2009 United States gubernatorial elections

November 3 and 7, 2009
3 governorships 2 states; 1 territory
Majority party Minority party   Party Democratic Republican Seats before 28[lower-alpha 1] 22 Seats after 26 24 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 1,906,681 2,338,096 Percentage 43.25% 53.03% Seats up 2 0 Seats won 0 2
Map of the results      Republican gain      Covenant hold      No election

United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 3, 2009, in the states of New Jersey and Virginia, as well as in the U.S. commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands on November 7, 2009. Both state governorships were previously held by Democrats elected in 2005, and both were won by Republicans in 2009; the local Covenant Party maintained control of the governorship of the Marianas. These elections formed part of the 2009 United States elections. As of 2024, this is the last election after which the Democratic party held a majority of governorships.

Due to the passage of Senate Legislative Initiative 16–11, this was the last year in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in which a gubernatorial election occurred on a pre-midterm, off-year election year, as the next gubernatorial election would be in 2014.^[1][2]

The Democrats held 28 governorships, while the Republicans held 22. In this election, both U.S. governorships up for election were held by Democrats, while the governorship of the Northern Mariana Islands was held by the Covenant Party.

Election predictions

Several sites and individuals publish predictions of competitive seats. These predictions look at factors such as the strength of the incumbent (if the incumbent is running for re-election), the strength of the candidates, and the partisan leanings of the state (reflected in part by the state's Cook Partisan Voting Index rating). The predictions assign ratings to each state, with the rating indicating the predicted advantage that a party has in winning that seat.

Most election predictors use:

• "tossup": no advantage
• "tilt" (used by some predictors): advantage that is not quite as strong as "lean"
• "lean": slight advantage
• "likely": significant, but surmountable, advantage
• "safe" or "solid": near-certain chance of victory

Race Summary

Closest races

States where the margin of victory was under 5%:

1. Northern Mariana Islands, 2.8%
2. New Jersey, 4.3%

Red denotes states won by Republicans. Green denotes states won by Covenants.

New Jersey

2009 New Jersey gubernatorial election

November 3, 2009

Nominee Chris Christie Jon Corzine Chris Daggett Party Republican Democratic Independent Running mate Kim Guadagno Loretta Weinberg Frank J. Esposito Popular vote 1,174,445 1,087,731 139,579 Percentage 48.5% 44.9% 5.8%

County results

Governor before election Jon Corzine Democratic Elected Governor Chris Christie Republican

Democratic Governor Jon Corzine was eligible to run for a second term and did so. He was considered vulnerable given a number of recent scandals and low approval ratings.^[5] Former Glen Ridge Mayor Carl Bergmanson, failed 2008 congressional candidate Roger Bacon, and failed 2008 Senate candidate Jeff Boss also sought the Democratic nomination. Corzine won the Democratic primary on June 2.

U.S. Attorney Chris Christie was the Republican gubernatorial nominee. Christie defeated former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan and veteran General Assemblyman Rick Merkt in the Republican primary on June 2.

Chris Daggett, who was Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection under Governor Thomas Kean and regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Ronald W. Reagan, ran as an independent. Daggett raised enough money to file for public funds and appear in both debates.

On November 3, 2009, Republican Christie unseated Democratic incumbent Governor Corzine. His margin of victory was 49% to 45%. Daggett's role as a "spoiler candidate" (some polls had him taking 10 percent of the vote) never materialized.^[6]

Virginia

2009 Virginia gubernatorial election

November 3, 2009

Nominee Bob McDonnell Creigh Deeds Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,163,651 818,950 Percentage 58.6% 41.2%

County and independent city results

Governor before election Tim Kaine Democratic Elected Governor Bob McDonnell Republican

Virginia's term limits law allows governors to run for more than one term; however, the terms cannot be consecutive. Thus, incumbent Governor Tim Kaine could not stand for re-election.

Candidates for the Democratic nomination included Terry McAuliffe, former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's former campaign manager; State Senator Creigh Deeds;^[8] and State Delegate Brian Moran.^[9] Deeds won the Democratic primary on June 9, 2009, with approximately 49% of the vote, beating out Terry McAliffe with 26% and Brian Moran with 23%.^[10]

The Republican nominee was Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell. This was the sixth consecutive Virginian gubernatorial election where an elected Attorney General has run.^[11]

On November 3, 2009, Bob McDonnell defeated Creigh Deeds to become Governor-elect of Virginia. His margin of victory was a landslide 59% to 41%.^[6]

Territory

Northern Mariana Islands

2009 Northern Mariana Islands gubernatorial election

November 7, 2009 (general) November 23, 2009 (runoff)

Nominee Benigno Fitial Heinz Hofschneider Party Covenant Republican First round 4,892 36.2% 4,900 36.3% Runoff 6,610 51.4% 6,240 48.6%   Candidate Juan Pan Guerrero Ramon Deleon Guerrero Party Independent Independent First round 2,613 19.3% 1,075 8.0% Runoff Eliminated Eliminated

Governor before election Benigno Fitial Covenant Elected Governor Benigno Fitial Covenant

Main article: 2009 Northern Mariana Islands gubernatorial election

Governor Benigno R. Fitial, a member of the local Covenant Party, was eligible to run for a second term and did so. Rep. Heinz Hofschneider won the Republican nomination in June, defeating former Republican Governor Juan N. Babauta, who was defeated in his 2005 re-election by Fitial. Ramon "Kumoi" Guerrero and Juan "Pan" Guerrero, two former members of the Northern Mariana Islands Senate, both ran as independents.

The CNMI election was held on Saturday, November 7, 2009.^[13] No candidate received a majority, so Governor Fital and Rep. Hofschneider advanced to a runoff election on November 23. Fital won with a 370-vote margin.^[14]

Northern Mariana Islands election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Heinz Hofschneider	4,900	36.27
	Covenant	Benigno Fitial (incumbent)	4,892	36.21
	Independent	Juan Pan Guerrero	2,613	19.34
	Independent	Ramon Deleon Guerrero	1,075	7.96
Total votes			13,480	100.00

Northern Mariana Islands runoff election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Covenant	Benigno Fitial (incumbent)	6,610	51.44
	Republican	Heinz Hofschneider	6,240	48.56
Total votes			12,850	100.00
	Covenant hold

Notes

References