Black candidates win governor races in Florida, Georgia, Maryland and Wisconsin; Nevada pending

Left · 1Byron Donalds in Florida, Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia and Wes Moore in Maryland won governor races on Tuesday 3 November 2026, according to NBC News. 1 Left · 1NBC News reported that this is the first time in US history that multiple elected Black governors will serve at the same time. 1 Left · 2Moore, a Democrat, won re-election in Maryland. Donalds is a Republican congressman, and Bottoms is a Georgia Democrat. 1 2

Left · 1Before these wins, the only elected Black governors in US history were Moore, Deval Patrick (a Democrat elected in Massachusetts in 2006) and Doug Wilder (a Democrat elected in Virginia in 1989). None of them served at the same time. 1 Left · 1In an NBC News interview last month, Donalds called the history-making aspect of the candidacy "very special". Donalds said it "says a lot more about the state [of Florida] than it does about me." 1 Left · 1NBC News said the number could still grow, because five other Black major-party candidates were on the ballot: Democrats David Crowley (Wisconsin), Aaron Ford (Nevada) and Jermaine Johnson (South Carolina, described as facing a harder path), and Republicans John James (Michigan, in a competitive race against Democrat Jocelyn Benson) and Lisa Demuth (Minnesota, seen as an underdog). 1

Left · 2Later coverage added Wisconsin: CBS News and CBC News reported that David Crowley, a Democrat, defeated Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany and becomes the state's first Black governor-elect. 3 4 Left · 1CBS News carried an election-night interview in which Moore discussed the other gubernatorial races and the historic wins. The video is titled "Making history is not the assignment". 2 Left · 2CBS News and CBC News reported that Bottoms, a former Atlanta mayor who defeated Republican Rick Jackson, will be the first Black woman elected governor in US history and Georgia's first woman governor. 3 4

Left · 2Donalds, who succeeds Ron DeSantis, is Florida's first Black governor-elect and, according to CBS News, the first Black Republican elected governor in the nation. 3 4 Left · 2In Nevada, CBS News said Democrat Aaron Ford was leading Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo by more than 70,000 votes but called the race a toss-up in its estimate; CBC News described Ford as set to become governor. 3 4 Left · 2CBC News counted five Black governors in 2027 based on the results, and noted that David Paterson and Deval Patrick had earlier served simultaneously from 2008, though Paterson was not elected. CBS News said Moore told it the wins meant the number of elected Black governors had "at least doubled" in one cycle. 4 3