In an age of hyperpartisan politics, governors stand apart. Voters see them differently than they view federal candidates: Your governor fixes roads and bridges, funds your local public school, handles issues that don’t break down along the neat lines of party preference.
That makes for a more convoluted set of contested gubernatorial races than the battle for the U.S. House or Senate. A state like Kansas hasn’t elected a Democratic senator since the 1930s — but Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, is finishing up her second term. A state like Vermont is solidly in the Democratic column — but Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, is so popular he didn’t even need to run television ads in his last election.
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