Factbox: Key U.S. governors races at stake in November

(Reuters) - Governor's seats in 36 U.S. states are up for grabs on Nov. 4, and polls show more than a third of the contests remain competitive with just one week until the election. Republicans hold 29 governorships compared to the Democrats' 21. Incumbents from both parties are locked in some of the country's closest races, and eight seats are open due to factors such as term limits. Here is a look at some of the races: ALASKA In a uniquely Alaskan twist, the Democratic and independent candidates for governor have combined forces on one ticket in a bid to unseat the state's Republican incumbent, Sean Parnell. Atop the independent ticket is Bill Walker, who dropped his Republican Party affiliation, followed by running mate Byron Mallott, a Democrat. The joint-ticket strategy has appeared to pay off, with Walker narrowly edging Parnell in recent opinion polls, though polling is known to be unreliable in the Frontier State. ARIZONA Republican Doug Ducey, the state treasurer, is locked in a tight battle for governor with Democrat Fred DuVal, a former Clinton administration official. Ducey, former chief executive of Cold Stone Creamery, has emerged slightly ahead of DuVal in recent polls in the race to replace outgoing Republican Governor Jan Brewer. The state is known as a Republican stronghold but voters have shown a willingness to elect Democratic governors. ARKANSAS Former congressmen Mike Ross, a Democrat, and Asa Hutchinson, the Republican nominee, are battling to replace incumbent Mike Beebe, a Democrat, unable to seek a third term due to term limits. The Democrats have called in former President Bill Clinton, a former governor of the state, to boost their fortunes. Hutchinson helped prosecute the impeachment case against Clinton in 1998 and 1999. Polls show the race to be near a dead heat. COLORADO Colorado Democrat John Hickenlooper, a former Denver mayor and brew-pub magnate, is locked in a tougher-than-expected re-election fight against Republican Bob Beauprez, a former congressman and financier who in a recent debate suggested voters consider repealing legalized recreational marijuana. With Hickenlooper’s first term wrought by controversies over gun laws, fracking and taxes, the two candidates are running neck-and-neck in polls. CONNECTICUT In a bitter rematch of a 2010 race, Democratic incumbent Dannel Malloy faces Republican challenger Tom Foley, a businessman and former U.S. ambassador to Ireland. Recent polls show the two men in a statistical dead heat, with neither commanding a particularly high favorability rating. Foley has attacked Malloy for signing one of the nation's toughest gun laws in the wake of the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Malloy has blasted Foley for stances including his belief that humans have no effect on climate change, which the Democrat calls out of step with residents of a state that was hard hit by 2012's Superstorm Sandy. FLORIDA Months of mudslinging by Republican Governor Rick Scott and former Governor Charlie Crist have marred an expensive gubernatorial race that is too close to call in the nation's largest swing state. Scott touts job creation over the past four years as the main reason to re-elect him and has battered Crist with $56 million in TV ads about flip-flopping on issues. Crist is running for his old job, this time as a Democrat after he switched parties in 2012, and has hammered Scott with ads recalling the $1.8 billion in federal fraud fines paid by Columbia/HCA, the hospital corporation Scott once ran. Turnout will be crucial. Democrats hold a slight advantage among the state's 12 million registered voters but have not held the governor's mansion since 1999. Libertarian candidate Adrian Wyllie has drawn as much as 8 percent of votes in polls, potentially making him a spoiler. GEORGIA Republican Governor Nathan Deal is battling for a second term against Democratic state Senator Jason Carter, the grandson of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Jason Carter accuses the governor of underfunding public education and notes that Georgia now has the highest unemployment rate in the country. Deal says he has increased education spending, while helping create nearly 300,000 jobs. Deal holds a narrow lead in polls. But the race could be headed to a runoff on Dec. 2 if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote. HAWAII State Senator David Ige, a Democrat, appears to have a narrow lead in opinion polls over Republican Duke Aiona, a former lieutenant governor, and former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, an independent, in a three-way race for governor of the solidly Democratic archipelago. Ige soundly defeated Governor Neil Abercrombie in the Democratic primary in August. ILLINOIS Republican Bruce Rauner, a millionaire businessman with no prior political experience, is in a tight race against Democratic Governor Pat Quinn. Republicans are looking to left-leaning Illinois as perhaps the party's best shot to topple a Democratic incumbent. Despite Illinois' continuing fiscal problems, polls show the candidates in a virtual dead heat. Rauner, who spent $20 million on the campaign between July and September, has tried to link Quinn to what he calls failed and corrupt politics. Quinn has portrayed Rauner as callous and out-of-touch. KANSAS Republican Governor Sam Brownback and Democratic challenger Paul Davis, a state representative, are locked in a toss-up race in Kansas. Davis has made education spending a key issue in the campaign. He alleges that Brownback has never made it a priority, but the incumbent has rebutted the claim by pointing to increases in state funding for schools. Both candidates have drawn support from members of the opposite party. MAINE Famously combative Republican Paul LePage, who began his tenure as governor in 2011 by ordering a Depression-era mural removed from the state's Department of Labor, criticizing it as "pro-labor," faces a competitive three-way re-election bid. Poll averages show five-term Democratic U.S. Representative Mike Michaud, who could be the first openly gay man to be elected as a U.S. governor, in a dead heat with LePage, with each drawing the support of less than 40 percent of the electorate. Left-leaning independent Eliot Cutler holds the support of about 15 percent of likely voters, making the race hard to predict. MASSACHUSETTS While the Bay State has a reputation for liberal politics, Massachusetts voters have often chosen Republican governors and this November's vote will be a toss-up. Polls show Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley and former health care executive Charlie Baker running neck-and neck, with each campaign focused on voter turnout. Coakley, who could be the state's first elected female governor, has tried to paint Baker as a having a harsh view on social spending, seizing on his pledge to reform welfare. Baker has argued a Republican governor is needed as a counterweight to the Democratic-controlled state legislature, and he received a rare endorsement for a Republican from the Boston Globe. Incumbent Deval Patrick, who decided not to seek a third term, is the sole Democrat to have served as Massachusetts governor in two decades. MICHIGAN Republican Governor Rick Snyder was a little-known millionaire businessman when he crushed his Democratic rival in 2010, but polls show the current race is much closer against former U.S. Representative Mark Schauer, a Democratic political insider. Snyder says he will continue to clean up Michigan's balance sheet. State finances have improved under Snyder and the bankrupt city of Detroit is close to getting back on course. Schauer says he will restore middle-class tax credits Snyder cut and pump more money into education. PENNSYLVANIA Republican Governor Tom Corbett, seeking his second term, is trailing badly in polls against Democrat Tom Wolf, a businessman who has poured his personal fortune into the race. Corbett has taken heat for presiding over state cuts in education funding. Critics also say Corbett has failed to push through his political agenda despite Republicans having control of both legislative houses. Wolf has proposed reform to make the state income tax fairer but says he would not raise taxes on the middle class. Corbett’s campaign accuses Wolf of not being specific about what tax hikes he supports. The Democratic challenger has led by double digits in recent polls. If Corbett fails to win a second term, he would become the state's first incumbent governor to do so. RHODE ISLAND Voters in Rhode Island may be getting ready to pick their state's first female governor, with polls showing state treasurer Gina Raimondo holding a lead over Republican Allan Fung. Raimondo's claim to fame is helping to reach a 2011 deal to stave up the state's pension fund, while Fung argues he could do more to lower the state's unemployment rate, one of the highest in the nation. Governor Lincoln Chafee opted not to seek a second term. TEXAS Republican Greg Abbott, currently the state's attorney general, has a strong lead in the polls over his Democratic opponent, state Senator Wendy Davis. Davis, who rose to prominence when she donned pink tennis shoes and launched a 10-hour filibuster against abortion restrictions, has sought to build support with her life story of rising from a single mother in a trailer park to a Harvard Law School graduate. Abbott, seen as an establishment Republican, has portrayed himself as a steady hand who will keep the Texas economy growing through lower taxes and fewer regulations. Democrats have not won a statewide race in Texas since 1994. WISCONSIN Republican Governor Scott Walker and challenger Democrat Mary Burke, a former executive at bicycle manufacturer Trek, are statistically tied in recent polls of politically divided Wisconsin. Walker, a possible 2016 White House hopeful, became a champion of conservatives when the state reduced the powers of public sector unions, a move Walker said helped eliminate a $3.6 billion state budget deficit. Burke has attacked Walker for falling short on his promise four years ago to create 250,000 jobs in his first term. Government data shows about 100,000 jobs have been created. (Reporting by Scott Malone, Ellen Wulfhorst, David Adams, Eric Johnson, David Bailey, Brendan O'Brien, Fiona Ortiz, Mary Wisniewski, Jon Herskovitz and David Schwartz; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Doina Chiacu)