This study examines the first spouses at the state level, specifically the roles of the men
and women who filled this position in 2020, drawing close attention to how their roles differ on
the basis of gender, age, and region. Analyzing first spouses’ websites and Twitters, as well as
semi-structured interviews of 16 members of the first spouses’ staff and first spouses
themselves, I find a pattern: Each first spouse interprets the unofficial and undefined public role
not as a limitation but as an advantage. Sixteen spouses uniquely embrace their experiences
and determine how they wish to contribute to the governors’ administrations and their given
state. Conclusively, the ambiguous and informal nature of the position of the first spouse at the
state level is such that it allows those who inhabit this role in 2020 to define it in individualistic
and unique ways.