Incumbent Republican governor Pete Ricketts won re-election to a second term.

[2] State Senator Bob Krist announced in September 2017 that he had left the Republican Party in order to mount a third party challenge against Governor Ricketts.

[8] Krist planned to create a new party in order to run, which would require submitting 5,000 signatures to qualify the party for the ballot.

[8] However, in February 2018 he abandoned his independent candidacy and became a Democrat.

Rickets won two of three congressional districts, with Krist winning the remaining one, which elected a Republican.