Previous Governors of Kentucky
Governors who previously held office in Kentucky, with term dates and party affiliation.
Andrew Graham Beshear is an American politician and attorney serving since 2019 as the 63rd governor of Kentucky. A member of the Democratic Party, he served from 2016 to 2019 as the 50th attorney general of Kentucky. He is the son of former Kentucky governor Steve Beshear, who served from 2007 to 2015.
Matthew Griswold Bevin is an American businessman and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 62nd governor of Kentucky from 2015 to 2019, losing re-election in 2019 to Democrat Andy Beshear. He is currently the CEO of Neuronetrix Solutions, LLC.
Steven Lynn Beshear is an American attorney and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 61st governor of Kentucky from 2007 to 2015. He served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1974 to 1980, was the state's 44th attorney general from 1980 to 1983, and was the 49th lieutenant governor from 1983 to 1987.
Ernest Lee Fletcher is an American politician who was the 60th governor of Kentucky from 2003 to 2007. He previously served three consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives before resigning after being elected governor. A member of the Republican Party, Fletcher was a family practice physician and a Baptist lay minister and is the second physician to be elected Governor of Kentucky; the first was Luke P. Blackburn in 1879. He was also the first Republican governor of Kentucky since Louie Nunn left office in 1971.
Paul Edward Patton is an American politician who served as the 59th governor of Kentucky from 1995 to 2003. Because of a 1992 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution, he was the first governor eligible to run for a second term in office since James Garrard in 1800. Since 2013, he has been the chancellor of the University of Pikeville in Pikeville, Kentucky, after serving as its president from 2010 to 2013. He also served as chairman of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education from 2009 to 2011.
Brereton Chandler Jones was an American politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. From 1991 to 1995, he was the state's 58th governor, and had served from 1987 to 1991 as the 50th lieutenant governor of Kentucky. After his governorship, he chaired the Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP), a lobbying organization for the Kentucky horse industry.
Wallace Glenn Wilkinson was an American businessman and politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. From 1987 to 1991, he served as the state's 57th governor. Wilkinson dropped out of college at the University of Kentucky in 1962 to attend to a book retail business he started. The business rapidly became a national success, and Wilkinson re-invested his profits in real estate, farming, transportation, banking, coal, and construction ventures, becoming extremely wealthy. In 1987, he joined a crowded field in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. After running behind two former governors and the sitting lieutenant governor for most of the race, Wilkinson began to climb in the polls after hiring then-unknown campaign consultant James Carville. Wilkinson campaigned on a promise of no new taxes and advocated a state lottery as an alternative means of raising money for the state. Wilkinson surprised most political observers by winning the primary and going on to defeat his Republican challenger in the general election.
Martha Layne Collins was an American businesswoman and politician from Kentucky; she served as the state's 56th governor from 1983 to 1987, the first woman to hold the office and the only one to date. Prior to that, she served as the 48th lieutenant governor of Kentucky, under John Y. Brown Jr. Her election as governor made her the highest-ranking woman in the Democratic Party. She was considered as a possible running mate for Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale in the 1984 presidential election, but Mondale chose Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro instead.
John Young Brown Jr. was an American politician and entrepreneur from Kentucky. He served as the 55th governor of Kentucky from 1979 to 1983, and built Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) into a multimillion-dollar restaurant chain.
Julian Morton Carroll was an American lawyer and politician from the state of Kentucky. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 54th governor of Kentucky from 1974 to 1979, succeeding Wendell Ford, who resigned to accept a seat in the United States Senate. He last served a member of the Kentucky Senate, representing Anderson, Franklin, Woodford, Gallatin, and Owen counties from 2005 to 2021. He was the first Kentucky governor from the state's far-western Jackson Purchase region. Thelma Stovall, who served as lieutenant governor with him, was the first woman to be elected lieutenant governor of Kentucky.