Where Have All the Governors Gone?
Jul 8th, 2009 | By admin | Category: Must Reads, Politics & Campaign StoriesWill 2009 Go Down as the Year of the Disappearing Women Governors?
By Kathy Groob, Publisher, ElectWomen Magazine
With Sarah Palin’s recent announcement that she is resigning her post as Governor of Alaska, there will soon be just six states with women governors– Hawaii, North Carolina, Michigan, Washington, Arizona and Connecticut. 37 states will hold elections for governor next year in 2010, but will there be enough women running to fill the pipeline and regain some of the numbers lost by attrition during 2009?
2009 At a Glance
The good news is the Obama administration tapped strong female leaders for key posts. The bad news is, there are now two fewer female governors.
Janet Napolitano – Former governor of Arizona is now the United States Secretary of Homeland Security.
Kathleen Sebelius – Former governor of Kansas is now the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Sarah Palin – Soon to be leaving her post at Governor of Alaska for a private life and potential future run. 
2009 began with a record nine women governors and by the end of July; there will be only six. In 1994, a record 34 women filed to run for governor and 10 won their primaries. Again 10 women ran for governor in 2002 and 2006. According to the Center for American Women and Politics, a total of 31 women governors have served in 23 states. Kentucky elected a woman governor, Martha Layne Collins in 1984, but no woman has run for governor since. Twenty-seven states have never elected a woman governor.
Fast Forward
In 2009, there is one woman is in the race for Lt. Governor of Virginia this year, and she is Jody Wagner.
So far 15 women have announced or are considering a run for governor in 2010. *
Kim McMillan- Democrat from Tennessese
Kay Ivey – Republican from Alabama
Meg Whitman – Republican from California
Susan Bysiewicz – Democrat from Connecticut
Alex Sink – Democrat from Florida
Karen Handel – Republican from Georgia
Terri Lynn Land – Republican from Michigan
Susan Gaertner – Democrat from Minnesota
Diane Denish – Democrat from New Mexico
Jari Askins – Democrat from Oklahoma
Mary Fallin – Republican from Oklahoma
Elizabeth Roberts – Democrat from Rhode Island
Nikki Haley – Republican from South Carolina
Kay Bailey Hutchison – Republican from Texas
Deb Markowitz – Democrat from Vermont
Perhaps 2010 will be the year when enough women will run for their state’s highest office and make up the losses from 2009 plus a couple.
*Courtesy of The Center for American Women and Politics
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This is hopeful. One of the things I have noticed is that progressive women tend to see our numbers as not important. Perhaps an education on how gender parity is important for women and children is in order.
I have noticed that the treatment of Governor Palin was similar to the treatment of Hillary Clinton in the 1990s.
Women in politics strikes a raw nerve in people, it is actually fear. We have to dive into this phenomenon that occurs in liberals as well as conservatives.
As long as children listen to the few women politicians we have trashed by adults we are inhibiting the future of women leaders.
Gender parity starts with us and our psychology towards women politicians.
[...] three weeks, we will be down to only 6 states with a female governor. ElectWomen Magazine has a sobering look at where women stand historically in the state’s highest office: 2009 began with a record [...]
When Governor Janet Napolitano resigned to become United States Secretary of Homeland Security earlier this year, she was succeeded by the Republican Secretary of State, Jan Brewer. Therefore, Arizona is still in the women’s column. Since 1988, four women have served as governor of the Copper State.