2009 United States gubernatorial elections

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2009 United States gubernatorial elections
Flag of the United States.svg
←  2008 November 3 and 7, 2009 2010  →
3 governorships
2 states; 1 territory
 Majority partyMinority party
 
Party Democratic Republican
Seats before28 [lower-alpha 1] 22
Seats after2624
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 2Increase2.svg 2
Popular vote1,906,6812,338,096
Percentage43.25%53.03%
Seats up20
Seats won02
2009 United States gubernatorial elections results map.svg
Map of the results
     Republican gain     Covenant hold
     No election

United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 3, 2009, in the states of New Jersey and Virginia, as well as in the U.S. commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands on November 7, 2009. Both state governorships were previously held by Democrats elected in 2005, and both were won by Republicans in 2009; the local Covenant Party maintained control of the governorship of the Marianas. These elections formed part of the 2009 United States elections. As of 2024, this is the last election after which the Democratic party held a majority of governorships.

Contents

Due to the passage of Senate Legislative Initiative 16–11, this was the last year in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in which a gubernatorial election occurred on a pre-midterm, off-year election year, as the next gubernatorial election would be in 2014. [1] [2]

The Democrats held 28 governorships, while the Republicans held 22. In this election, both U.S. governorships up for election were held by Democrats, while the governorship of the Northern Mariana Islands was held by the Covenant Party.This is also the last election in which the democrats held a majority of governorships nationwide.

Election predictions

Several sites and individuals publish predictions of competitive seats. These predictions look at factors such as the strength of the incumbent (if the incumbent is running for re-election), the strength of the candidates, and the partisan leanings of the state (reflected in part by the state's Cook Partisan Voting Index rating). The predictions assign ratings to each state, with the rating indicating the predicted advantage that a party has in winning that seat.

Most election predictors use:

State PVI Incumbent [3] Last
race		 IE
Oct 26, 2009 [4] 		Result
New Jersey D+4 Jon Corzine 53.5% D TossupChristie
48.5% R (flip)
Virginia R+2 Tim Kaine (term-limited)51.7% D Lean R (flip) McDonnell
58.6% R (flip)

Race Summary

States

StateIncumbentPartyFirst
elected		ResultCandidates
New Jersey Jon Corzine Democratic 2005 Incumbent lost re-election.
New member elected.
Republican gain.
Virginia Tim Kaine Democratic 2005 Incumbent term-limited.
New member elected.
Republican gain.

Territory

TerritoryIncumbentPartyFirst
elected		ResultCandidates
Northern Mariana Islands Benigno Fitial Covenant 2005 Incumbent re-elected.

Closest races

States where the margin of victory was under 5%:

  1. Northern Mariana Islands, 2.8%
  2. New Jersey, 4.3%

Red denotes states won by Republicans. Green denotes states won by Covenants.

New Jersey

2009 New Jersey gubernatorial election
Flag of New Jersey.svg
←  2005 November 3, 2009 2014  →
  Chris Christie 2011 Shankbone.JPG SenatorJonCorzine (cropped).jpg 3x4.svg
Nominee Chris Christie Jon Corzine Chris Daggett
Party Republican Democratic Independent
Running mate Kim Guadagno Loretta Weinberg Frank J. Esposito
Popular vote1,174,4451,087,731139,579
Percentage48.5%44.9%5.8%
2009 New Jersey gubernatorial election results map by county.svg
County results
Governor before election

Jon Corzine
Democratic

Elected Governor

Chris Christie
Republican

Democratic Governor Jon Corzine was eligible to run for a second term and did so. He was considered vulnerable given a number of recent scandals and low approval ratings. [5] Former Glen Ridge Mayor Carl Bergmanson, failed 2008 congressional candidate Roger Bacon, and failed 2008 Senate candidate Jeff Boss also sought the Democratic nomination. Corzine won the Democratic primary on June 2.

U.S. Attorney Chris Christie was the Republican gubernatorial nominee. Christie defeated former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan and veteran General Assemblyman Rick Merkt in the Republican primary on June 2.

Chris Daggett, who was Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection under Governor Thomas Kean and regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Ronald W. Reagan, ran as an independent. Daggett raised enough money to file for public funds and appear in both debates.

On November 3, 2009, Republican Christie unseated Democratic incumbent Governor Corzine. His margin of victory was 49% to 45%. Daggett's role as a "spoiler candidate" (some polls had him taking 10 percent of the vote) never materialized. [6]

New Jersey election [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Chris Christie 1,174,445 48.46
Democratic Jon Corzine (incumbent)1,087,73144.88
Independent Chris Daggett 139,5795.76
Libertarian Kenneth Kaplan4,8300.20
Independent Gary T. Steele3,5850.15
Independent Jason Cullen2,8690.12
Independent David R. Meiswinkle2,5980.11
Independent Kostas Petris2,5630.11
Socialist Greg Pason 2,0850.09
Independent Gary Stein1,6250.07
Independent Joshua Leinsdorf1,0210.04
Independent Alvin Lindsay7530.03
Total votes2,423,684 100.00
Republican gain from Democratic

Virginia

2009 Virginia gubernatorial election
Flag of Virginia.svg
←  2005 November 3, 2009 2013  →
  Bob McDonnell (4379673749) (cropped) (cropped).jpg Creigh Deeds in Arlington, Virginia (cropped).jpg
Nominee Bob McDonnell Creigh Deeds
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote1,163,651818,950
Percentage58.6%41.2%
2009 Virginia gubernatorial election results map by county.svg
County and independent city results
Governor before election

Tim Kaine
Democratic

Elected Governor

Bob McDonnell
Republican

Virginia's term limits law allows governors to run for more than one term; however, the terms cannot be consecutive. Thus, incumbent Governor Tim Kaine could not stand for re-election.

Candidates for the Democratic nomination included Terry McAuliffe, former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's former campaign manager; State Senator Creigh Deeds; [8] and State Delegate Brian Moran. [9] Deeds won the Democratic primary on June 9, 2009, with approximately 49% of the vote, beating out Terry McAliffe with 26% and Brian Moran with 23%. [10]

The Republican nominee was Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell. This was the sixth consecutive Virginian gubernatorial election where an elected Attorney General has run. [11]

On November 3, 2009, Bob McDonnell defeated Creigh Deeds to become Governor-elect of Virginia. His margin of victory was a landslide 59% to 41%. [6]

Virginia election [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Bob McDonnell 1,163,651 58.61
Democratic Creigh Deeds 818,95041.25
Write-in 2,5020.12
Total votes1,985,103 100.00
Republican gain from Democratic

Territory

Northern Mariana Islands

2009 Northern Mariana Islands gubernatorial election
Flag of the Northern Mariana Islands.svg
←  2005 November 7, 2009 (general)
November 23, 2009 (runoff)		 2014  →
  Benigno Fitial 2009.jpg 3x4.svg
Nominee Benigno Fitial Heinz Hofschneider
Party Covenant Republican
First
round		4,892
36.2%		4,900
36.3%
Runoff 6,610
51.4%		6,240
48.6%
 
Candidate Juan Pan Guerrero Ramon Deleon Guerrero
Party Independent Independent
First
round		2,613
19.3%		1,075
8.0%
Runoff EliminatedEliminated
Northern Mariana Islands 2009 gubernatorial election map.svg
Results by voting district:
Benigno Fitial:     50–55%     55–60%     65–70%
Heinz Hofschneider:     50–55%
Governor before election

Benigno Fitial
Covenant

Elected Governor

Benigno Fitial
Covenant

Governor Benigno R. Fitial, a member of the local Covenant Party, was eligible to run for a second term and did so. Rep. Heinz Hofschneider won the Republican nomination in June, defeating former Republican Governor Juan N. Babauta, who was defeated in his 2005 re-election by Fitial. Ramon "Kumoi" Guerrero and Juan "Pan" Guerrero, two former members of the Northern Mariana Islands Senate, both ran as independents.

The CNMI election was held on Saturday, November 7, 2009. [13] No candidate received a majority, so Governor Fital and Rep. Hofschneider advanced to a runoff election on November 23. Fital won with a 370-vote margin. [14]

Northern Mariana Islands election
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Heinz Hofschneider 4,90036.27
Covenant Benigno Fitial (incumbent)4,89236.21
Independent Juan Pan Guerrero 2,61319.34
Independent Ramon Deleon Guerrero 1,0757.96
Total votes13,480 100.00
Northern Mariana Islands runoff election
PartyCandidateVotes%
Covenant Benigno Fitial (incumbent) 6,610 51.44
Republican Heinz Hofschneider 6,24048.56
Total votes12,850 100.00
Covenant hold

Notes

  1. ↑ Republican governor of Arizona Jan Brewer assumed office after Democratic governor Janet Napolitano resigned to become Secretary of Homeland Security.

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References

  1. ↑ Eugenio, Haidee V. (2009-11-23). "CNMI holds first runoff election". Saipan Tribune . Archived from the original on 2012-01-12. Retrieved 2009-11-23.
  2. ↑ Casas, Gemma (2009-11-17). "Northern Marianas' election race heats up". Radio Australia . Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2009-11-23.
  3. ↑ Parentheses around an incumbent's name indicates that the incumbent is retiring, possibly due to term limits.
  4. ↑ "Gubernatorial Ratings | Inside Elections". www.insideelections.com.
  5. ↑ Archived June 12, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  6. 1 2 Archived November 5, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ [ dead link ]
  8. ↑ "Deeds Weighs In On Recount Process". Charlottesvillenewsplex.tv. Archived from the original on 2009-08-15. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  9. ↑ [ dead link ]
  10. ↑ "2009 June Democratic Primary Unofficial Results". Archived from the original on June 18, 2009. Retrieved June 15, 2009.
  11. ↑ "Attorney General Bob McDonnell hopes VA will elect a Republican governor – WDBJ7 Roanoke News and Weather NRV Lynchburg Danville |". Wdbj7.com. 2008-11-07. Archived from the original on 2009-08-15. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  12. ↑ "November 2009 General Election Official Results". Archived from the original on January 18, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2011.
  13. ↑ Casas, Gemma Q. (2009-10-13). "Registered voters up by 15%". Marianas Variety . Retrieved 2009-10-12.
  14. ↑ Eugenio, Haidee V. (2009-12-08). "Fitial seals victory with 370 lead". Saipan Tribune . Archived from the original on 2011-08-14. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
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