Four Black Governors Win Midterm Races Across Four States
Georgia, Florida, Wisconsin, and Maryland elect Black leaders, while a fifth candidate leads in Nevada.
By Amina Howard ·
The 2026 midterm elections expanded the number of Black Americans leading state governments. Voters in four states elected Black candidates to the governor's mansion on Tuesday, a historic shift in American politics. In Nevada, a fifth Black candidate currently holds a lead in the race for governor.
Stacey Bottoms, a Democrat, won the governorship in Georgia. She will be the first Black woman to hold the office in U.S. history. Byron Donalds, a Republican, claimed the top executive post in Florida. In Wisconsin, Democrat Randall Crowley defeated his opponent to become governor. Wes Moore won reelection in Maryland, securing a second term.
Prior to this cycle, only three Black Americans had ever been elected as U.S. governors. David Paterson, former New York governor, assumed the role in 2008 when Eliot Spitzer resigned. Wes Moore was elected in 2022, becoming Maryland's first Black governor. With the four new wins, the number of elected Black governors in the nation's history has at least doubled.
Wes Moore spoke to CBS News on Tuesday regarding the collective victories. He called the outcome incredibly important. Moore noted that he was the only Black governor in America until this moment. He said he did not want to hold that title for long. He observed that in one election cycle, the group of elected Black governors has grown from three to at least five.
Stacey Bottoms, a former Atlanta mayor, described her reaction to the win in Georgia. She told CBS News host Gayle King on Wednesday that she was wearing AirPods and working on her victory speech. Her husband was lying on the sofa near her. He kicked her to alert her to the results. She asked what he meant. He told her they called the race. She then asked what was called, marking the moment she learned of her victory.
Byron Donalds served as the U.S. representative for Florida's 19th District from 2020 until his recent win. He will become Florida's first Black governor. In Wisconsin, Randall Crowley, a moderate Democrat, defeated Republican challenger Tom Tiffany. Tiffany is a U.S. representative and a top ally of President Trump. The Wisconsin race took place in one of the nation's most purple states.
In Nevada, Democrat Aaron Ford leads Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo by more than 70,000 votes. Ford was elected Nevada's attorney general in 2018. If he wins the governor's race, he will be the state's first Black governor. He would also become the first Black governor elected west of the Mississippi River.
