In Minnesota, two women are set to face off for governor: U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, and Republican state House Speaker Lisa Demuth. Whoever wins will become the state’s first woman governor, turning a long-standing gap in political representation into a historic first.
Minnesota is one of 17 states that have never had a woman governor, according to data from Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics. The 2026 midterm elections could change that in several states. In Tennessee, Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Democrat Jerri Green, a member of the Memphis City Council, are their parties’ nominees. The winner there would also be the state’s first woman governor.
Three other states have a major-party nominee who could make history if elected. Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms is running in Georgia, Democrat Terri Pickens in Idaho, and Republican Stacey Garrity in Pennsylvania. Bottoms could become Georgia’s first woman governor and its first Black governor. She would also be the first Black woman governor in the United States.
Ohio’s record has a wrinkle. Nancy Hollister served briefly as governor after George Voinovich resigned on New Year’s Eve in 1998 to take up his successful Senate campaign. Hollister’s time in office lasted less than two weeks and was interim, not the result of an election. This year, Democrat Amy Acton could become Ohio’s first elected woman governor.
The Senate also has states where women have never held the office. Fifteen states have never been represented by a woman in the U.S. Senate, and two have a woman on the ballot this year. Alani Bankhead is the Democratic Senate nominee in Montana, and N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas is the Democratic nominee in Oklahoma. Their campaigns could bring the first women senators to their states.
The figures count women who held office without being elected, as well as those who won elections. The analysis uses records from the Center for American Women and Politics and state and federal histories. Its count of 2026 candidates includes only nominees from the two major parties. That distinction helps explain why Ohio has had a woman governor in a technical sense, while still having no woman elected to the job.
A win by any of these candidates would add a new chapter to their state’s political history. But the broader picture shows how uneven women’s access to top elected offices remains: 17 states have yet to have a woman governor, and 15 have yet to send a woman to the Senate. The November contests offer voters in several of those states a chance to change those records.