There are currently 17 Democratic Governors. (I’m not really counting Beshear at this point. I know he is still in office until Bevin is inaugurated, but I doubt he’ll even MAKE an endorsement much less that anyone would care about it)
Hillary has already received the formal endorsement of 12 of them. From Minnesota’s Governor Mark Dayton’s support all the way back in November 2013 to Washington’s Governor Jay Inslee getting on board Team Clinton just this past weekend. Even including Vermont’s own Governor Peter Shumlin who endorsed Hillary back in May on the very same day Sanders announced his campaign.
So who are the five governors that still have not endorsed anyone so far?
First there is California Governor Jerry Brown.
Jerry Brown has a long history with the Clintons and very little of it could be described as “friendly”, most notoriously when he openly refused to endorse Bill Clinton in 1992 even after he had the nomination sewn up.
However, things have warmed up between Teams Brown and Clinton since Brown apologized for many of his comments, particularly those involving Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton publicly endorsed and supported him in his Gubernatorial run against Meg Whitman.
This may be all but the formality of saying “I endorse Hillary for President” since his comments about this race have been rather one-sided.
When asked about speculation of him entering the 2016 race to oppose her, he stated it “doesn't look like a fruitful use of my time”
"Running against Hillary is like running against Jerry Brown in California," Brown, 76, said in an interview Friday at The Washington Post. "In the Democratic Party, it's not going to happen. You reach a certain point of party loyalty and it's very powerful."
With him out of the picture, he was later asked about Hillary’s Presidential Bid and had this to say
“I really believe that Hillary Clinton has the presence, the experience and the support of the vast majority of Democrats in a way that I have not seen in my lifetime,” Brown said in a wide-ranging interview with The Washington Post. “She has this if she wants.”
Powerful words and ones with which I agree, so…..
Where’s the endorsement, Gov?
Next there is Hawaii Governor David Ige
There is not much history between Hillary and the freshman Governor. Ige has the strong support of teacher’s unions, which nationally have been lining up behind Hillary Clinton but he also makes affordable college a key point of policy
After high school, Governor Ige applied and was accepted into UC-Berkeley, MIT and other major engineering schools but never told his parents knowing they could not afford to send him to any of those. Instead enrolling in University of Hawaii-Manoe for both his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering and MBA.
There has been little reporting or comments through his tightly controlled social media outlets about his thoughts or positions on the 2016 Primary.
Which brings us to Montana Governor Steve Bullock.
The freshman governor of Big Sky Country will be running for re-election in 2016 so most likely has a keen interest in coat-tails. He also currently chairs the Democratic Governor’s Association so that may give him pause in endorsing early out of propriety preferring rather to wait until the General to support the nominee.
Bullock is on the target list for the GOP given the narrow margin of his first term win and he was one of the Governor’s voicing concern about the leftward shift of the Democratic Party at a recent gathering of governors.
So while it appears unlikely that he will endorse Sanders, it does seem like Governor Bullock is content to remain on the sidelines for the time being.
And so we go to Oregon and Governor Kate Brown.
Brown will be running for her first ELECTED term having been sworn in in rather short order to replace out-going disgraced governor Kitzhaber after he (and his fiancee) resigned amid scandal.
Governor Brown did happily receive the endorsement of Bill Clinton in her 2012 Secretary of State run (a hefty blue state endorsement the candidate was quick to tweet out herself).
As governor she also hired Benjamin Souede on day one as her legal counsel in office. Mr. Souede is a Portland area criminal defense attorney and served as an adviser to Hillary while she was a New York Senator.
Lastly of note, one of Brown’s key pieces of legislature has been Oregon’s first-in-the-nation Motor Voter Law which Hillary has publicly championed as the template that should be used in every state.
And last but not least, West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin
Governor Tomblin is term-limted and thus ending a very popular stint as the Governor of the Mountain State where there is no issue as pressing on the minds of voters and politicians as COAL.
Tomblin may very well refuse any endorsement whatsoever given that he withheld his endorsement from Obama for a second term refusing to participate in the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
Clinton has been in the West Virginian headlines lately with her $30bn plan to revitalize coal communities and Bill Clinton is already working the campaign trail with a speech at the WV State Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner that spent more time talking about energy policy and rural economic challenges then his wife’s campaign.
Bill Clinton was the last Democratic President to win the state of West Virginia, which he did twice.
In 1996, Clinton received 51.5 percent of state's general election vote. "You haven't voted Democratic since and I want to change that," he said [at the speech].
If we can get these five governor’s on-board Hillary Clinton will have the state-wide operations and infrastructure aiding her bid for the White House in every Democratically controlled state of the country.