United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 7, 2006, in 36 states and two territories. The elections coincided with the midterm elections of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives.
Democrats won open Republican-held governorships in Arkansas, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio; and they defeated Republican incumbent Bob Ehrlich in Maryland while retaining all of their seats, including their lone open seat in Iowa. Meanwhile, Republicans held open seats in Florida, Idaho, and Nevada, as well as Alaska, where incumbent governor Frank Murkowski was defeated in the primary. Voters in the United States territories of Guam (then-Republican) and the United States Virgin Islands (then-Democratic, but term-limited) also chose their governors and voters elected a new mayor for the District of Columbia, the District's chief executive.
As part of the 2006 Democratic sweep, Democrats did not lose a single incumbent or open seat to the Republicans in any congressional or gubernatorial contest. The results of the 2006 elections gave Republicans 22 governors to the Democrats' 28, a reversal of the numbers held by the respective parties prior to the elections. Republicans held the majority of governorships from 1995 until 2007.
As of 2025, this election marked the last time that the Democratic Party won gubernatorial elections in Iowa, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, or Wyoming. This is also the very last gubernatorial election cycle in which the Republican Party won governorships in California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Minnesota, and Rhode Island to date.
Ohio.
Term-limited incumbent governor Bob Taft was viewed as one of the most unpopular governors in the history of Ohio. Polls showed his approval rating in the vicinity of 10% to 25%.
Congressman Ted Strickland won the Democratic primary with 79% of the vote, defeating state representative Bryan Flannery. The Republican primary, between Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell and Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro, was more competitive by far. Petro came under fire for switching positions on same-sex marriage and abortion, as well as allegedly taking business from lawyers who refused to give him campaign contributions. Blackwell and Petro also split over proposals to reduce state spending. Blackwell ultimately won the primary with 56% of the vote.
Blackwell was not a close ally of disgraced Governor Taft, but Taft's unpopularity still damaged his campaign. The negativity of the Republican primary also damaged Blackwell's general election campaign. In addition, in 2006 there was a nationwide trend towards the Democratic Party. An October 6 poll by Rasmussen Reports showed that Strickland led by 52% to 40%, a decline from September. By contrast, an October 12 SurveyUSA poll had Strickland leading Blackwell 60% to 32%.
Democratic nominee Ted Strickland was elected with 60.5% of the vote. He became the first Democratic Governor of Ohio since Dick Celeste.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
Oklahoma.
Incumbent Democratic governor Brad Henry won re-election to a second term in a landslide, defeating Republican U.S. representative Ernest Istook. Henry took 66.5% of the vote to Istook's 33.5% and swept all but three counties in the state.{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders " style="; margin-right:1em; font-size:95%"
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
Oregon.
Democratic Governor Ted Kulongoski was elected in 2002 barely defeating former state representative Kevin Mannix. Kulongoski leads his challenger, former Portland Public School Board member Ron Saxton 51% to 44%. Oregon has not elected a Republican as governor since 1982, when Kulongoski lost to then-Governor Victor Atiyeh. Democratic incumbent Ted Kulongoski was re-elected.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
Pennsylvania.
Incumbent Democratic governor Ed Rendell successfully ran for re-election. Pennsylvania's first female lieutenant governor, Catherine Baker Knoll, was also running for re-election.{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders " style="; margin-right:1em; font-size:95%"
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
Rhode Island.
Polling in the race showed Donald Carcieri, Republican governor in one of the most liberal states in the country, running even with his Democratic challenger, Lieutenant Governor Charles J. Fogarty. Carcieri was re-elected with 51% of the vote.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
South Carolina.
Incumbent Republican Governor Mark Sanford won re-election against Democratic State Senator Tommy Moore, becoming only the third Republican governor in South Carolina to win a second term (Robert Kingston Scott and Carroll A. Campbell Jr. were the others). Sanford started the campaign with a double-digit edge over Moore and he maintained that lead to election day. During the course of the campaign, Sanford's approval rating averaged in the mid-fifties. In Sanford's re-election victory, he also garnered 22% of the African American vote.{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders " style="; margin-right:1em; font-size:95%"
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
South Dakota.
Incumbent Republican governor Mike Rounds defeated Democrat Jack Billion to serve a second term as governor.{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders " style="; margin-right:1em; font-size:95%"
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
Tennessee.
Incumbent Democratic governor Phil Bredesen defeated Republican state senator Jim Bryson in a landslide with 68.6% of the vote, winning every county in the state.
Primary elections were held on August 3, 2006.
As of 2025, this was the last time a Democrat won a majority of counties in the state, the last time a Democrat won any statewide race in Tennessee, and the most recent statewide election in Tennessee in which 88 of the state's 95 counties, including Knox County and Hamilton County, went to the Democratic candidate. Only Davidson, Shelby, Haywood, Hardeman, Houston, Jackson, and Lake counties have voted for a Democratic candidate in a presidential, Senate, or gubernatorial race since 2006, with Jackson and Lake only going Democratic once. Eight years later, Republican governor Bill Haslam won every county in the state when he won re-election. This marked a sharp political shift in Tennessee.{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders " style="; margin-right:1em; font-size:95%"
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
Texas.
Challenges from two popular independents, coupled with Perry's mediocre approval ratings, made the race interesting. Populist state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn decided to defect from the GOP and run against Perry, her bitter political foe, as an independent. Six weeks after the announcement of her candidacy, she moved to within single digits of Perry in polls. In addition to Perry and Strayhorn, former congressman Chris Bell ran as the Democratic candidate, with country singer and Texas icon Kinky Friedman as another independent. This resulted in a peculiar four-way race (technically, a six-way race including the Libertarian candidate and a write-in candidate) in which no run-off would take place. Perry was elected to a second full term with just 39% of the vote.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
Vermont.
Incumbent Republican Governor Jim Douglas won re-election to a third term, defeating Democratic nominee Scudder Parker.{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders " style="; margin-right:1em; font-size:95%"
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
Wisconsin.
In 2002, Doyle was elected with only 45 percent of the vote because of an unusually strong challenge from the Libertarian party. Although his early 2006 approval rating was a mildly unfavorable 45 percent, he led both Republican challengers, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and Congressman Mark Green by six to nine points in polls; he has not been able to poll greater than fifty percent. Green got a big break when Walker dropped out of the race. And more recent polls show that Green has pulled even. Wisconsin is a swing state in the strongest sense, with George W. Bush losing the state by some 5,700 votes in 2000 and around 12,400 votes in 2004, although they hadn't voted for a Republican for president since 1984, and they hadn't had a Republican senator since 1993. An October 18 Rasmussen Reports poll has Doyle leading Green 48% to 44% and an October 31 Research 2000 poll has Doyle leading Green 50% to 44%. Democratic incumbent Jim Doyle was re-elected.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
Wyoming.
Incumbent Democratic governor Dave Freudenthal won re-election in a landslide over Republican Ray Hunkins, becoming the first Democrat since 1910 to win every county in the state. To date this was the last time a Democrat was elected to statewide office in Wyoming, the last time a Democrat carried every county in the state, the last gubernatorial election in which a Democrat received more than 30% of the vote, and the last statewide election in which a Democrat received more than 45% of the vote.{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders " style="; margin-right:1em; font-size:95%"
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
Territories and federal district.
District of Columbia.
The Democratic primary was held on September 12. The winner of that and general election was Adrian Fenty, the representative for Ward 4 on the D.C. Council. He took office on January 2, 2007, becoming the sixth directly elected mayor since the establishment of home rule in the District, and — at 35 — the youngest elected mayor of a major American city in U.S. history.{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders " style="; margin-right:1em; font-size:95%"
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
Guam.
In the U.S. territory of Guam, in the western Pacific Ocean, Republican governor Felix P. Camacho was challenged by Democrat Robert Underwood. A former Guam delegate-at-large in the U.S. House of Representatives, Underwood had previously represented Guam from 1993 to 2003. The race was a rematch of the 2002 gubernatorial election in which Camacho handily defeated Underwood and won his first term in office by 10 points (see Politics of Guam). However, the race was significantly more close and competitive in 2006, with Camacho narrowly winning re-election by a 2-point margin over Underwood.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
U.S. Virgin Islands.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes