Voters are poised to elect governors on Tuesday in 11 states, including eight that are wide open, with no incumbent running. But only a handful of races are expected to be competitive. Indeed, neither party is expected to gain an edge from the current configuration of eight Republicans and three Democrats in those states — except in maybe one state.
Still, there are plenty of contests worth watching:
The tightest race
With Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, a Republican, leaving office after eight years, the race between the Republican nominee, former Senator Kelly Ayotte, and Joyce Craig, a Democrat, is viewed by many pollsters as the most competitive for governor.
Ms. Ayotte is much better known. But Ms. Craig, the former mayor of Manchester, the state’s biggest city, has been buoyed by criticism of Ms. Ayotte’s stances on abortion. Ms. Ayotte voted as a senator to defund Planned Parenthood and expressed support for the Supreme Court’s decision in 2022 to eliminate the constitutional right to abortion.
The most talked-about race
As an acolyte of former President Donald J. Trump, Mark Robinson, the fiery lieutenant governor of North Carolina, was expected to go toe-to-toe with his Democratic rival, Josh Stein, the state attorney general, to succeed Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat.
Instead, Mr. Robinson’s campaign has become nonstop tabloid fodder, highlighted by reports linking him to offensive comments on a porn website. Mr. Robinson has denied that he wrote the comments. Now, with Mr. Stein enjoying a double-digit lead in recent polls, the only question is whether Mr. Robinson’s troubles could hurt Mr. Trump and other Republicans on the state ballot.
A possible upset
Indiana, with its large share of conservative voters, is no one’s idea of a purple state. But Senator Mike Braun, a Republican who was expected to waltz into the governor’s office, has encountered more resistance than expected.
His running mate — who was chosen by state Republican delegates against Mr. Braun’s wishes — is a self-proclaimed Christian nationalist. The Democrat in the race, Jennifer McCormick, is a former Republican and a former state schools superintendent. She has focused on preserving abortion rights, and received a late infusion of money from the Democratic Governors Association. To shore up support for Mr. Braun, Mr. Trump joined him in a late tele-rally, while the Republican Governors Association pumped $1 million into the race.
The state with a write-in wild card
Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah, a Republican, is expected to win a second term easily against Brian King, a longtime Democratic state representative, in a state that hasn’t elected a Democratic governor since the early 1980s.
But one write-in candidate is State Representative Phil Lyman, a Republican who has criticized Mr. Cox as not being conservative enough. After losing a bitter primary against Mr. Cox, Mr. Lyman urged the Utah and U.S. Supreme Courts to declare him the winner anyway, to no avail. Another candidate, Richard Lyman, who is no relation, said he had been “forced” to withdraw from the race after Phil Lyman accused him in a lawsuit of being a plant of the Cox campaign to confuse voters.
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