The 1978 California gubernatorial election occurred on November 7, 1978. The Democratic incumbent, Jerry Brown, defeated the Republican nominee Attorney General Evelle J. Younger and independent candidate Ed Clark in a landslide.

Primary elections were held on June 6. The party primaries were overshadowed by the results of Proposition 13, an initiative to alter the state property tax formula, which was approved on the same day. Brown had only minor opposition in the Democratic primary, and Younger defeated LAPD chief Edward M. Davis and Ken Maddy in the Republican primary. San Diego mayor Pete Wilson and John Briggs, the sponsor of Proposition 6 on the November ballot, also ran.

Democratic primary

Candidates

John Hancock Abbott Alex D. Aloia Gene Atherton Jerry Brown, incumbent governor since 1975 Lowell Darling Jules Kimmett Raymond V. Liebenberg David Rock George B. Roden

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

John Briggs, state senator from Fullerton and sponsor of Proposition 6 Elmer L. Crutchley Edward M. Davis, former chief of the Los Angeles Police Department Kenneth L. Maddy, state senator from Fresno and Senate minority leader True R. Slocum Jr. Evelle J. Younger, Attorney General of California Pete Wilson, mayor of San Diego

Results

Other primaries

American Independent Party

Peace and Freedom Party

General election

Candidates

Jerry Brown, incumbent governor since 1975 (Democratic) Ed Clark, former chair of the Libertarian Party of California and Libertarian Party of New York (Independent) Theresa F. Dietrich (American Independent) Marilyn Seals (Peace and Freedom) Evelle J. Younger, Attorney General of California (Republican)

The primary battle left Younger short of money, while Brown had a much larger campaign fund and won reelection in a landslide.

Results

Results by county County Edmund G. Brown Jr.Democratic Evelle J. YoungerRepublican Ed ClarkIndependent Marilyn SealsPeace & Freedom Theresa F. DietrichAmerican Independent Margin Total votes cast # % # % # % # % # % # %Alameda217,74663.81%88,61925.97%24,3367.13%7,3752.16%3,1410.92%129,12737.84%341,217Alpine20252.74%15139.43%184.70%51.31%71.83%5113.32%383Amador4,14449.65%3,53442.34%4775.71%560.67%1361.63%6107.31%8,347Butte26,05149.65%22,14242.20%3,0385.79%6091.16%6341.21%3,9097.45%52,474Calaveras4,01948.74%3,69144.76%3774.57%730.89%861.04%3283.98%8,246Colusa1,95845.01%2,00546.09%3147.22%370.85%360.83%-47-1.08%4,350Contra Costa122,56554.27%80,82135.79%17,9897.97%2,2080.98%2,2501.00%41,74418.48%225,833Del Norte2,45141.73%2,93349.93%1883.20%771.31%2253.83%-482-8.21%5,874El Dorado13,83248.35%12,18742.60%1,8196.36%3051.07%4661.63%1,6455.75%28,609Fresno71,65755.67%50,95039.58%3,6532.84%1,1350.88%1,3241.03%20,70716.09%128,719Glenn3,12042.98%3,52148.51%4446.12%570.79%1171.61%-401-5.52%7,259Humboldt21,24350.37%16,65839.49%2,7836.60%7131.69%7811.85%4,58510.87%42,178Imperial8,38546.05%8,62947.39%8704.78%1570.86%1670.92%-244-1.34%18,208Inyo2,54039.53%3,56155.42%2183.39%470.73%590.92%-1,021-15.89%6,425Kern49,14447.71%41,53140.32%10,56010.25%6820.66%1,0781.05%7,6137.39%102,995Kings8,79453.84%6,94042.49%2811.72%1050.64%2151.32%1,85411.35%16,335Lake6,67052.87%5,01239.72%6515.16%1321.05%1521.20%1,65813.14%12,617Lassen3,37750.34%2,84942.47%3244.83%570.85%1021.52%5287.87%6,709Los Angeles1,178,36857.34%744,49136.23%93,6924.56%20,2050.98%18,2560.89%433,87721.11%2,055,012Madera7,52952.17%6,23043.16%4142.87%1100.76%1501.04%1,2999.00%14,433Marin49,75955.75%29,88833.49%7,6838.61%1,2271.37%6980.78%19,87122.26%89,255Mariposa2,36153.02%1,77439.84%2124.76%310.70%751.68%58713.18%4,453Mendocino11,87754.14%7,91636.09%1,4426.57%3771.72%3251.48%3,96118.06%21,937Merced16,82555.62%12,16540.21%7562.50%2020.67%3031.00%4,66015.40%30,251Modoc1,23540.28%1,61652.71%1374.47%270.88%511.66%-381-12.43%3,066Mono1,04244.82%1,16450.06%763.27%180.77%251.08%-122-5.25%2,325Monterey34,64952.35%27,18041.07%3,2784.95%5500.83%5300.80%7,46911.28%66,187Napa19,20250.53%15,62141.11%2,4616.48%3730.98%3440.91%3,5819.42%38,001Nevada9,01645.36%8,36542.09%2,23611.25%1230.62%1360.68%6513.28%19,876Orange299,57748.68%272,07644.21%34,9035.67%3,8450.62%4,9760.81%27,5014.47%615,377Placer20,38451.12%15,56339.03%3,3428.38%2680.67%3210.80%4,82112.09%39,878Plumas3,59955.48%2,54139.17%2083.21%370.57%1021.57%1,05816.31%6,487Riverside101,37754.23%75,56440.42%6,9823.74%1,2350.66%1,7720.95%25,81313.81%186.930Sacramento139,82154.91%88,44534.74%21,1378.30%2,8621.12%2,3490.92%51,37620.18%254,614San Benito2,80549.23%2,41142.31%3496.12%711.25%621.09%3946.91%5,698San Bernardino115,08254.01%86,63840.66%7,1513.36%1,4020.66%2,8221.32%28,44413.35%213,095San Diego316,22357.49%197,16735.85%25,9644.72%3,7080.67%6,9451.26%119,05621.65%550,007San Francisco156,60169.46%51,42922.81%11,5775.13%4,4001.95%1,4580.65%105,17246.65%225,465San Joaquin49,16952.17%39,42541.84%4,0634.31%5360.57%1,0461.11%9,74410.34%94,239San Luis Obispo25,69551.20%21,68943.22%1,7723.53%5521.10%4780.95%4,0067.98%50,186San Mateo113,40256.18%69,13134.25%15,0727.47%2,5651.27%1,6780.83%44,27121.93%201,848Santa Barbara59,93356.68%38,65636.56%4,7634.50%1,5211.44%8580.81%21,27720.12%105,731Santa Clara227,49361.35%110,44429.79%25,5506.89%3,7841.02%3,5120.95%117,04931.57%370,783Santa Cruz40,49060.85%20,69831.11%3,4705.21%1,3762.07%5060.76%19,79229.74%66,540Shasta19,43255.26%12,69836.11%2,2566.42%2760.78%5011.42%6,73419.15%35,163Sierra72549.45%64443.93%714.84%110.75%151.02%815.53%1,466Siskiyou6,85151.11%5,74742.88%4973.71%1130.84%1961.46%1,1048.24%13,404Solano34,51358.05%20,17633.94%3,6706.17%5350.90%5580.94%14,33724.12%59,452Sonoma56,92054.29%37,58435.85%7,5067.16%1,8551.77%9810.94%19,33618.44%104,846Stanislaus36,67655.62%25,24738.29%2,5393.85%6781.03%8031.22%11,42917.33%65,943Sutter6,35744.09%6,87147.65%1,0036.96%770.53%1110.77%-514-3.56%14,419Tehama5,98650.25%5,00241.99%6355.33%810.68%2081.75%9848.26%11,912Trinity2,21550.39%1,76940.24%2986.78%441.00%701.59%44610.15%4,396Tulare24,98946.80%26,13648.95%1,3222.48%3150.59%6341.19%-1,147-2.15%53,396Tuolumne6,77251.09%5,75743.44%4783.61%1030.78%1441.09%1,0157.66%13,254Ventura75,17352.78%57,77740.57%6,9164.86%8540.60%1,7031.20%17,39612.21%142,423Yolo24,35759.39%12,70330.97%3,0647.47%5931.45%2980.73%11,65428.41%41,015Yuba6,43454.84%4,40237.52%6755.75%940.80%1271.08%2,03217.32%11,732Total3,878,81256.03%2,526,53436.50%377,9605.46%70,8641.02%67,1030.97%1,352,27819.53%6,922,378

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic Alpine Amador Butte Calaveras Contra Costa El Dorado Kern Lake Marin Mariposa Monterey Napa Nevada Orange Riverside San Benito San Diego San Joaquin San Luis Obispo Santa Barbara Stanislaus Tuolumne Ventura

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Del Norte Imperial

Analysis Jerry Brown's landslide victory ended three of the remaining four very long streaks of Republican dominance in California counties. Brown was the first Democrat to ever carry Alpine County in a gubernatorial election since its establishment in 1864. The same was true for Orange County; it had always backed the Republican candidate since its establishment in 1889. Meanwhile, Santa Barbara County backed a Democratic candidate for the first time since 1882. After this election, the lone county with a long history of backing Republicans was Mono County, which had never backed a Democratic candidate since its founding in 1861 and would not vote Democratic until 1998.

Conversely, Jerry Brown remains the most recent Democrat to carry any of the following counties: Butte County, Calaveras County, El Dorado County, Fresno County, Kern County, Lassen County, Madera County, Mariposa County, Placer County, Plumas County, Shasta County, Sierra County, Siskiyou County, Tehama County, Tuolumne County, and Yuba County.

Notes

References