Democrats are out of power in Washington, D.C., but hold 23 governors' seats, including in five of the seven presidential battlegrounds Donald Trump swept last year in the presidential election. Some Democratic activists see that slate as the party's best counter to the Republican president and evidence the party is not in as much disarray at it might sometimes seem.
In Kansas, Democratic Governors Association chair and two-term Gov. Laura Kelly worked with Republican legislative majorities to reduce and finally eliminate state sales taxes on groceries.
U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill is leaving the House minority to run for New Jersey governor. Sherill says the statewide job matters because governors have to get things done to improve people's lives. Sitting Democratic governors have won minimum wage increases, expanded Medicaid insurance coverage and shored up abortion rights. The question is whether Democrats can scale those victories to federal elections.
Democratic statehouse chiefs provide proof voters will embrace alternatives — and could give Democrats a roadmap for the 2026 midterms, when they hope at least to reclaim a U.S. House majority. They also will likely be central to the party's hopes in the 2028 presidential race.
There is no question Democrats are down at the federal level. Republicans control the White House, the House and the Senate, allowing Trump to pursue an aggressive agenda. The party lacks a singular leader, and recent polling shows Democrats are deeply pessimistic about their party's future.
Yet many governors reject the narrative that Democrats are reeling.
Democratic governors have shored up abortion access after the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision ended a national right to the procedure, and they've defended access to health care for transgender patients, even in conservative states.
Some governors stand out as aggressive Trump critics, including some possible 2028 contenders.
Republicans had the 'Washington trifecta' at the start of Trump's first term, and Democrats bottomed out then at just 15 out of 50 governors. But in succeeding years they flipped nine governors' seats. Only one Democratic incumbent governor has lost since.
History suggests a base of state power bodes well for opposition parties in Washington.
Bill Clinton was a longtime governor in 1992 when he ended Republicans' winning streak of three presidential election landslides. His successor, George W. Bush, was among the many Republicans governors elected in the GOP's 1994 midterm sweep. Before Clinton and Bush, Republican Ronald Reagan and Democrat Jimmy Carter won the presidency as former governors.