Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver died unexpectedly after a brief hospitalization on Tuesday, August 1.

At the time, Oliver was acting governor while Gov. Phil Murphy was out of the country.

In the absence of both Murphy and Oliver, the duties of acting governor went to Senate President Nicholas Scutari.

Oliver’s three-decade political career includes becoming the first Black woman to hold a New Jersey statewide elected office.

Under the state Constitution, Murphy now has 45 days to select a successor for Oliver’s elected position.

Incumbent New York Gov. Kathy Hochul defeated Republican Lee Zeldin.

In a tighter than expected race, Hochul secures her first full term as governor.

Incumbent Democratic Gov. Tony Evers narrowly won the gubernatorial race over Republican Tim Michaels.

With 95% of votes counted, Evers prevailed over Michaels by just over 3 percentage points.

Independent candidate Joan Ellis Beglinger pulled in just one percent of the vote.

On March 7, an inauguration ceremony was held for Governor Daniel J. McKee.

McKee was sworn in as Rhode Island’s 76th Governor after former Gov. Raimondo resigned to join President Biden’s administration as secretary of commerce.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, current public health and safety requirements limited attendance capacity for the inauguration event.

Pedro Pierluisi of Puerto Rico’s pro-statehood New Progressive Party won a majority of votes to become the U.S. territory’s next governor, according to official results released in the late evening on November 7.

With 100% of precincts reporting, Pierluisi received nearly 33% of votes compared with nearly 32% obtained by Carlos Delgado of the Popular Democratic Party, which supports the current territorial status.

The results come four days after Puerto Rico held general elections, an unusual delay blamed on a record number of early and absentee votes that overwhelmed officials.

Incumbent Republican Gov. Mike Parson won reelection as governor of Missouri over Democratic challenger Nicole Galloway by roughly 16 percentage points as of Wednesday morning with greater than 98% of votes counted.

Third-party candidates, Libertarian Rik Combs and Green Party candidate Jerome Bauer pulled in just over 2% of the votes combined.

Incumbent Gov. Phil Scott won reelection for a third term as Governor of Vermont and defeated a challenge from current Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman.

Gov. Scott has one of the highest governor approval ratings in the country and won the reelection by receiving nearly 69% of the vote.

On November 3, incumbent Chris Sununu won reelection for his third term as Governor of New Hampshire.

Gov. Sununu defeated Democrat challenger Dan Feltes, the state Senate majority leader.

Gov. Sununu easily won reelection by receiving a projected 65% of the vote.

On November 3, voters reelected incumbent John Carney to a second term as Governor of Delaware, defeating Republican challenger Julianne Murray.

During the campaign, Gov. Carney received criticism from the opposing party on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This included a public mask mandate, as well as business shutdowns.

The election was expected to show whether Delaware voters approved of his administration’s handling of the pandemic.

Gov. Carney is constitutionally limited to two terms and may not seek another term in 2024.

Gov. Jim Justice defeated Democratic challenger Ben Santiago to win reelection in West Virginia.

Justice, who ran as a Democrat in 2016 narrowly defeating incumbent Bill Cole before switching party affiliations, comfortably secured his second term receiving twice as many votes as his challenger.

Gov. Matt Bevin conceded defeat after a recanvass of last week’s gubernatorial election results showed he was still trailing Andy Beshear by more than 5,000 votes.

During his announcement, Bevin stated he would not contest the results of the election.

Beshear will be sworn into office on December 10, 2019.

Governor Greg Abbott won re-election in Texas, easily defeating democratic challenger Lupe Valdez.

Abbott won 55.8 percent to Valdez’s 42.5 percent. This was a win many saw coming, as Abbott led in all polls preceding the election.

A conservative state, Texas has elected a republican governor in every election since 1994. The race was largely uneventful compared to previous elections.

A former Dallas County sheriff, Valdez ran as an advocate of the Texas working class.

Abbott mostly ignored her during the race and touted the successes of his first term in office and used his large fundraising efforts to assist candidates in down-ballot races.

Billionaire Democrat J.B. Pritzker defeated first-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, by a margin of 54 percent to 39.3 percent. Less than an hour after polls closed, Rauner conceded his re-election bid, giving Democrats near total control of Illinois’ state government.

“Voting is an act of optimism that the levers of our Democracy still work,” Pritzker told supporters moments after declaring victory. “You embody that optimism. You light the beacon fire on the hill of history that signals from one generation to another that these are the things that we stand and fight for.”

In addressing the exuberant crowd, he reminded them that the first McDonald’s opened here and the ice cream sundae was born here, as well.

“We taught the nation how to debate, how to shuffle to the Super Bowl and how to eat a pizza,” he said.

According to U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, “Pritzker did something different in this campaign,” Durbin said. “Here was a Chicagoan, clearly a Chicagoan, who wasted no time getting Downstate. I looked around and thought, ‘This is what I’ve been looking for — a governor who starts off by unifying the whole state.’”

In his concession speech, Rauner stated, “This is a time for us to come together.  This is a time for us to unite. To Mr. Pritzker, I said, Godspeed.  I hope and pray you serve Illinois well.”

Incumbent Gov. Gina Raimondo has easily won reelection, despite a crowded field vying for her office.

Gov. Raimondo faced Republican Allan Fung, three independents, and one minor candidate who was arrested in October for possession of 48 pounds of marijuana.

Despite the crowd, Raimondo still garnered almost 53 percent of the vote, with Fung a distant second at 37 percent.

Raimondo made job creation a priority in her first term. Unemployment has dropped from the highest in the nation to being in step with the national average in her first four years.