List of female governors in the United States

The first woman to act as governor was Carolyn B. Shelton, who served as Acting Governor of Oregon for one weekend – 9 a.m. Saturday, February 27, through 10 a.m. Monday, March 1, 1909. The outgoing governor, George Earle Chamberlain, had been elected to the U.S. Senate and had to leave for Washington, D.C. before his term was over; the incoming governor, Frank W. Benson, had gotten sick and could not assume office early. Chamberlain left Shelton, his secretary, in charge for the weekend.[1] It was another three and a half years before women were allowed to vote in Oregon.[2][lower-alpha 1]

The first woman to be acting governor to be entrusted with substantial duties while in office was Soledad Chávez de Chacón, who held the powers and duties of Governor of New Mexico for two weeks in 1924 while Governor James F. Hinkle attended the Democratic Convention in New York. Lieutenant Governor José A. Baca had died unexpectedly in May, so Chacón, the Secretary of State, filled the position. Chacón said she believed that her 1924 elevation was the first time in the U.S. that a woman had been called on to assume the responsibilities of governor.[4]

The first woman to assume office as governor pursuant to a special election was Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming (widow of late Governor William B. Ross, served January 1923 to October 1924), who was elected on November 4, 1924, and sworn in on January 5, 1925.[5] Wyoming was the first state to provide women's suffrage[6] after New Jersey had abolished it in 1807. Elected on the November 3, 1924 general election, and sworn in on January 20, 1925, was Miriam A. Ferguson of Texas, whose husband, Governor James Edward Ferguson, had previously held the office but been impeached and removed from office in 1917.[7] The first woman elected governor without being the wife or widow of a past state governor was Ella T. Grasso of Connecticut, elected in 1974 and sworn in on January 8, 1975.[8]

To date, no woman has ever changed parties during her gubernatorial term, been elected as a third party member or an independent, or, after resigning from the governorship, been appointed to the United States Senate by her successor.

Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut and New Mexico are the only four states to have elected women as governors from both major parties. Arizona was the first state where a woman followed another woman as governor (they were from different parties). Arizona also has had the most with a total of four, and is the first state to have three women in a row serve as governor.

A record nine out of 50 state governorships have been held by women since Kristi Noem was inaugurated as governor of South Dakota on January 5, 2019. This ties a record previously met on two occasions: first, between December 4, 2006, when Sarah Palin was inaugurated as governor of Alaska, and January 14, 2008, when Kathleen Blanco left office as governor of Louisiana, and second, between January 10, 2009, when Beverly Perdue was inaugurated as governor of North Carolina, and January 20, 2009, when Ruth Ann Minner retired as governor of Delaware. Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, though not states, have also had woman as chief executives: Sila María Calderón and Wanda Vázquez Garced of Puerto Rico and Sharon Pratt Kelly and Muriel Bowser of DC. Additionally, Lou Leon Guerrero has served as the governor of Guam since January 2019.

As of 2021, a total of 20 states have never had a woman as governor. Those states are: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Six states (Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, Tennessee and Utah) have never seen a major party nominate a woman in a gubernatorial election, although nine consecutive lieutenant governors have been women in Minnesota, from 1983 to the present day.[9]

Three women of color has been state governors: Susana Martinez and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico (both Hispanic) and Nikki Haley of South Carolina (Asian American). Martinez and Haley are both Republican; Lujan Grisham is a Democrat. Additionally, all five women who governed an insular area have been of an ethnic minority group: Sharon Pratt and Muriel Bowser of Washington, D.C. (both African American), Sila María Calderón and Wanda Vázquez Garced of Puerto Rico (both Hispanic) and Lou Leon Guerrero of Guam (Pacific Islander), all Democratic, with the exception of Vázquez Garced, who is a Republican.

• List of first gentlemen in the United States
• List of female lieutenant governors in the United States

• "History of Women Governors" Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey