Seven sitting governors are throwing their support behind Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler’s run for Democratic National Committee chair. Four of them are eligible to vote in the party’s officer elections.

In endorsements first shared with ABC News, Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Tina Kotek of Oregon, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Laura Kelly of Kansas, Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Maura Healey of Massachusetts, and Janet Mills of Maine lauded Wikler as an experienced organizer and unifier. Kelly, Beshear, Lujan Grisham and Whitmer are among the 448 DNC members who can vote for chairperson next week on Feb. 1.

The governors urged their state’s delegations to join them in their support, which would tighten the gap between Wikler and the other leading candidates in this race, Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chairman Ken Martin and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.

Kelly said Wikler is a “commonsense leader” the party needs and urged “all Kansas voting members to join” her in voting for him.

“As Democratic governors continue to show we can win in battleground and deep red states, we need a DNC Chair who understands the importance of ensuring Democratic governors are some of the strongest voices in our party and who will prioritize investing in our critical 38 races for governor in the next two years. We also need someone who knows that if we’re going to win back essential voters, we need to get back to talking about core issues … in a way that will actually resonate,” Kelly said.

Michigan’s Whitmer said she believes Wikler can generate victories for Democrats at all levels of government.

Whitmer, a two-term Democrat who has repeatedly succeeded in a state twice won by President Donald Trump, has been mentioned as a possible 2028 presidential contender and was discussed as a replacement for President Joe Biden in 2024.

“As Governor of Michigan, I’ve seen Ben fight and win for working people in our neighboring state. Our next Chair needs to be a leader who can do exactly that: get our party unified, organized, and talking to voters to deliver wins up and down the ballot,” Whitmer said. “Ben has my vote, and I encourage my fellow Michiganders to join me in supporting him next week.”

Another name floated as a possible party leader is Beshear, who was on former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate short list. Beshear said he believes Wikler can unify the rebuilding Democratic Party and raise the resources needed to win.

“There are other good leaders in this race but I will be voting for Ben for DNC Chair and will be encouraging the entire Kentucky delegation to join me — because we need a leader who gets what’s needed to compete not just in blue states but in deep-red and battleground areas too,” Beshear said. “As Chair of WisDems, Ben Wikler has shown that when you unite our party, raise the historic resources needed to invest in governor’s races and every other level of the ballot, and talk to voters about the challenges they’re facing every day, Democrats can win everywhere.”

Lujan Grisham echoed the sentiment that Wikler will value and invest in governors.

“I will be voting for Ben Wikler for DNC Chair because he has shown that he knows how to raise historic funds for candidates up and down the ballot — all while standing up for working families and the year-round organizing we need to fight and win across the country,” Lujan Grisham said.

Kotek offered similar praise, saying Wikler is the “changemaker the Democratic Party needs.”

“The next leader of the DNC needs to be someone with the experience to get our party back and deliver for working people. I urge DNC members from Oregon and across the country to join me in supporting Ben for DNC chair,” Kotek said.

Earlier in the race, Gov. Tony Evers of Wikler’s home state of Wisconsin also endorsed Wikler’s run.

Two governorships will be up for grabs this year, and Democrats are looking to play competitively in both — namely by keeping control of New Jersey and flipping Virginia. These races will be the first large-scale electoral tests for the party since its sweeping losses last November.

The support from the slate of governors also points to a late-stage surge for Wikler after both Martin’s and O’Malley’s teams indicated that the Wisconsin party chairman was lagging behind them in support. Earlier this month, O’Malley’s team asserted, “This is a three-way race and we are not in third place.”

These endorsements also come just days after Martin said he has garnered support from 200 voting members, by far the highest private whip count announced in the race thus far, rapidly approaching the 225 votes needed to win. (Martin currently has the majority of public endorsements.)

But Wikler and O’Malley disputed the assertion, calling Martin’s count inflated and accusing him of muddying the process. Wikler received the backing of four powerful public sector unions and the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer.

Wikler also came forward with his team’s internal whip count for the first time during the race earlier this week, claiming to have 131 members supporting him. O’Malley’s campaign says he has 100 supporters.

Wikler had previously said he would not release details about his internal whip count. But in a series of social media posts on Wednesday night, Wikler said he was changing course, taking a veiled swipe at Martin and citing a statement from O’Malley’s campaign.

“Until tonight, I’d held back from releasing my whip count,” Wikler said. “But another candidate released a count so inflated that, as another campaign rightly said, it was ‘disrespectful to the 448 voting members of the DNC — many of whom are still making up their minds.'”

He continued, “In a moment of national crisis, DNC members deserve the chance to choose the next Chair based on vision and record, not based on whisper campaigns and attempts to manufacture an illusion of inevitability.”

Nevertheless, no campaign has provided a full list of exactly who is backing their bids, and there are a number of other long-shot candidates who have qualified to run and could peel off a handful of members along the way. It’s unclear, too, if any candidate will clinch a majority of votes to win on the first ballot, opening up the race and allowing members to reconsider their choice in subsequent ballots.

Wikler said he is “honored” to have the backing of these governors, who he said are “some of the most important Democratic voices in the country.”

“Democratic governors present the model for how Democrats can compete and win in the toughest states in the country,” Wikler said, “and we need to invest in their leadership in a way that reflects their invaluable power as messengers and leaders. I’m ready to expand the map and win, together.”