Here are five GOP governors to watch over the next two years. All are still in their first term and each faces his own challenges governing in the age of President Trump. Some may have national aspirations; others may be models for future governors in other states to follow; all could have promising political futures if successful.
1. Eric Greitens, governor of Missouri. A former Navy SEAL elected in November in a state Trump won handily, Greitens has the kind of biography that could attract national attention down the line. Greitens also has a conversion story that might resonate with his party.
He was originally a Democrat, and says the Democrats once even tried to recruit him to run for Congress, but his experiences with government ineptitude at the Department of Veterans Affairs convinced him to become a conservative Republican.
“I came home from Iraq and watched the VA — the second biggest bureaucracy in the country — fail my friends,” he wrote. “And yet, time and again, the only ‘solution’ I heard from liberals was to spend more money. It made me angry.”
2. Chris Sununu, governor of New Hampshire. A member of a prominent New Hampshire Republican family (his father is a former governor and White House chief of staff for George H.W. Bush, and his brother is a former senator and congressman), Sununu managed to win the governorship as Trump and Sen. Kelly Ayotte narrowly lost. Now Sununu has the chance to govern in a state that was long New England’s last Republican enclave but has become increasingly competitive in recent years.
The competition and increased demand for state services has threatened New Hampshire’s low-tax reputation. There’s no income tax and no sales tax. Can Sununu hold the line — and hold off the Democrats?
3. Larry Hogan, governor of Maryland. Only three Republicans have been elected governor in Maryland since 1966. One was Spiro Agnew. The second, Robert Ehrlich, was not re-elected. Hogan has a chance to break with the past when he seeks a second term.
Hogan has already won a public battle with cancer. Despite running a deep blue state, he is one of the most popular governors in the country. Standing up to Trump — he did not support the president in last year’s general election — seems to have made him only stronger. “He doesn’t care where a good idea comes from,” said an adviser touting his ability to reach across the aisle. It might be an example for other Republicans in racially diverse, predominantly Democratic states.
4. Matt Bevin, governor of Kentucky. Bevin might be the country’s first real Tea Party governor. He unsuccessfully challenged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the 2014 Republican primary with the support of many conservative groups, arguing the incumbent didn’t do enough to get rid of Obamacare. A year later, Bevin defied the polls and won election as governor.
Bevin campaigned against Obamacare in that election too, even though Kentucky had one of the more successful state exchanges in terms of enrollment and had expanded Medicaid under the law. While he has struggled to undo the Medicaid expansion, he is forging ahead with scrapping the exchange. Bevin could be an important test of how Tea Partiers can govern.
5. Charlie Baker, governor of Massachusetts. Baker failed in his first attempt to get to the State House when he lost to incumbent Deval Patrick in 2010, but four years later he dealt Martha Coakley — the same Democrat who lost a special Senate election to Scott Brown — her second major defeat. Now Baker has job approval ratings above 70 percent in the most Democratic state in the country.
Baker didn’t vote for Trump and has kept his distance from the president. But this is a state where Sen. Elizabeth Warren is leading the “resistance” and Democrats will constantly try to tie him to the national party. If his brand of center-right technocratic governance can win again here, other Republicans might try it.
