Three states will hold elections for governor in 2019: Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

 

Republican Matt Bevin is the current Governor of Kentucky. He was elected to that office on November 3, 2015, defeating then-state attorney general Jack Conway (D). Bevin succeeded Gov. Steve Beshear (D), who served two terms from 2007 to 2015.

 

The Kentucky constitution, as it was adopted in 1799, prohibited governors from serving consecutive terms until it was amended in 1992. Since then only Beshear and former Gov. Paul Patton (D), who served from 1995 to 2003, have been re-elected to the state’s top office. Bevin, who is running for re-election in 2019, is therefore seeking to become the first Republican to serve two consecutive terms as Kentucky’s governor since 1804.