Advisory: CAWP Resources for New York Gubernatorial Transition

Next week, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will be sworn in as New York’s first woman governor. The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, shares facts and resources about women in governor’s offices ahead of the transition.

FACTS

• 45: Kathy Hochul will become the 45th woman to serve as a state governor.
• 19: There will still be 19 states that have never had a woman governor (AR, CA, CO, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, MD, MN, MO, MS, ND, NV, PA, TN, VA, WI, WV).
• 26.7%: Of the 45 women governors in U.S. history (including Hochul), 12 (26.7%) will have ascended to the position from lieutenant governor or other first-in-the-line positions upon the resignation, removal, or death of their predecessor.
• 6: Of the previous 11 women governors who have ascended in this manner, six have gone on to win election to the governor’s office in their own right.
• 4: With Hochul in office, 4 of 9 (44%) women governors will have initially entered office through succession rather than election. The other three women – Kate Brown of Oregon, Kay Ivey of Alabama, and Kim Reynolds of Iowa – were subsequently elected in their own right.
• 3: Just 3 women of color have served as governor – Nikki Haley (R-SC), Susana Martinez (R-NM), and Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) – only one of whom, Lujan Grisham, serves currently.
• 0: No Black or Native American women have ever served as governor.

RESOURCES

• Women in Statewide Elective Executive Office 2021. Fact sheet with full data on women currently serving in statewide elective executive office. Will be updated upon Hochul’s swearing in.
• History of Women Governors. Fact sheet. Will be updated upon Hochul’s swearing in.
• The Money Hurdle in the Race for Governor. A CAWP Women, Money, and Politics report on how campaign finance impacts gubernatorial races that analyzes data from both recipient and donor perspectives.
• “Glass cliff or rare opportunity?”. CAWP Director Debbie Walsh op-ed in USA Today about the challenges and opportunities facing Hochul as New York’s first woman governor.
• Women of Color in Elective Office 2021. Fact sheet with data on women of color serving in mayoral, state legislative, legislative leadership, statewide elected executive, and federal offices.
• History of Women of Color in U.S. Politics. Historical fact sheet.