Governorships are more preferable than senate?

[David Hume]

Recently quite a lot of politicians expressed preference of governorship over senator. For example, Vivek, Husted, Moody all prefered to run for governor instead of being appointed. And several senators gave up (IN) or are considering (TN) running for governor. For the governors that run for senate, it's almost always when they were term limited (FL, MT, MD). NRSC failed to convince populars like Sununu or Gaintfort to run for senate when they can still serve as governor. Even if DeSantis only had two remaining years, he did not appoint himself for the Rubio seat.

The only recent case when a governor gave up his position for senate is Manchin (2010), yet that's because he only had 2 more years and could not run again. I don't remember any governor with more than 4 potential years giving up their position for senate.

In general, governorship is better for those with presidential ambition. But not everyone want to be president. There is no term limit in the Senate, and as your power increase substantially with seniority. Even for the ambitious like DeSantis, severing in the senate could gain FA experience, which would be helpful for future run.

Personally, I feel being senator is better than governor in a small state. The most obvious example is Biden.

[GoTfan]

Governorships are closer to home, I guess? Makes it easier to be with the family.

Ambitious governors also have executive records to point to. This is what I accomplished and all that, as opposed to Senators who can only point to voting records.

[Averroës]

They've always been positions that rely on distinct sets of skills.

If not for his health-related limitations, this would loom larger in evaluations of Biden's strengths and weaknesses as a president. In his first couple of years, Biden's administration was unusually effective when it came to working with Congress, but less impressive in terms of executive appointees and oversight.

Most legislatures are less functional than they once were, particularly the Senate. The social side of the institution is crucial, but that has faded in the modern era. We're left with a bunch of partisan, self-important dotards doling out favors to one another and preaching at us as if they were above the fray.

[Benjamin Frank 2.0]

According to politics1.com New Mexico U.S Senator Martin Heinrich is also considering running for governor.

I think it was exclusively the case of governors running for the U.S Senate until California U.S Senator Pete Wilson left to run for governor and since then its gone both ways.

I think it's also the case that with 'regular order' no longer being the regular order in the U.S Senate (or the U.S House): the passage of appropriations bills that gave the committee chairs a lot of power, that the U.S Senate isn't as highly sought after by ambitious politicians (and I don't regard being ambitious as inherently bad.)

[President Johnson]

I'd also prefer being agovernor compared to senator, at least in medium and large states. As governor, you can practically work on issues and implement policies directly.

Being a governor in my view is also a better preparation for the presidency, as governors need to run things actively and also handle ongoing events like a natural disaster.

[Spectator]

Except from overpeiced hellhole states like CA, NY, MA and NJ, yeah

[Progressive Pessimist]

It's a double-edged sword.

The benefits of being close to home and being a more direct policymaker/exrcutive can be undone significantly by becoming unpopular and becoming the main focus of blame for a state's problems.

[2016]

Governorships have a tremendous amount more leverage. If PA, MI, NY, NJ, CT, MN and WI had Republican Governors during COVID I firmly believe the Inflation that followed wouldn't have been that bad.

DeSantis, Kemp, Abbott have literally saved the Country from completely going bonkers.

[JMT]

Charlie Crist gave up the Governorship to run for Senate in 2010, despite being eligible to run for reelection. But perhaps he ran for Senate because he knew he’d be term limited four years later?

Maggie Hassan also gave up the Governorship in NH to run for Senate in 2016, and NH doesn’t have term limits. Although, NH is a small state and the Governor’s power is rather limited, so maybe that’s why she gave it up?

John Hoeven also gave up the ND Governorship in 2010, despite the state having no term limits (at the time).

[Pollster]

With a few rare exceptions, choosing to run for Governor (and especially leaving Congress to do so) is a clear signal that you are a serious person who is interested in actually governing.

[Samof94]

Also, it is easier to win as an "out party" Governor.