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oprf71 · Mar 23, 2006, 05:18 AM

What states have had female governors ?

RickJ · Mar 23, 2006, 05:32 AM

I'm not finding a list of all states, past and present, that have had a female governor... but
this article says 1 in 6 states (9) have had one.

Currently there are 8:
AZ Janet Napolitano (D)
CT M. Jodi Rell (R)
DE Ruth Ann Minner (D)
HI Linda Lingle (R)
KS Kathleen Sebelius (D)
LA Kathleen Blanco (D)
MI Jennifer Granholm (D)
WA Christine Gregoire (D)

And in 1996, NJ's Governor was female...

kp2171 · Mar 23, 2006, 07:31 AM

Ann Richards TX 91-95

kp2171 · Mar 23, 2006, 08:04 AM

Cut from the following link:

http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~sweir/womengovs98.htm

Guessing from the URL this might have been written in 98?

Here are previous female gov's... read the article, interesting...

Nellie Tayloe Ross (D-Wyoming)
Christine Todd Whitman. NJ,
Ella Grasso (D-Connecticut)
"surrogates" Nellie Tayloe Ross (D) of Wyoming and Miriam Ferguson (D) of Texas, Lurleen Wallace (D-Alabama) - husbands elected but they served when husband could not
Dixie Lee Ray (D-Washington)
Martha Layne Collins (D-Kentucky)
Madeleine Kunin (D-Vermont)
Kay Orr as governor of Nebraska
Joan Finney (D-Kansas)
Barbara Roberts (D-Oregon)
Ann Richards (D-Texas) 1990.
Christine Todd Whitman (R-New Jersey)
Jeanne Shaheen New Hampshire
Arizona Jane Dee Hull

RickJ · Mar 23, 2006, 08:13 AM

Hmm.

So this adds KY, VT, NE, OR and NH... and WY if you count surrogates.

So this brings it to 15 or 16 states. Guess that first article (written Oct '05) was incorrect.

kp2171 · Mar 23, 2006, 12:36 PM

Yeah the full article said 15 states, and I do think it's a 98 article... so more since I imagine... I haven't done the count that you did.

And you have to count the surrogates. One of the three was noted as pretty much being a "puppet" governor, but still, all three served the position in addition to the others.

kp2171 · Mar 24, 2006, 08:37 AM

And look at recent trends.

89 to 2006 - at least 9 female gov's
All years preceding 89 - around 15, with three not elected, acting for husbands

Meaning women are more commonly holding positions that translate into better positioning for a run at the top office.

cajalat · Mar 27, 2006, 02:39 PM

Found this link which with some work you should be able to get the info you want dating back to 1776 when they had President of State.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ates_Governors

Also since I'm from MA we had Jane Swift become Acting Governor from 2001 to 2003 after Paul Cellucci left to became Ambassador to Canada.