section_path: Americas/United States/Governor
section_name: Governor
paragraph_text: Governor
  
  Illinois, Maine, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Alaska, and North Dakota have elected formally independent candidates as governor: Illinois's first two governors, Shadrach Bond and Edward Coles; James B. Longley in 1974 as well as Angus King in 1994 and 1998 from Maine; Lincoln Chafee in 2010 from Rhode Island; Julius Meier in 1930 from Oregon; Sam Houston in 1859 from Texas; and Bill Walker in 2014 from Alaska. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. of Connecticut is sometimes mentioned as an independent governor, though this is not technically correct; he ran as an A Connecticut Party candidate (which gave him better ballot placement than an unaffiliated candidate would receive), defeating the Democratic and Republican nominees. Another former governor who is sometimes mentioned as an independent is Jesse Ventura, who actually ran as a member of the Reform Party 's Minnesota affiliate, which later disaffiliated from the party and reverted to its original name, the Independence Party of Minnesota.North Dakota elected William Langer Governor in 1933 as a member of the Republican/Nonpartisan League. He was later elected Governor in 1937 as an Independent.
  
  In 1971, State Senator Henry Howell of Virginia, a former Democrat, was elected lieutenant governor as an independent. Two years later, he campaigned for governor as an independent, but lost by 15,000 votes.
  
  There were several unsuccessful independent gubernatorial candidates in 2006 who impacted their electoral races. In Maine, state legislator Barbara Merrill (formerly a Democrat) received 21% of the vote. In Texas, country music singer and mystery novelist Kinky Friedman received 12.43% of the vote, and State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn received 18.13%. Strayhorn and Friedman's presence in the race resulted in a splitting of the ballot four ways between themselves and the two major parties.
  
  In 2010, Florida governor Charlie Crist left the Republican party and became an independent. (He later became a Democrat.) He left the Republicans because he did not want to run against former state house Speaker Marco Rubio in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate election, preferring to run in the general election instead. Rubio won the election, though Crist came in ahead of Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek.
  
  In 2014, former Honolulu mayor Mufi Hannemann ran as an independent candidate for the governorship of the State of Hawaii after previously campaigning in the state's Democratic primary. As a result, Democratic candidate David Ige was elected as governor with a plurality of 49%. Also in 2014, former mayor of Valdez, Bill Walker won the gubernatorial election. Walker retired before the 2018 election but ran again in the 2022. He didn't win but received 20% of the vote.