In historic night, voters elect 5 Black governors, including first woman, first Republican

Georgia voters elected the nation’s first Black woman governor on Tuesday while neighbors to the south in Florida became the first to elect a Black Republican governor.

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms will be the first Democrat to occupy Georgia’s top office in more than two decades. In Florida, Republican U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds became the first Black person ever elected to statewide office there and the nation’s first elected Black Republican governor. Black candidates, all Democrats, also were elected to governor’s offices in Maryland, Nevada and Wisconsin.

Those historic victories were called early during Tuesday’s high-stakes midterm elections, when Democrats hoped to claw back state power from Republicans, who have controlled a majority of governorships and state legislatures for the last 16 years.

A total of 36 gubernatorial elections were held Tuesday. As of 11:00 a.m Eastern time Wednesday, Democrats had won 22 of those contested races and Republicans had secured 12, according to The Associated Press. Races in Alaska and Kansas had not yet been called.

For the first time ever, five Black governors will serve simultaneously in the United States, according to Tuesday’s unofficial results. Voters in Nevada elected their first Black governor, Aaron Ford, while voters in Wisconsin achieved the same milestone by choosing David Crowley.

Lance Bottoms, Ford, Crowley and Donalds will join Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, who easily won reelection Tuesday. 

The only Black Republican ever to serve as governor was Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback, who was appointed to lead Louisiana during Reconstruction beginning in 1872.

The election also produced other firsts.

Democrat Deb Haaland will become the nation’s first Native American woman to serve as governor after the former Interior Secretary won election in New Mexico. Haaland is an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna.

New Mexico will be the second state led by a Native American governor following Oklahoma, where current Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation and former Gov. Johnston Murray was a member of the Chickasaw Nation.

Dr. Amy Acton became the first woman elected governor of Ohio — and the first Democrat to lead the state in 20 years.

And in Texas, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa will become the nation’s third Latina governor and the first to lead her state. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott conceded at 11 p.m. Eastern Tuesday, according to the Texas Tribune. 

Only two other Hispanic women have ever served as governor, both in New Mexico: current Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and former Republican Gov. Susana Martinez.

Stateline reporter Kevin Hardy can be reached at [email protected].