2014 Gubernatorial Elections - Democrats Defending

Arkansas:

Despite the Republican tide of 2010, incumbent Democrat governor Mike Beebe sailed to re-election winning 64.4% of the vote. Unfortunately for Democrats, Beebe is term limited, leaving this race wide open. There has been very little polling done so far, but what has been done suggests a Republican pickup thanks to Asa Hutchinson.

California:

Incumbent governor Jerry Brown is eligible to run for re-election in California. So far no polling has been done but it is likely that the California governorship will remain Democratic.

Colorado:

John Hickenlooper is the incumbent governor and has very good approval ratings (54/33) and a bid for re-election would likely be a success.

Connecticut:

Despite poor approval ratings at the beginning of his term in office, Dan Malloy has rebounded in popularity. A PPP poll in November 2012 found him leading a potential Republican challenger by 11 points.

Hawaii:

Democrats are highly likely to keep the state Democratic, regardless of whether Neil Abercrombie decides to run.

Illinois:

Despite the Democratic nature of this state, Illinois could end up upsetting the Democrats in 2014. In a poll from November, declared Republican Kirk Dillard beats incumbent Pat Quinn by seven points. All is not lost for Democrats though, Lisa Madigan, who is favoured to win the Democratic nomination beats Dillard by nine points.

Maryland:

The state will have an open race as Martin O’Malley is term limited. No polling also makes this race difficult to predict, yet due to the Democratic nature of the state, I would put Maryland into the likely Democrat category.

Massachusetts:

Deval Patrick has decided not to run for a third term, which could place Massachusetts in the situation of possibly going Republican! Scott Brown, the former US Senator, could enter the race and really challenge any Democrat who steps forward to run.

Minnesota:

Mark Dayton has declared his intention to run for re-election and will likely succeed. PPP polled him against four Republican potential candidates and beat them all by over 20 points!

New Hampshire:

The incumbent Democrat Maggie Hassan beat Republican Ovide Lamontagne by 12 points in 2012, which puts her in a good position to win in 2014. Yet it is way too early in her term to be able to assess her likeliness to win in 2014.

New York:

Andrew Cuomo is the highly popular incumbent governor and is almost certain to win the governorship in 2014.

Oregon:

The incumbent Democrat John Kitzhaber currently beats all potential challengers in polls done so far and would likely win re-election if he decides to run.

Vermont:

Currently the incumbent Peter Shumlin is likely to win, especially as the most competent Republican, Jim Douglas, has ruled out running.