A growing number of Republican and Democratic women are gearing up to run for governor in the 2025 and 2026 elections as more women take the helm of state capitals across the country.

History will be made in Virginia this November as Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) vie to be the commonwealth’s first female governor. Meanwhile in New Jersey, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) is running to become that state’s second female governor.

A number of incumbent female governors, including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders (R), are running for reelection while other candidates including Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms are running to become governor of their respective states for the first time.

“We will absolutely see an additional woman governor in the state of Virginia and a strong possibility of a woman governor in New Jersey, which would make us reach a real record,” said Debbie Walsh, the director of the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers University.

For a few weeks in January, 14 women served as governor across the country. That number decreased to 12 in January, when Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer (D) assumed office after the state’s Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long (D) held the position for two weeks following former Gov. John Carney's (D) resignation to become mayor of Wilmington. In that same month, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem left her post as South Dakota........

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