2024 Kursk Oblast gubernatorial election

The 2024 Kursk Oblast gubernatorial election will take place on 6–8 September 2024, on common election day. Acting Governor Aleksey Smirnov is running for a full term in office.

Background
Then-Deputy Minister of Transport Roman Starovoyt was appointed acting Governor of Kursk Oblast in October 2018 replacing four-term Governor Alexander Mikhailov, who resigned at his own request. Mikhailov led Kursk Oblast since 2000 and at the time of his resignation was the third-longest serving governor in Russia (behind Yevgeny Savchenko in Belgorod Oblast and Anatoly Artamonov in Kaluga Oblast), although he assumed that title just a little over a week ago with the resignation of Oleg Korolyov in Lipetsk Oblast. In November 2018 Starovoyt appointed his predecessor, Alexander Mikhailov, to the Federation Council after incumbent Senator Vitaly Bogdanov stepped down.

Starovoyt, officially an Independent, was nominated for a full term by United Russia in the 2019 gubernatorial elections. Roman Starovoyt overwhelmingly won the September 2019 election with 81.07% of the vote, as his nearest challenger, Vladimir Firsov (CPRF), received just 5.65%. In November 2020 Governor Starovoyt officially joined United Russia party.

On May 11, 2024 re-appointed Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin nominated Governor Roman Starovoyt to serve in his second cabinet as Minister of Transport, replacing Vitaly Savelyev who was elevated to the position of Deputy Prime Minister. State Duma Committee on Transport unanimously supported Starovoyt's nomination on May 12, while the full chamber voted 429–0–0 to approve Starovoyt as new Minister of Transport two days later.

After his nomination, Governor Starovoyt left Kursk on May 12, 2024, leaving First Deputy Governor – Chairman of the Kursk Oblast Government Aleksey Smirnov as acting Governor until the temporary replacement be appointed by the President. Smirnov, who has been serving as Deputy Governor since 2018, is considered to be the frontrunner for the appointment. On May 15 President Vladimir Putin appointed Smirnov as acting Governor of Kursk Oblast. On 25 June 2024 Smirnov, previously an Independent, joined United Russia party and was nominated for secretary of the party regional office.

Candidates
In Kursk Oblast candidates for Governor can be nominated only by registered political parties. Candidate for Governor of Kursk Oblast should be a Russian citizen and at least 30 years old. Candidates for Governor should not have a foreign citizenship or residence permit. Each candidate in order to be registered is required to collect at least 6% of signatures of members and heads of municipalities. Also gubernatorial candidates present 3 candidacies to the Federation Council and election winner later appoints one of the presented candidates.

Eliminated at convention

 * Mikhail Lukashov (United Russia), Member of Kursk City Assembly (2022–present)
 * Nadezhda Ponomareva (United Russia), Member of Kursk City Assembly (2021–present), former Member of Kursk Oblast Duma (2016–2021)