Template talk:U.S. Governors

Abbreviation style
Is there any reason why this template is using the U.S. postal abbreviations instead of the full names of the states? Is it to save place, because it is a template?

Arun 06:22, September 13, 2005 (UTC)


 * That's my guess. --Golbez 06:39, September 13, 2005 (UTC)

States vs. territories
I was thinking that the state and territorial governments should be listed sepately instead of together in alphabetical order. Unless there are objections I'll make the change. --BOARshevik 06:54, 23 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Very good idea! While territorial gov's are like the other 50 state governors, they seem to be a step bellow the rest. Until recently the average territorial governor was an Presidential appointee, while none of the other governors have ever been appointed. Plus, an territorial governor doesn't pay federal taxes (they go to the local government and not to the IRS) or appoint Presidential electors (since the territory can't vote for President). - Thanks, Hoshie | 03:58, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

DC Mayor?
I know his title isn't "governor", but doesn't the Mayor of Washington DC belong on this template and perhaps other Governor lists? We list other US territories' governors, and DC mayor is functionally equivalent to them. --Jfruh 18:14, 10 March 2006 (UTC)


 * No, he isn't. In the several states, the governor is the most powerful person there. In DC, that position rests with the U.S. congress, specifially the U.S. Congress DC committee. The position of mayor exists at their pleasure, and is a relatively recent invention, and is much less powerful than any governor would be. The District of Columbia is the only sector of inhabited land where the U.S. Congress has direct and total authority. Based on this, I would not include the mayor. He is not equivalent to a governor. --Golbez 21:22, 10 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I realize he's not functionally equivalent to the governor of a state. However, everything you say can also apply to the governors of the various territories -- Congress also has "direct and total authority" there. Quoth the Constitution: "The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States".  Nevertheless, the governors of American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, etc. on this list.  How is the Mayor of DC different from the territorial governors? --Jfruh 21:51, 10 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Quoting from Governor of Puerto Rico (which is the only in-depth article we have on these territorial governors):
 * The Governor is head of the Government of Puerto Rico. He has the power to veto any number of projects that the Puerto Rican Legislature wishes to pass. The Governor also has the power to appoint the members of his cabinet, who in turn must be ratified by the Legislature. The Governor also has the power to appoint Justices to the Supreme Court and all the lower courts of the island.


 * The Governor must address the Legislature at the beginning of each year to present a State of Nation speech. He is also the Commander in Chief of the Militia of Puerto Rico and the chief diplomat.
 * Sounds like a regular governor to me. Commander in chief? Appoint justices? None of these abilities are available to the mayor of Washington. --Golbez 21:59, 10 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I don't know how relevant all that is. The Governor of American Samoa doesn't appoint judges in American Samoa; the Sec. of the Interior does.  (Check out Politics_of_American_Samoa if you don't believe me.) He's still on the list.  Heck, the governor of Texas doesn't appoint state judges there (they're elected) unless there's a vacancy.


 * Anyway, the crucial difference between the Governor of Puerto Rico and the Governor of (say) Texas is that the Governor or Puerto Rico's powers are defined by the Constitution of Puerto Rico, which has authority because the US Congress approved it in an Organic Act. Texas' constitution arises from the sovreignty of the state of Texas, and it cannot be altered by Congress.  Puerto Rico's constitution can be abrogated by a simple majority vote in Congress, and in that sense is exactly like DC's home rule government.  The power of the Mayor of Washington and governor of PR are different, but then, the powers of the various state governors are different.  What makes them similar to one another -- and different from the governors of other states -- is that their powers exist at the pleasure of the Congress, as you so aptly put it.


 * My point is not to try to say that the mayor of DC is a governor. My point is that every other inhabited US territory's chief executive is on this list, so DC's ought to be too. Their powers vary wildly (the government of American Samoa is particularly weak), but they all fall into that category together. --Jfruh 22:28, 10 March 2006 (UTC)


 * List of current United States Governors, which is the parent article of this template (since it's the main article linked) does not mention DC. You might want to talk to them first. --Golbez 22:53, 10 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm a big fan of D.C. Statehood, but I must agree that the DC Mayor is just that- a mayor. Not a governor.  The only thing the governors of the territories and the governors of the states all share is their title: Governor.  There are some powers that the DC government has which is similiar to a state: such as regulation of Medicaid, etc.  If you want to change the articles and templates to "Chief Government Executives" then maybe DC Mayor could be added.  Congressional despotism notwithstanding, the DC Mayor is executive boss of the local government.&mdash;Markles 00:01, 11 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Since he's in the list, and noted as a Mayor, I added Current U.S. governors to his page, for ease of navigation. -- MrDolomite | Talk 16:26, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Where used?

 * Clearly, this template should be on article for each of the people listed in the template. Should it also be on the article for Governor of Foo?  It doesn't look consistent, so I thought I'd float it to the group. -- MrDolomite | Talk 16:33, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
 * No and in the spirit of keeping my opinion separate from the question: Each article already has the current governor's name in it, and has the template of that state's governor list.  Makes those articles too long.  Somehow including a link to List of United States Governors would be better. -- MrDolomite | Talk 16:33, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

proposed template not using postal codes
I've created a modified version of this template that does not use the postal codes, which can be confusing, especially for non-US residents. See User:Rholton/USGovernors (note that I've removed the categories from that page). Should we adopt this format? I also welcome suggestions, or improvements to the page. –RHolton ≡ – 03:08, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
 * We should stick with the original - it's much more compact and the standard 2-digit state abbreviation makes it easy to find things in it. Consider that most of the people who will use this template will be familiar with the common abbreviations, and even those who aren't can simply hover over the link to see which article the link goes too.   Additionally, most of the abbreviations are fairly obvious - even if you don't know them.  --Tim4christ17 talk 08:15, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Political Parties?
Should we have some sort of political party coding (red for Republicans, blue for Democrats, etc.) to denote which Governor is from what political party?

ObscureAnomaly 07:12, 9 March 2007 (UTC) I have added (D) for democrats ; (R) for republicans ; (C) for Convenant That is simpler Mimich 10:58, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Changed (C) to (Covenant)
I did it simply because I'm sure that most people don't know the political parties of the Northern Mariana Islands and the abbreviation "C" could be confused with other minor US political parties. Any objections? Hiyayaywhopee 03:56, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Why moved?
The title was accurate (USGovernors) and easy to remember and use. Why was it moved? Unlike articles, template names don't have to be long and precise, rather they should be easy to remember and use and accurate. The old name was both. I recommend it be moved back to the old name. --Philosopher Let us reason together. 15:35, 10 October 2008 (UTC)


 * The previous name didn't include the template's scope, i.e. current and territorial as well as state governors, so it wasn't accurate. Yes, the present name is longer for the sake of accuracy, but once it's in place on a page, it's in place; and there's always copy-and-paste. Also, "USGovernors" still exists as a redirect. Sardanaphalus (talk) 04:55, 11 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Well, so long as the redirect's still around... I still think "U.S. governors" means the same thing as "U.S. state and territorial governors" unless you are excluding by omission some kind of governor I'm not thinking of.  --Philosopher Let us reason together. 05:09, 11 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Actually, since the template deals with current governors rather than current and historical governors of states that were once territories, I guess it could become "Current U.S. Governors" (or "Current United States Governors") with a capital "G"..? Probably too subtle now, but maybe worth doing? Sardanaphalus (talk) 03:29, 12 October 2008 (UTC)

DC link is broken
"DC" in the template is currently a redlink to the nonexistant "Governor of Washington D.C." page. The wikicode that makes all the state abbreviations into links to Governor pages is beyond my ken; can someone fix this so that it points to List of mayors of Washington, D.C.? --Jfruh (talk) 18:24, 27 October 2009 (UTC)


 * The code uses another template, which only allows one format for each state's governor link; I went ahead and created a "Governor of Washington, D.C." redirect page that points to the "List of mayors of Washington, D.C." —ADavidB 10:57, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

Edit request from 75.204.34.145, 1 January 2011
Please update Paterson to Cuomo.

75.204.34.145 (talk) 10:52, 1 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Already ✅ by → ♠ Gƒoley ↔ Four ♣ ← 18:21, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Edit Request
Not sure how to do this, but the DC Mayor definitely doesn't belong in the Governors group- DC is much more like a territory (especially from a constitutional perspective), and the DC Mayor probably has less power than most territorial governors. Gabrielthursday (talk) 08:38, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

Edit request
Please undab Scott Walker. He's now the WP:PRIMARY.

192.157.10.100 (talk) 11:34, 20 August 2015 (UTC)


 * This change is completed. —ADavidB 11:43, 20 August 2015 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 14 January 2018
Change McAuliffe to Ralph Northam please 184.63.43.107 (talk) 03:28, 14 January 2018 (UTC)


 * Done, per https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/a-pragmatist-in-partisan-times-ralph-northam-becomes-virginias-73-governor/2018/01/13/86982592-f7d4-11e7-a9e3-ab18ce41436a_story.html —ADavidB 04:37, 14 January 2018 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 3 April 2020
Change Brad Little (politician) to Brad Little to remove redirect link 47.223.78.205 (talk) 20:51, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
 * This is done. —ADavidB 22:20, 3 April 2020 (UTC)