2021 United States gubernatorial elections

United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 2, 2021, in two states, New Jersey and Virginia, and a recall election was held in California on September 14. These elections form part of the 2021 United States elections. The last gubernatorial elections for New Jersey and Virginia were in 2017, and the last regular gubernatorial election for California was in 2018. Going into the elections, all three seats were held by Democrats. In Virginia, term-limited incumbent Ralph Northam was succeeded by Republican businessman Glenn Youngkin. In New Jersey, incumbent Phil Murphy won re-election. In California, an unsuccessful special election to recall incumbent Gavin Newsom was held on September 14, 2021. This was the first time since 1981 that every regular gubernatorial election in this cycle was won by single digits, and the first time since 1977 that Democrats won in New Jersey and Republicans won in Virginia at the same time. As of 2026, this is the last time that Republicans won the governorship in Virginia.