By Helen Coster
NEW YORK, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Three dozen governors' races will be decided in the November 3 elections, with President Donald Trump's unpopularity and the cost of living at the top of voters' minds, alongside local concerns ranging from water rights and data centers to cancer rates.
Some races have turned ugly, including an Ohio contest between Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton that features the Democrat's estranged mother in an attack ad. Others could be history-making,
such as Georgia Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms' bid to become the country's first Black woman elected governor.
Democrats now hold 24 governorships and Republicans 26. If Democrats can manage a net gain of at least two seats they will lead a majority of states for the first time since 2010.
Here are seven key governor races to watch:
ARIZONA
Water has become a key campaign issue in drought-hit Arizona, where Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs is seeking reelection against Republican US Representative Andy Biggs. Other top issues are cost of living and immigration, with Hobbs seeking to position herself as tougher on border security than many national Democrats.
Biggs is a former head of the right-wing US House Freedom Caucus, which has pushed for deep cuts in federal spending.
Abortion rights have featured prominently in the race, with Hobbs a supporter while Biggs has a long record as an opponent. Arizona voters approved a constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights in 2024.
MICHIGAN
Michigan's race is one of the most competitive gubernatorial contests, pitting Democrat Jocelyn Benson, the state's top election official, against Republican US Representative John James. The candidates are battling to succeed term-limited Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, making it one of 19 open-seat races this cycle.
Michigan is a closely divided swing state that Trump won in 2016 and 2024, while Democrat Joe Biden carried it in 2020. Neither party has elected back-to-back governors in the state since the 1960s.
GEORGIA
Republican Rick Jackson, a billionaire healthcare executive, is running against Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor, to succeed Republican Governor Brian Kemp. A Bottoms win would make her the first Black woman elected governor in the US and the first Democrat elected governor of Georgia in more than a quarter century.
Because Georgia will likely be a key presidential battleground in 2028, both parties view the gubernatorial race as an early test of voter sentiment.
Jackson, who has spent more than $100 million of his own money on the race, has generally aligned himself with Trump's agenda, while Bottoms has sought to mobilize the diverse Democratic coalition that helped Biden win the state in 2020.
Bottoms rose to national prominence in 2020 as she guided Georgia's largest city through protests, civil unrest and the COVID pandemic. Her base is in the Atlanta metro area, whose rapid growth has reshaped Georgia politics.
OHIO
The race between Republican entrepreneur Ramaswamy and Democrat Acton, a physician, drew national attention over an explosive attack ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother. In a video run by the Ramaswamy campaign, Donna Arthur disputes Acton's account of a childhood marked by homelessness and sexual abuse and urges Ohioans not to vote for her.
Acton, a former director of the Ohio Department of Health who led the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, has said she was sexually abused by her stepfather. The stepfather, who died in 2004, fled the state after he was charged with raping his stepdaughter and never stood trial.
The state's reputation as a perennial swing state faded after 2016 when Trump won it with strong support from working-class voters, who helped to turn it into a reliably Republican state. The race is being watched as a test of whether Democrats can turn economic dissatisfaction into votes. Democrats have won just one of the state’s last nine gubernatorial elections.
IOWA
Iowa is holding its first open governor's race since 2006, after Republican Governor Kim Reynolds said she would not seek reelection. State Auditor Rob Sand, the only Iowa Democrat currently holding statewide elected office, faces Republican businessman Zach Lahn.
The state's incidence of cancer, at the second-highest rate in the country behind Kentucky, has emerged as a major campaign topic alongside kitchen-table issues such as the cost of living. Interest has been fueled by worries that exposure to nitrates, pesticides and other environmental contaminants may be contributing to the high cancer rate.
The race has also focused on education and government accountability. Sand has campaigned as an independent watchdog critical of Republican fiscal management and the state's private-school voucher program.
Lahn has embraced lower taxes, school choice and a more conservative approach to social issues.
NEVADA
In a contest centered on affordability, Republican Governor Joe Lombardo is in a neck-and-neck race with Democratic challenger Aaron Ford, the state’s attorney general.
Nevada residents have voiced concerns over tariffs, a tourism slowdown and high gas prices, giving Ford an opening to defeat Lombardo despite the incumbent's 2-1 fundraising advantage.
Data centers have also emerged as a central campaign issue. Ford has proposed a halt to new data-center tax abatements and wants to require that developers shield residents from higher energy costs. He has also called for strong regulations to protect jobs from AI.
Lombardo, while imposing new restrictions on some of the tax incentives that lured the industry to the state, has generally championed data centers as an economic driver.
WISCONSIN
A central question in Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race is whether voters, who backed Trump in 2024 and Biden in 2020, want a governor aligned with the Republican president. Republican Tom Tiffany, a three-term US Representative endorsed by Trump, has played down that connection. His Democratic opponent, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, has sought to link Tiffany to Trump's agenda.
In Congress, Tiffany has supported conservative causes such as gun rights and lower taxes, and co-sponsored federal legislation that would have banned most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. Crowley supports abortion rights and has framed reproductive rights as a key campaign issue. Wisconsin bans abortion after 20 weeks and requires a 24-hour waiting period as well as parental consent for minors.
(Reporting by Helen Coster in New York; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Edmund Klamann)
