Biggest governor landslides

The most lopsided races for governor across all 50 states, ranked by the winner’s margin over the runner-up.

What is the biggest landslide in a governor election?

W. Lee O’Daniel’s 1940 win in Texas, with 94.4% of the vote to George C. Hopkins’s 5.6%, an 88.9-point margin. Like most of the biggest state-level landslides, it comes from the one-party-dominant Democratic South of that era.

Biggest governor landslides
#	Election	Result	Margin
1	1940 Texas	W. Lee O'Daniel def. George C. Hopkins	+88.9 pts
2	1902 Georgia	Joseph M. Terrell def. J. K. Hines	+87.2 pts
3	1918 Arkansas	Charles Hillman Brough def. Clay Fulks	+86.9 pts
4	1913 Virginia	Henry Carter Stuart def. C. Campbell	+86.7 pts
5	1936 Texas	James V Allred def. C.O. Harris	+85.9 pts
6	1915 Mississippi	Theodore G. Bilbo def. J. T. Lester	+85.2 pts
7	1946 California	Earl Warren def. Henry R. Schmidt	+84.6 pts
8	1811 Pennsylvania	Simon Snyder def. William Tilghman	+84.5 pts
9	1940 Arkansas	Homer Adkins def. Harley C. Stump	+83.1 pts
10	1896 South Carolina	William Haselden Ellerbe def. Sampson Pope	+82.5 pts
11	1950 Alabama	Gordon Persons def. John S. Crowder	+82.2 pts
12	1944 Texas	Coke R. Stevenson def. B. J. Peasley	+81.9 pts
13	1932 Arkansas	Junius Marion Futrell def. James Livesay	+81.5 pts
14	1908 Georgia	Joseph Mackey Brown def. Yancy Carter	+81.1 pts
15	1912 Louisiana	Luther E. Hall def. John Michel	+80.7 pts
16	1950 Texas	Allan Shivers def. Ralph W. Currie	+79.9 pts
17	1934 Arkansas	Junius Marion Futrell def. G. C. Ledbetter	+79.8 pts
18	1848 Illinois	Augustus C. French def. W. L. D. Morrison	+79.5 pts
19	1954 Texas	Allan Shivers def. Tod R. Adams	+79.0 pts
20	1948 Arkansas	Sid McMath def. Charles R. Black	+78.7 pts
21	1826 Ohio	Allen Trimble def. Alexander Campbell	+78.7 pts
22	1942 Alabama	Chauncey Sparks def. Hugh McEniry	+78.4 pts
23	1904 Louisiana	Newton C. Blanchard def. William J. Behan	+78.1 pts
24	1938 Arkansas	Carl E. Bailey def. Charles F. Cole	+77.5 pts
25	1946 Alabama	Jim Folsom def. Lyman Ward	+77.3 pts

Biggest governor landslides in every state

This list is the national top 25, so most states are not on it. Every state has its own, at a far lower vote floor so early races still count.

How this ranking is measured

Gubernatorial general elections ranked by the largest gap in vote share between the top two finishers. To keep the list to genuinely contested blowouts, we require a real second-place finisher (at least 5% of the vote), which sets aside uncontested races and any contest where the data is missing a major candidate.

Compiled by PolitiFinder · published June 14, 2026 · sources: Data & sources · data last verified October 6, 2026.