At least three senators are considering a retreat from the Washington stage, bucking a historical trend as partisan divides in Congress have grown more contentious and Republicans look to empower states.
Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) are all weighing whether to run for governor in 2026, signaling a shift for the first time in recent years that multiple sitting senators are openly considering running for the state office. Only about a handful of sitting senators have won gubernatorial elections in the last two decades.
“I’m 50-50 looking at it,” Tuberville, the former college football coach, said. He said his first four years in the Senate were bumpy in the minority, but he feels they are making progress now. “I’m a game-plan guy, being a coach all those years, I look at all the pluses and minuses.”
Partisan politics in Washington have created legislative challenges that have frustrated some lawmakers in a Congress with shifting power dynamics. Republicans won the trifecta in the 2024 election cycle after Democrats held both the Senate and the White House the preceding years.
Historically, more governors have gone to the Senate, stepping up to the national stage. But in a sign of the times, some popular governors in recent years have shunned Senate runs, such as Arizona’s Doug Ducey, Vermont’s Phil Scott, and Minnesota’s Tim Walz. All eyes are on whether Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp decides to run for the Senate in 2026. About 21 sitting or former senators have been elected governor, while 153 former or sitting governors were elected or appointed to the Senate from 1900 to 2021, according to University of Minnesota’s Smart Politics.
Those senators considering making the switch can get advice from some of their colleagues. Currently, about a dozen senators previously served as governors, including newly elected Republican Sens. Jim Justice (W.Va.) and Pete Ricketts (Neb.), who just won a special election and will be up again in 2026.
“Governor is definitely more fun, senator is a greater opportunity to make a difference,” Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who served as governor for two terms from 1995 to 2003. “A senator is a member of a committee of 535, and it’s much more frustrating because it’s more difficult to get results in such a system.”
Campaign Challenges
Both the Alabama gubernatorial election and Senate election will be in November 2026. Tuberville, who was elected to the Senate in 2020, said he’ll make his decision by May. He cited an inability to start raising money until summer as one reason.
“We’ve got half a dozen senators on both sides that have been governors, so I’m talking to them, what do you think? What was your approach? Why did you do it? Why did you not do it?” Tuberville said.
Running for governor after serving in the Senate also presents campaign challenges with lawmakers’ often lengthy voting records and actions providing fodder for opponent scrutiny and possible attack ads. Tuberville, for example, was criticized by both parties for placing months-long holds on military promotions during the last Congress to oppose the Biden administration’s Pentagon abortion policy.
For Bennet, Colorado’s governor office is open for the first time since 2018 due to Gov. Jared Polis (D) being term-limited. Bennet, who told reporters he’s weighing the job but declined request to comment further, won re-election to the Senate in 2022 after unsuccessfully running for president in 2020. Bennet has worked with a bipartisan group on immigration changes and been a strong advocate of Ukraine in the chamber, and some in his state have said his leadership is needed in the Senate during the Trump era.
Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), who is running for re-election in 2026 and previously served as the state’s governor, said he loved his previous role, but was critical of the “whack-a-mole” nature of managing little tasks and spending time negotiating with the general assembly on the budget.
As a senator, Hickenlooper said Bennet is wrestling with the most challenging questions facing Colorado and the country. “He’s really good at it, he has a lot of influence on other senators,” Hickenlooper said. “I think he’d be a great governor, there’s no question, but I’m not sure it’s his highest calling.”
In Tennessee, Blackburn won re-election to the Senate last year. But it didn’t take long for her to hint that she was eyeing the governorship.
“I’ve got this job to help President Trump, this first two years of his term, it is all about sending that power and control back to the states,” Blackburn said in an appearance on Fox News. “It is going to take strong governors and strong state legislatures, and so we’re strongly considering it.” Blackburn, who didn’t return request to comment, has been a vocal supporter of Trump and banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.
Building Relationships
Several sitting senators have won gubernatorial elections in the last two decades, including Alaska Republican Frank Murkowski in 2002, New Jersey Democrat Jon Corzine in 2005, Kansas Republican Sam Brownback in 2010, and Indiana Republican Mike Braun in 2024.
Brownback, who served as a senator from 1996 to 2011 and then governor from 2011 to 2018, said he thinks it’s a better trajectory to go from the Senate to governor. He said the Senate could be frustrating to former governors who wanted things to go a certain way, whereas going from the Senate to governor can bring connections and institutional knowledge.
“It helps you to know how to move and navigate the federal system,” Brownback said. “I strongly believe life moves at the speed of relationships, and so you’ve made these relationships on the federal level that you can come back and use in your state.”
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