State executive official elections, 2023
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State executive offices up for election in 2023 included gubernatorial, lieutenant gubernatorial, attorney general, and secretary of state offices in three states. Including down-ballot races, there were 36 state executive offices up for election.[1]
The three states holding such elections in 2023 were Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
The November 7 elections kept the number of state government trifectas at 40—23 Republican and 17 Democratic—which was the highest number since at least 1992. Louisiana changed from a divided government to a Republican trifecta after Jeff Landry (R) was elected governor on Oct. 14. Kentucky remained a divided government after Gov. Andy Beshear (D) was re-elected governor.
After the elections, 10 states had divided governments where neither party held trifecta control. Before the 2023 elections, there were 22 Republican trifectas, 17 Democratic trifectas, and 11 divided governments where neither party held trifecta control.
State executives act in many capacities according to the powers granted to them by their state's constitution. They are also charged with implementing and enforcing laws made by state legislatures. There are 748 executive seats spread across 13 distinct types of offices in the United States.[2] Of the 13 executive offices, only seven exist in all 50 states: governor, attorney general, superintendent of schools, insurance commissioner, agriculture commissioner, labor commissioner, and public service commissioner.
Other common offices include lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treasurer, controller, auditor, and natural resources commissioner.
Offices up for election
Governor
There were three gubernatorial seats on the ballot in 2023.
Out of all the state executive offices, only the governor is elected in all 50 states. As the chief executive officer, the governor is among the most powerful figures in state government. Other executive offices ordinarily report to him or her.
Lieutenant Governor
There were three lieutenant gubernatorial seats on the ballot in 2023.
In 45 states, the lieutenant governor is the second-highest executive office, behind the governor. Although the powers and duties of the lieutenant governor vary from state to state, lieutenant governors are responsible for filling vacancies in the office of governor. In many states, lieutenant governors often sit on boards or commissions, and they are often involved in the proceedings of the state Senate.
- Kentucky (on the gubernatorial ballot)
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
Attorney General
There were three attorney general seats on the ballot in 2023.
As the state's chief legal officer, the attorney general is responsible for enforcing state law and advising the state government on legal matters. In many states, attorneys general play a large role in the law enforcement process.
Secretary of State
There were three secretary of state seats on the ballot in 2023.
Although the duties and powers of the secretary of state vary from state to state, a common responsibility is management and oversight of elections and voter rolls, which are assigned to the secretary of state in 41 states. Other common responsibilities include registration of businesses, maintenance of state records, and certification of official documents.
Down-ballot
There were 24 down-ballot state executive seats on the ballot in 2023.
Agriculture Commissioner
Auditor
Insurance Commissioner
Public Service Commissioner
State Board of Education
Transportation Commissioner
Treasurer
Total executive officials by party
Of the 36 state executive positions up for election in 2023, 29 were held by Republicans heading into the election, and 7 were held by Democrats.
The chart below shows a breakdown of partisan control by office type.
When the elections for these offices were last held in 2019, seven of the 36 races—four that Republicans won and three that Democrats won—were decided by a margin of seven points or less. This included the gubernatorial elections in all three states.
Trifectas
- See also: State government trifectas
State government trifecta is a term to describe single-party government, when one political party holds the governorship and majorities in both chambers of the state legislature.
As of July 20, 2024, there are 23 Republican trifectas, 17 Democratic trifectas, and 10 divided governments where neither party holds trifecta control.
The table below shows the trifecta statuses in the four states that held state legislative elections in 2023. Bolded offices or chambers were up for election.
| Trifecta statuses and state legislative elections, 2023 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Trifecta | Gov. | Senate | House | ||
| Louisiana | Divided | D | R | R | ||
| Mississippi | Republican | R | R | R | ||
| New Jersey | Democratic | D | D | D | ||
| Virginia | Divided | R | D | R | ||
Triplexes
- See also: State government triplexes
State government triplex is a term to describe when one political party holds the following three positions in a state's government: governor, attorney general, and secretary of state. In states where the attorney general or secretary of state are appointed by the governor, Ballotpedia considers the office to be held by the governor's party for the purposes of defining triplexes until the governor appoints a specific person to those offices.[3] If a state does not have a secretary of state, Ballotpedia considers that state a triplex if one party controls both triplex offices.
As of July 20, 2024, there are 25 Republican triplexes, 20 Democratic triplexes, and 5 divided governments where neither party holds triplex control.
The table below shows the triplex statuses in the three states that held state executive elections in 2023. Bolded offices were up for election.
| Triplex statuses and state executive elections, 2023 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Triplex | Gov. | Attorney General | Secretary of State | ||
| Kentucky | Divided | D | R | R | ||
| Louisiana | Divided | D | R | R | ||
| Mississippi | Republican | R | R | R | ||
Important dates and deadlines
The table below lists important dates throughout the 2023 election cycle for states that held statewide elections in 2023, including filing deadlines and primary dates.
| Primary dates and filing deadlines, 2023 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Primary date | Primary runoff date | Filing deadline for primary candidates | Source |
| Kentucky | 5/16/2023 | N/A | 1/6/2023 | Source |
| Louisiana | 10/14/2023 | N/A | 8/10/2023 | Source |
| Mississippi | 8/8/2023 | 8/29/2023 | 2/1/2023 | Source |
| New Jersey | 6/6/2023 | N/A | 3/27/2023 | Source |
| Pennsylvania | 5/16/2023 | N/A | 3/7/2023 | Source |
| Virginia | 6/20/2023 | N/A | 4/6/2023 | Source |
| Washington | 8/1/2023 | N/A | 5/19/2023 | Source |
| Wisconsin | 2/21/2023 | N/A | 1/3/2023 | Source |
Results of 2022 state executive official elections
Gubernatorial elections
- See also: Annual gubernatorial incumbents margin of victory analysis, 2023
Thirty-six states held elections for governor in 2022. Democrats and Republicans each won 18 races. Before the 2022 elections, Republicans held 20 of these governorships and Democrats held 16.
Four offices changed party hands. Partisan control changed from Republican to Democratic in Arizona, where Katie Hobbs (D) defeated Kari Lake (R) to succeed incumbent Doug Ducey (R), in Maryland, where Wes Moore (D) defeated Dan Cox (R) to succeed incumbent Larry Hogan (R), and in Massachusetts, where Maura Healey (D) defeated Geoff Diehl (R) to succeed incumbent Charlie Baker (R). Partisan control changed from Democratic to Republican in Nevada, where Joe Lombardo (R) defeated incumbent Steve Sisolak (D).
Sisolak was the only incumbent defeated in 2022. Twenty-seven incumbents were re-elected: twelve Democrats and fifteen Republicans. Five open races were won by new governors-elect from the same party as their predecessor, and three open elections won by governors-elect from a different party than their predecessor.
Lieutenant gubernatorial elections
There were 30 lieutenant gubernatorial seats on the ballot in 2022. Before the elections, these offices were held by 15 Republicans and 15 Democrats.
The partisan control of three lieutenant governors' offices changed:
- One incumbent lieutenant governor was defeated in 2022, resulting in a switch from Republican to Democrat. Stavros S. Anthony (R) defeated Lisa Cano (D) in Nevada.
- In two states—Maryland and Massachusetts—the partisan control of the lieutenant governor's office changed from Democrat to Republican. The governor and lieutenant governor were elected on a joint ticket in both states.
- In Maryland, Aruna Miller (D) succeeded incumbent Boyd Rutherford (R)
- In Massachusetts, Kim Driscoll (D) succeeded incumbent Karyn Polito (R)
Attorney general elections
Voters decided who would control 34 of 50 state attorney general offices on November 8, 2022. Thirty offices were up for election, and four offices’ appointment authorities were on the ballot. Before the election, the nationwide partisan balance of attorneys general was 22 Democrats and 28 Republicans.
As a result of the 2022 elections, the partisan composition of state attorneys general was 27 Republicans and 23 Democrats. In three states—Arizona, Iowa, and Vermont—the office changed party control, resulting in a net gain of one office for Democrats and a net loss of one office for Republicans.
- Republicans gained the state attorney general's office in Iowa as Brenna Bird (R) defeated incumbent Tom Miller (D).
- Democrats gained the state attorney general's offices in Arizona and Vermont.
- Kris Mayes (D) defeated Abraham Hamadeh (R) in the open-seat race to succeed Mark Brnovich (R) in Arizona.
- Charity Clark (D) defeated Michael Tagliavia (R) to succeed Susanne Young (R) in Vermont. Gov. Phil Scott (R) appointed Young to replace former Attorney General T.J. Donovan (D) in 2022.
Secretary of state elections
Voters decided who would control 35 of the country’s 47 secretary of state offices on November 8, 2022. Twenty-seven offices were up for election, and eight offices’ appointment authorities were on the ballot. As a result of the 2022 elections, the partisan control of one secretary of state changed from Republican to Democrat. Democrats won appointment control over another secretary of state—in Maryland—after winning that state's gubernatorial election.
- In Nevada, Cisco Aguilar (D) was elected secretary of state, succeeding incumbent Barbara Cegavske (R), who was term-limited.
- Wes Moore (D) was elected governor of Maryland, succeeding Larry Hogan (R), who was term-limited. This gave Democrats appointment control over the secretary of state's office. Maryland had at the time of the election a Republican secretary of state that Hogan appointed.
All 15 incumbents that ran for re-election—8 Democrats and 7 Republicans—were re-elected.
Historical election data
Ballotpedia covers America's 748 state executive seats across all 50 states. The following sections look at incumbency and partisanship in state executive elections from 2011 to 2022.
Incumbency
From 2011 to 2022, 64.5% of incumbents sought re-election. Of the incumbents who sought re-election during that period, 86.3% were successful. The first chart below shows the number of incumbents who sought election each year compared to the number of seats up for election. The second chart shows the number of incumbents who were re-elected compared to the number of incumbents who ran for re-election.
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The table below is organized by year and includes the total number of offices up for election, the number and percentage of incumbents who sought re-election, and the number and percentage of incumbents who won another term.
| State executive incumbents who sought re-election, 2011-2022 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Total seats | Incumbents who sought re-election |
% incumbents who sought re-election |
Incumbents who were re-elected |
% incumbents who were re-elected |
Partisanship
The table below details how many state executive seats changed parties from 2011 to 2022. The largest single-year gain by a party was in 2018, when Democrats gained 41 net seats. That year also had the highest number of seats up for election, with 303. The lowest net change was in 2011, when no parties gained or lost any seats. Twenty-six seats were on the ballot that year. The table is organized by year and shows the number of seats held by each party before the election and after the election and the net change each party saw.
| State executive partisanship, 2011-2022 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Total seats | Before election | After election | Net change | ||||||
 Democrats |
 Republicans |
 Other |
Democrats |
Republicans |
Other |
Democrats |
Republicans |
Other | ||
Partisan control of governorships
The chart below looks at the number of governorships held by the Democratic and Republican parties between 1977 and 2022. The biggest difference between the number of seats held by Democrats compared to those held by Republicans was in 1977 and 1978, when Democrats held 37 seats and Republicans held 12. The lowest difference between the number of seats held by Democrats compared to those held by Republicans was in 1987, 2003, and 2019. In 1987, Democrats held 26 governorships and Republicans held 24; in both 2003 and 2019, Democrats held 24 governorships and Republicans held 26. Republicans gained one governorship in both the 2020 and 2021 elections. Democrats gained two net governorships in 2022.
See also
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2023 elections: |
Previous elections: |
Ballotpedia exclusives: |
Footnotes
- ↑ Ballotpedia describes the offices of governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and secretary of state as top-ballot state executive offices. Down-ballot state executive offices that exist in all 50 states include superintendent of schools, insurance commissioner, agriculture commissioner, labor commissioner, and public service commissioner. Examples of other down-ballot state executive offices include treasurer, auditor, and comptroller.
- ↑ There are 13 state executive offices as Ballotpedia defines the term, however there are other executive offices that Ballotpedia does not cover in some states.
- ↑ This is because it is very uncommon for an attorney general or secretary of state appointed by a governor to often be in direct conflict with that governor.
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