When we first introduced you to eight Black major-party candidates for governor, simply having that many on ballots in one election was historic.
Then America voted.
Five of the eight won — an extraordinary result in a country that, before 2026, had elected only three Black governors in its history.
The biggest history-maker was Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor who won Georgia’s governorship and became the first Black woman ever elected governor of a U.S. state. Her victory also ended 24 years of Republican control of the Georgia governor’s office.
In Maryland, Wes Moore, already the state’s first Black governor, easily won a second term. The Associated Press called his race within minutes of the polls closing.
Republican Byron Donalds won a much closer race in Florida, becoming Florida’s first Black governor and the first Black Republican ever elected governor of a state. Florida had not elected a Democratic governor since 1994.
Two more states elected their first Black governors.
David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive, defeated Republican Tom Tiffany to become Wisconsin’s first Black governor.
And in Nevada, Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford defeated incumbent Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo to become Nevada’s first Black governor.
A Very Short History
The numbers put 2026 into perspective.
L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia became the first Black person elected governor of a state in 1989. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts followed in 2006. Wes Moore became only the third when Maryland elected him in 2022.
Now, in a single election, voters added four new names to that remarkably short list: Bottoms, Donalds, Crowley and Ford.
Other Black governors have served without being elected to the office, including P.B.S. Pinchback, who briefly led Louisiana during Reconstruction, and David Paterson, who became New York governor after Eliot Spitzer resigned.
History Beyond the Five
The election produced other gubernatorial firsts.
In New Mexico, Democrat Deb Haaland became the nation’s first Native American woman elected governor.
In Texas, Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated incumbent Greg Abbott, becoming the state’s first Latina governor and ending more than three decades of Republican control of the governor’s office.
In the U.S. Virgin Islands, Democrat Stacey Plaskett, who is Black, won the governorship with nearly 63% of the vote, according to unofficial results. She becomes the first woman elected governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands and the first Black woman elected governor of a U.S. territory.
Plaskett comes to the job after more than a decade representing the Virgin Islands in Congress. Since 2015, she has represented St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. John and the territory’s smaller islands as its at-large delegate to the U.S. House. Like other territorial delegates, she could serve on committees and participate in congressional debate but could not vote on final passage of legislation on the House floor.
Black men have previously served as governor of the predominantly Black Caribbean territory.
That means Election Day 2026 produced two Black women gubernatorial history-makers at once: Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor of a U.S. state, while Stacey Plaskett became the first Black woman elected governor of a U.S. territory.
