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From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues

Table A.6 History of Women Governors

Four-four women (26D, 18R) have served as governors in 26 states. In addition, one woman has served as governor in Puerto Rico. Arizona is the first state where a woman succeeded another woman as governor, and the first state to have had four women governors. Of these women governors, 30 were first elected in their own right; 3 replaced their husbands, and 11 became governor by constitutional succession, six of whom subsequently won a full term. The record number of women serving simultaneously, achieved in 2004 and again in 2007 and 2019, is 9.

Name (Party-State) Dates Served Nellie Tayloe Ross (D-WY) 1925-1927 Miriam “Ma” Ferguson (D-TX) 1925-1927, 1933-1935 Lurleen Wallace (D-AL) 1967-1968 Ella Grasso (D-CT) 1975-1980 Dixy Lee Ray (D-WA) 1977-1981 Vesta Roy (R-NH) 1982-183 Martha Layne Collins (D-KY) 1984-1987 Madeleine Kunin (D-VT) 1985-1991 Kay Orr (R-NE) 1987-1991 Rose Mofford (D-AZ) 1988-1991 Joan Finney (D-KS) 1991-1995 Ann Richards (D-TX) 1991-1995 Barbara Roberts (D-OR) 1991-1995 Christine Todd Witman (R-NJ) 1994-2001 Jeanne Shahenn (D-NH) 1997-2002 Jane Dee Hull (R-AZ) 1997-2003 Nancy Hollister (R-OH) 1998-1999 Jane Swift (R-MA) 2001-2003 Judy Martz (R-MT) 2001-2005 Sila Calderón (Popular Democratic Party-PR) 2001-2005 Ruth Ann Minner (D-DE) 2001-2009 Linda Lingle (R-HI) 2002-2010 Olene Walker (R-UT) 2003-2005 Janet Napolitano (D-AZ) 2003-2009 Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) 2003-2009 Jennifer M. Granholm (D-MI) 2003-2011 Kathleen Blanco (D-LA) 2004-2007 M. Jodi Rell (R-CT) 2004-2011 Christine Gregoire (D-WA) 2004-2013 Sara Palin (R-AK) 2007-2009 Beverly M. Perdue (D-NC) 2009-2013 Jan Brewer (R-AZ) 2009-2015 Mary Fallin (R-OK) 2011-2019 Nikki Haley (R-SC) 2011-2017 Susana Martinez (R-NM) 2011-2019 Maggie Hassan (D-NH) 2013-2017 Kate Brown (D-OR) 2015-present Gina Raimondo (D-RI) 2015-present Kay Ivey (R-AL) 2017-present Kim Reynolds (R-IA) 2017-present Laura Kelly (D-KS) 2019-present Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) 2019-present Janet Mills (D-ME) 2019-present Kristi Noem (R-SD) 2019-present Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) 2019-present

Source: Center for the American Woman and Politics (CAWP), Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University.

© Copyright 2019. Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP). Reprinted with permission.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
"Table A.6 History Of Women Governors." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, edited by Suzanne O’Dea, Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_1078.
APA 7th
Table A.6 History of Women Governors. From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, In S. O’Dea (Ed.), Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_1078.
CMOS 17th
"Table A.6 History Of Women Governors." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, Edited by Suzanne O’Dea. Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_1078.