Governor of Texas. First woman elected in a general election. First woman to serve non-consecutive terms as Governor. |
Lost renomination | 1 year, 362 days | [11] |
| January 17, 1933 | January 15, 1935 | Retired | 1 year, 363 days | ||||||
|
Lurleen Wallace (1926–1968) |
 Alabama
|
January 16, 1967 | May 7, 1968 | Democratic | First woman as Governor of Alabama. First and only woman to die in office as governor. |
Died in office | 1 year, 112 days | |
|
Ella T. Grasso (1919–1981) |
 Connecticut
|
January 8, 1975 | December 31, 1980 | Democratic | First woman as Governor of Connecticut. | Resigned | 5 years, 358 days | [12] |
|
Dixy Lee Ray (1914–1994) |
 Washington
|
January 12, 1977 | January 14, 1981 | Democratic | First woman as Governor of Washington. | Lost renomination | 4 years, 2 days | [13] |
|
Vesta M. Roy (1925–2002) |
 New Hampshire
|
December 29, 1982 | January 6, 1983 | Republican | First and only woman as Acting Governor of New Hampshire. Elevated while President of the Senate. Shortest serving female governor. |
Acting governor replaced upon inauguration of a full governor[b] | 8 days | |
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|
Martha Collins (born 1936) |
 Kentucky
|
December 13, 1983 | December 8, 1987 | Democratic | First and only woman as Governor of Kentucky. | Term-limited | 3 years, 360 days | [14] |
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|
Madeleine Kunin (born 1933) |
 Vermont
|
January 10, 1985 | January 10, 1991 | Democratic | First and only woman as Governor of Vermont. First foreign-born woman as governor. |
Retired | 6 years, 0 days | [15] |
|
Kay A. Orr (born 1939) |
 Nebraska
|
January 9, 1987 | January 9, 1991 | Republican | First and only woman as Governor of Nebraska. First woman elected to a governorship over another woman nominated by a major party. First Republican woman elected to a governorship.[c] |
Lost reelection | 4 years, 0 days | [16] |
|
Rose Mofford (1922–2016) |
 Arizona
|
April 4, 1988 | March 6, 1991 | Democratic | First woman as Governor of Arizona. Elevated from Secretary of State. |
Retired | 2 years, 336 days | [17] |
| Joan Finney (1925–2001) |
 Kansas
|
January 14, 1991 | January 9, 1995 | Democratic | First woman as Governor of Kansas. First woman to defeat an incumbent governor in a general election. |
Retired | 3 years, 360 days | [18] | |
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|
Barbara Roberts (born 1936) |
 Oregon
|
January 14, 1991 | January 9, 1995 | Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=List_of_female_governors_in_the_United_States