Democrats take the governorships of Texas, Georgia, Ohio and Iowa, and stand to hold a majority of the nation's governor's offices for the first time in two decades

The governor's races followed the congressional races. In Texas, state Representative Gina Hinojosa beat Governor Greg Abbott, who was seeking a fourth term. The AP count put Hinojosa at 5,060,631 votes to 4,380,650 for Abbott as of November 4. No Democrat had won statewide office in Texas since 1994, and Hinojosa will be the state's first Latina governor.

In Georgia, former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms flipped the governorship for the first time in 24 years. In Ohio, Amy Acton beat Vivek Ramaswamy, in a campaign that drew national attention when Ramaswamy aired an attack ad featuring Acton's estranged mother. In Iowa, Rob Sand beat Zach Lahn. In Wisconsin, Milwaukee County executive David Crowley won and will be the state's first Black governor. In Michigan, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson won the open governorship, in California Xavier Becerra won, and in New Mexico Deb Haaland won and will be the first Native American woman elected to lead a state. NBC News and the New York Times also called Nevada for Democrat Aaron Ford over incumbent Governor Joe Lombardo.

Republicans held ground in the South. In Florida, Representative Byron Donalds beat David Jolly in one of the closest governor's races of the night. In Alabama, Senator Tommy Tuberville beat former Senator Doug Jones. Republicans also won the governorships of Vermont and New Hampshire on network calls.

Three Democratic governors talked about as possible 2028 presidential candidates all won new terms: Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania, by more than 20 points, JB Pritzker in Illinois, and Wes Moore in Maryland. Kathy Hochul won re-election in New York. All told, 36 states that hold about 80 percent of the country's population elected a governor on Tuesday, and 19 of those offices were open. Governors control state election law, redistricting vetoes and National Guard callouts, which is why a majority of the offices matters beyond the states themselves heading into the 2028 presidential race.