List of longest-serving governors of U.S. states explained

This list contains the 50 governors of states in the United States who have served for the longest years, consecutively or otherwise. Pre-statehood territorial and colonial governors are not included.^[1]

By time in office!#!Governor!State!Time in office!Took office!Left office!Party
1	^[2]	Iowa	days (22 years)	January 14, 1983	January 15, 1999	Republican
1	^[2]	Iowa	days (22 years)	January 14, 2011	May 24, 2017	Republican
2		New York	days (19 years)	July 30, 1777	June 30, 1795	Democratic-Republican
2		New York	days (19 years)	July 1, 1801	June 30, 1804	Democratic-Republican
3		Alabama	days (15 years)	January 14, 1963	January 16, 1967	Democratic
				January 18, 1971	January 15, 1979
				January 17, 1983	January 19, 1987
4		California	days (15 years)	January 6, 1975	January 3, 1983	Democratic
		California	days (15 years)	January 3, 2011	January 7, 2019	Democratic
		South Dakota	days	January 1, 1979	January 6, 1987	Republican
		South Dakota	days	January 7, 1995	January 3, 2003	Republican
6		Ohio	days	January 14, 1963	January 11, 1971	Republican
		Ohio	days	January 13, 1975	January 10, 1983	Republican
		North Carolina	days	January 8, 1977	January 5, 1985	Democratic
		North Carolina	days	January 9, 1993	January 6, 2001	Democratic
8		Louisiana	days	May 9, 1972	March 10, 1980	Democratic
				March 12, 1984	March 14, 1988
				January 13, 1992	January 8, 1996
9		Rhode Island	days (15 years)	May 5, 1790	October 15, 1805	Country
10		Maryland	days (14 years)	January 14, 1920	January 9, 1935	Democratic
11		New York	days (14 years)	January 1, 1959	December 18, 1973	Republican
12		Texas	days (14 years)	December 21, 2000	January 20, 2015	Republican
13		Wisconsin	days (14 years)	January 5, 1987	February 1, 2001	Republican
14		Idaho	days	January 4, 1971	January 23, 1977	Democratic
14		Idaho	days	January 5, 1987	January 2, 1995	Democratic
15		New Hampshire	days	June 5, 1794	June 6, 1805	Federalist
15		New Hampshire	days	June 3, 1813	June 6, 1816	Federalist
16		Illinois	days (14 years)	January 10, 1977	January 14, 1991	Republican
17		Iowa	days (13 years)	January 16, 1969	January 14, 1983	Republican
18		Michigan	days (13 years)	January 22, 1969	January 1, 1983	Republican
19		Arizona	days	February 14, 1912	January 1, 1917	Democratic
				December 25, 1917	January 6, 1919
				January 1, 1923	January 7, 1929
				January 5, 1931	January 2, 1933
20		New Jersey	days	August 31, 1776	July 25, 1790	Federalist
21		Rhode Island	days	May 6, 1807	May 1, 1811	Democratic-Republican, Law and Order
				May 5, 1824	May 4, 1831
				May 2, 1843	May 6, 1845
22		New Jersey	days (12 years)	February 6, 1817	October 30, 1829	Democratic-Republican
23		Oregon	days	January 9, 1995	January 13, 2003	Democratic
23		Oregon	days	January 10, 2011	February 18, 2015	Democratic
24		Tennessee	days	October 1, 1821	October 1, 1827	Democratic-Republican, Democratic
24		Tennessee	days	October 1, 1829	October 12, 1835	Democratic-Republican, Democratic
25		West Virginia	days	January 13, 1969	January 17, 1977	Republican
25		West Virginia	days	January 14, 1985	January 16, 1989	Republican
26		Idaho	days (12 years)	January 1, 2007	January 7, 2019	Republican
27		New Mexico	days	January 1, 1971	January 1, 1975	Democratic
				January 1, 1979	January 1, 1983
				January 1, 1991	January 1, 1995
28		Washington	days	January 15, 1941	January 10, 1945	Republican
		Washington	days	January 12, 1949	January 16, 1957	Republican
		Michigan	days (12 years)	January 1, 1949	January 1, 1961	Democratic
		Massachusetts	days	January 2, 1975	January 4, 1979	Democratic
		Massachusetts	days	January 6, 1983	January 3, 1991	Democratic
		Michigan	days (12 years)	January 1, 1991	January 1, 2003	Republican
32		New York	days (11 years)	January 1, 1943	December 31, 1954	Republican
		Idaho	days (11 years)	January 3, 1955	January 2, 1967	Republican
		Arkansas	days (11 years)	January 11, 1955	January 10, 1967	Democratic
		Hawaii	days (11 years)	December 3, 1962	December 2, 1974	Democratic
		Utah	days (11 years)	January 4, 1965	January 3, 1977	Democratic
		Washington	days (11 years)	January 13, 1965	January 12, 1977	Republican
		Hawaii	days (11 years)	December 2, 1974	December 1, 1986	Democratic
		Wyoming	days (11 years)	January 6, 1975	January 5, 1987	Democratic
		Colorado	days (11 years)	January 14, 1975	January 13, 1987	Democratic
		New York	days (11 years)	January 1, 1983	December 31, 1994	Democratic
		Colorado	days (11 years)	January 13, 1987	January 12, 1999	Democratic
		New York	days (11 years)	January 1, 1995	December 31, 2006	Republican
44		North Dakota	days (11 years)	January 4, 1961	January 2, 1973	Democratic–Nonpartisan League
45		Arkansas	days	January 9, 1979	January 19, 1981	Democratic
45		Arkansas	days	January 11, 1983	December 12, 1992	Democratic
46		Alaska	days	January 3, 1959	December 5, 1966	Democratic
46		Alaska	days	December 7, 1970	December 2, 1974	Democratic
47		Mississippi	days	March 29, 1876	January 2, 1882	Democratic
47		Mississippi	days	January 13, 1890	January 20, 1896	Democratic
48		Connecticut	days	December 1, 1797	August 7, 1809	Federalist
49		Washington	days	January 16, 2013	incumbent	Democratic
50		Tennessee	days	March 30, 1796	September 23, 1801	Democratic-Republican
50		Tennessee	days	September 23, 1803	September 20, 1809	Democratic-Republican

Notes and References

Web site: The Top 50 Longest Serving Governors in US History (Updated). 29 May 2017.
News: Terry Branstad Is Now The Longest-Serving Governor In American History. Associated Press. The Huffington Post (archived). December 14, 2015 . December 15, 2015. dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160102182810/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/terry-branstad-governor_566ed17de4b0fccee16f1919. January 2, 2016.