Women Who Became Governors Sixty-three women from forty-seven countries have been elected or appointed to serve as prime minister, president, or chancellor. In the US, only thirty-one women from twenty-three states have ever been governor. Women lead six states in 2009: Michigan, Arizona, Washington, Connecticut, Hawaii, and North Carolina. Name | State | Served | | Nellie Tayloe Ross (Dem) | Wyoming | 1925 - 1927 | | Miriam "Ma" Amanda Wallace Ferguson (Dem) | Texas | 1925 - 1927, 1933 - 1935 | | Lurleen Wallace (Dem) | Alabama | 1967 - 1968 | | Ella Grasso (Dem) | Connecticut | 1975 - 1980 | | Dixy Lee Ray (Dem) | Washington | 1977 - 1981 | | Vesta M. Roy (Rep) | New Hampshire | 12/1982 - 1/1983 | | Martha Layne Collins (Dem) | Kentucky | 1984 - 1987 | | Madeleine Kunin (Dem) | Vermont | 1985 - 1991 | | Kay Orr (Rep) | Nebraska | 1987 - 1991 | | Rose Mofford (Dem) | Arizona | 1988 - 1991 | | Joan Finney (Dem) | Kansas | 1991 - 1995 | | Barbara Roberts (Dem) | Oregon | 1991 - 1995 | | Ann Richards (Dem) | Texas | 1991 - 1995 | | Christine Todd Whitman (Rep) | New Jersey | 1994 - 2001 | | Jeanne Shaheen (Dem) | New Hampshire | 1997 - 2003 | | Jane Dee Hull (Rep) | Arizona | 1997 - 2003 | | Nancy Hollister (Rep) | Ohio | 12/1998 - 1/1999 | | Judy Martz (Rep) | Montana | 2001 - 2005 | | Ruth Ann Minner (Dem) | Delaware | 2001 - 2009 | | Jane Swift (Rep) | Massachusetts | 2001 - 2003 | | Linda Lingle (Rep) | Hawaii | 2002 - present | | Jennifer Granholm (Dem) | Michigan | 2003 - present | | Janet Napolitano (Dem) | Arizona | 2003 - 2009 | | Kathleen Sebelius (Dem) | Kansas | 2003 - 2009 | | Olene Walker (Rep) | Utah | 2003 - 2005 | | Kathleen Blanco (Dem) | Louisiana | 2004 - 2008 | | M. Jodi Rell (Rep) | Connecticut | 2004 - present | | Christine Gregoire (Dem) | Washington | 2005 - present | | Sarah Palin (Rep) | Alaska | 2006 - 2009 | | Bev Perdue (Dem) | North Carolina | 2009 - present | | Jan Brewer (Rep) | Arizona | 2009 - present | | | | |
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Twenty-five of the women were elected governor; five became governor when the elected governor resigned or was impeached and were not subsequently elected to serve a full-term. Ella Grasso was the first woman elected governor whose husband had not previously been governor. In addition to the women above, Sila M. Calderon was Governor of Puerto Rico from 2001 - 2005. Sources: National Governor's Association, Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University | 
