ELECTION 98 MAIN | STATES Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Dist. of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryand Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming | REMOTE NAVIGATOR

Republicans control a majority of the nation's governor's mansions. At stake this year are 36 governors seats: 24 Republican, 11 Democratic and Independent Maine Gov. Angus King. Nationwide, Republicans hold 32 seats, Democrats hold 17 and one seat is Independent. Six Republican seats and five Democratic seats are open this year.

The Democrats would like to keep Republican gains to a minimum, especially with the 2000 census and redistricting, as well as the presidential race, around the corner. Still, Republicans appear poised to make gains.

In 1998, there are governor's races in the nation's five biggest states: California, New York, Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania. Florida is the only state of these that is now held by a Democrat. Of these states, the races are particularly competitive in California and Florida, which are both open-seat races.

Two of the nation's three women governors are up for re-election in 1998: Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.-D) and Gov. Jane Hull (Ariz.-R). Republican New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman was just re-elected in 1997. Women have the opportunity to win more governorships in 1998. They have won their party's nomination in Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland and Rhode Island.

Search CNN/AllPolitics by           Enter keyword(s)       go    help