The 2018 California gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the governor of California, concurrently with elections for the rest of California's executive branch, as well as elections to the United States Senate and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic Governor Jerry Brown was ineligible to run for a third consecutive term due to term limits. The race was between the incumbent Democratic Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom and businessman John H. Cox, a Republican, who qualified for the general election after placing first and second in the June 5, 2018 primary election.

Newsom won in a landslide, with 62% of the vote, the biggest victory in a gubernatorial race in California since Earl Warren won re-election in 1950, and the biggest victory for a non-incumbent since 1930.It's Newsom's Race to Win, Whether California Likes It or Not.RealClearPolitics. The election also marked the first time in 40 years since Orange County had voted for the Democratic candidate since Jerry Brown won it in 1978, and the first time Democrats won three consecutive gubernatorial elections in the state's history. Newsom was sworn in on January 7, 2019.

Candidates A primary election was held on June 5, 2018. Under California's non-partisan blanket primary law, all candidates appeared on the same ballot, regardless of party. Voters may vote for any candidate, regardless of their party affiliation. The top two finishers – regardless of party – advance to the general election in November, regardless of whether a candidate manages to receive a majority of the votes cast in the primary election.

Democratic Party Declared Akinyemi Agbede, mathematician Juan M. Bribiesca, retired physician Thomas Jefferson Cares, blockchain start-up CEO John Chiang, California State Treasurer Delaine Eastin, former California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Robert Davidson Griffis, 2016 Libertarian candidate for president Albert Caesar Mezzetti, former Manteca city councilman Gavin Newsom, lieutenant governor of California Amanda Renteria, national political director for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and candidate for CA-21 in 2014 Michael Shellenberger, founder of the Breakthrough Institute Klement Tinaj, actor, martial artist, stuntman, and producer Antonio Villaraigosa, former mayor of Los Angeles

Declined Xavier Becerra, Attorney General of California (ran for re-election) Scooter Braun, music manager George Clooney, actor and activist Kevin de León, president pro tempore of the California State Senate (ran for the U.S. Senate) Eric Garcetti, mayor of Los Angeles Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO Libby Schaaf, mayor of Oakland (ran for re-election) Jackie Speier, U.S. representative (ran for re-election) Tom Steyer, hedge fund manager, philanthropist, and environmentalist

Republican Party Declared Travis Allen, state assemblyman John H. Cox, businessman Yvonne Girard, US military veteran Peter Y. Liu, entrepreneur, real estate agent, US Army veteran Robert C. Newman II, businessman, psychologist, farmer K. Pearce (write-in)

Withdrawn Rosey Grier, minister and retired NFL player David Hadley, former state assemblyman Allen Ishida, former Tulare County Supervisor Doug Ose, former U.S. representative

Declined Tim Donnelly, former state assemblyman, candidate for governor in 2014, and candidate for CA-08 in 2016 (running for CA-08) Kevin Faulconer, mayor of San Diego Ashley Swearengin, former mayor of Fresno Peter Thiel, venture capitalist

Peace and Freedom Party Declared Gloria La Riva, activist and nominee for president of the United States in 2016

Green Party Declared Christopher Carlson, puppeteer Veronika Fimbres (write-in) Josh Jones, author, geologist, solar electric designer

Libertarian Party Declared Zoltan Istvan, Transhumanist Party nominee for President of the United States in 2016 Nickolas Wildstar, political activist, rapper, and write-in candidate for governor in 2014

Independent (no party) Declared Armando M. Arreola (write-in) Shubham Goel (later a contestant on Netflix's The Circle) Hakan "Hawk" Mikado Desmond Silveira, engineer and former national committee member of the American Solidarity Party Arman Soltani (write-in) Jeffrey Edward Taylor Peter Crawford Valentino (write-in) Johnny Wattenburg

Notes

Primary election From the latter half of 2017, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom was widely seen as the favored front runner for the top two primary. Businessman John Cox and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had both been running closely behind Newsom to obtain the second place spot. However, in late 2017, as more prominent Democrats entered the race, Villaraigosa saw his polling numbers slip out of competition with Cox. This mainly left the race between Newsom and Cox, with a third place free-for-all between Allen and Villaraigosa.

Endorsements

Polling

Graphical summary

Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error TravisAllen(R) JohnChiang(D) JohnCox(R) DelaineEastin(D) GavinNewsom(D) AntonioVillaraigosa(D) Other /UndecidedCompetitive Edge Research & CommunicationCompetitive Edge Research & Communication May 29–30, 2018 504 ± 4.4% 10% 4% 23% 5% 31% 13% 15%UC BerkeleyUC Berkeley May 22−28, 2018 2,106 ± 3.5% 12% 7% 20% 4% 33% 13% 11%Emerson CollegeEmerson College May 21–24, 2018 600 ± 4.2% 11% 10% 16% 4% 24% 12% 23%YouGovYouGov May 12–24, 2018 1,113 ± 4.0% 10% 8% 17% 4% 33% 9% 16%Competitive Edge Research & CommunicationCompetitive Edge Research & Communication May 20–22, 2018 501 ± 4.4% 9% 7% 22% 8% 26% 12% 17%SurveyUSASurveyUSA May 21, 2018 678 ± 6.1% 12% 10% 17% 2% 33% 8% 16%Public Policy Institute of CaliforniaPublic Policy Institute of California May 11–20, 2018 901 ± 4.1% 11% 9% 19% 6% 25% 15% 16%USC Dornsife/Los Angeles TimesUSC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times April 18 – May 18, 2018 517 ± 4.0% 5% 6% 10% 3% 21% 11% 43%Gravis MarketingGravis Marketing May 4–5, 2018 525 ± 4.3% 8% 9% 23% 4% 22% 19% 15%Big Data PollBig Data Poll April 27–29, 2018 1,442 ± 3.0% 12% 9% 11% 5% 24% 14% 28%SmithJohnson Research (R-Cox)SmithJohnson Research (R-Cox) April 26–27, 2018 533 ± 4.2% 13% 4% 20% 4% 36% 8% 16%SurveyUSASurveyUSA April 19–23, 2018 520 ± 5.5% 10% 9% 15% 1% 21% 18% 25%UC BerkeleyUC Berkeley April 16−22, 2018 1,738 ± 3.5% 16% 7% 18% 4% 30% 9% 16%J. Wallin Opinion Research/Tulchin ResearchJ. Wallin Opinion Research/Tulchin Research March 30 – April 4, 2018 800 ± 3.7% 9% 9% 16% 5% 26% 7% 28%Public Policy Institute of CaliforniaPublic Policy Institute of California March 25 – April 3, 2018 867 ± 4.4% 10% 7% 15% 6% 26% 13% 23%SurveyUSASurveyUSA March 22–25, 2018 517 ± 5.0% 7% 9% 11% 3% 22% 14% 34%David Binder Research (D-Newsom)David Binder Research (D-Newsom) March 16–21, 2018 1,750 – 13% 9% 16% 2% 29% 7% 24%Public Policy Institute of CaliforniaPublic Policy Institute of California March 7–13, 2018 1,706 ± 3.4% 10% 6% 14% 5% 28% 12% 25%David Binder Research (D-Newsom)David Binder Research (D-Newsom) March 1–5, 2018 1,000 – 10% 13% 16% 7% 26% 12% 16%David Binder Research (D-Newsom)David Binder Research (D-Newsom) January 31 – February 4, 2018 800 ± 3.5% 4% 11% 7% 4% 30% 11% 33%Global Strategy Group (D-Chiang)Global Strategy Group (D-Chiang) January 27 – February 1, 2018 500 – 7% 10% 10% 5% 28% 14% 3%Public Policy Institute of CaliforniaPublic Policy Institute of California January 21–30, 2018 1,705 ± 3.2% 8% 9% 7% 4% 23% 21% 28%Tulchin Research/Moore InformationTulchin Research/Moore Information January 21–28, 2018 2,500 ± 2.0% 8% 9% 10% 6% 29% 11% 26%SurveyUSASurveyUSA January 7–9, 2018 506 ± 4.4% 9% 5% 4% 1% 19% 10% 53%UC BerkeleyUC Berkeley December 7–16, 2017 672 ± 3.8% 9% 5% 9% 5% 26% 17% 29%Public Policy Institute of CaliforniaPublic Policy Institute of California November 10–19, 2017 1,070 ± 4.3% 6% 9% 9% 3% 23% 18% 31%USC Dornsife/Los Angeles TimesUSC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times October 27 – November 6, 2017 1,070 ± 4.0% 15% 12% 11% 4% 31% 21% 6%UC BerkeleyUC Berkeley August 27 – September 5, 2017 1,000 ± 4.0% 9% 7% 11% 4% 26% 10% 33%SmithJohnson Research (R-Cox)SmithJohnson Research (R-Cox) July 27–30, 2017 500 ± 4.4% 10% 7% 14% 3% 25% 12% 28%GSSR (D-Chiang)GSSR (D-Chiang) May 30 – June 5, 2017 602 – – 10% 11% – 26% 12% –UC BerkeleyUC Berkeley May 4–29, 2017 1,628 ± 3.3% – 5% 9% 3% 22% 17% 44%The Feldman Group (D-Villaraigosa)The Feldman Group (D-Villaraigosa) March 2017 – – – – 22% – 26% 20% –

with Kevin Faulconer and Eric Garcetti Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error JohnChiang(D) JohnCox(R) KevinFaulconer(R) EricGarcetti(D) GavinNewsom(D) TomSteyer(D) AshleySwearengin(R) AntonioVillaraigosa(D) Other /UndecidedUC Berkeley/YouGovUC Berkeley/YouGov March 13–20, 2017 1,000 ± 3.6% 6% 11% 11% 9% 24% 4% – 7% 25%Public Policy PollingPublic Policy Polling January 17–18, 2017 882 ± 3.3% 2% – 20% 13% 25% 4% 12% 9% 16%Field Research CorporationField Research Corporation October 25–31, 2016 600 – 2% – 16% 7% 23% 5% 11% 6% 30%Public Policy PollingPublic Policy Polling February 6–8, 2015 824 – 10% – 30% 11% 22% – – 13% 26%

Results

Results by county Red represents counties won by Cox. Blue represents counties won by Newsom. Green represents counties won by Villaraigosa.

County Newsom % Cox % Villaraigosa % Allen % Chiang % Others % Alameda 53.5% 10.6% 10.0% 4.4% 9.6% 11.9% Alpine 38.5% 24.1% 6.7% 8.7% 10.4% 11.6% Amador 21.5% 41.8% 5.8% 15.1% 8.0% 7.8% Butte 25.6% 34.4% 5.5% 14.5% 6.1% 13.9% Calaveras 23.3% 38.2% 5.3% 18.1% 6.6% 8.5% Colusa 13.0% 43.3% 16.0% 16.3% 3.6% 7.8% Contra Costa 49.9% 19.7% 8.7% 7.4% 6.9% 7.4% Del Norte 23.4% 27.0% 3.5% 24.8% 7.7% 13.6% El Dorado 24.5% 40.7% 5.8% 13.9% 8.1% 7.0% Fresno 16.8% 33.7% 20.2% 14.3% 7.6% 7.4% Glenn 12.4% 48.1% 7.9% 18.2% 3.3% 10.1% Humboldt 37.9% 22.3% 5.0% 9.6% 6.4% 18.8% Imperial 11.8% 22.7% 31.2% 9.8% 7.9% 16.6% Inyo 22.6% 30.7% 8.6% 15.9% 8.7% 13.5% Kern 12.1% 40.6% 13.9% 19.9% 5.4% 8.1% Kings 9.4% 36.7% 17.0% 23.8% 6.7% 6.4% Lake 37.5% 28.4% 6.6% 12.0% 5.0% 10.5% Lassen 13.1% 41.7% 2.1% 26.8% 6.6% 9.7% Los Angeles 32.7% 19.6% 21.7% 5.8% 13.2% 7.0% Madera 12.8% 40.2% 15.7% 18.9% 5.2% 7.2% Marin 64.1% 12.5% 8.2% 3.8% 5.3% 6.1% Mariposa 19.1% 34.9% 8.2% 23.4% 6.3% 8.1% Mendocino 45.2% 17.9% 7.8% 9.1% 5.1% 14.9% Merced 18.2% 29.7% 17.9% 16.0% 7.3% 10.8% Modoc 11.4% 49.9% 3.0% 18.0% 3.1% 14.6% Mono 31.6% 26.1% 12.2% 12.0% 5.0% 13.1% Monterey 37.8% 19.8% 16.8% 9.4% 6.6% 9.6% Napa 46.1% 19.4% 10.0% 9.7% 5.5% 9.3% Nevada 34.1% 25.7% 5.9% 17.4% 7.0% 9.9% Orange 24.3% 36.3% 11.4% 11.5% 9.0% 7.5% Placer 25.7% 40.2% 5.8% 13.1% 9.0% 6.2% Plumas 26.9% 38.5% 3.8% 15.5% 5.7% 9.6% Riverside 22.3% 34.4% 13.7% 15.3% 7.5% 6.8% Sacramento 29.7% 26.2% 10.7% 10.2% 14.5% 8.7% San Benito 33.6% 23.4% 13.3% 16.0% 4.8% 8.9% San Bernardino 19.7% 33.9% 15.2% 14.7% 9.2% 7.3% San Diego 30.5% 32.6% 10.4% 7.5% 9.8% 9.2% San Francisco 57.5% 6.6% 9.1% 2.2% 8.9% 15.7% San Joaquin 26.3% 31.4% 11.1% 13.6% 9.3% 8.3% San Luis Obispo 33.2% 29.4% 6.8% 14.6% 7.3% 8.7% San Mateo 55.0% 13.9% 10.4% 5.1% 7.1% 8.5% Santa Barbara 33.8% 26.2% 12.3% 11.5% 6.8% 9.4% Santa Clara 48.5% 13.9% 10.9% 8.3% 7.7% 10.7% Santa Cruz 52.4% 11.8% 11.5% 7.0% 4.5% 12.8% Shasta 16.9% 44.3% 3.9% 19.9% 4.5% 10.5% Sierra 22.9% 35.1% 3.7% 17.6% 7.1% 13.6% Siskiyou 23.3% 34.5% 3.4% 18.5% 5.0% 15.3% Solano 41.6% 23.3% 8.9% 11.3% 6.9% 8.0% Sonoma 54.6% 16.4% 8.9% 5.5% 4.9% 9.7% Stanislaus 23.2% 31.6% 12.3% 16.3% 7.3% 9.3% Sutter 16.4% 40.0% 8.3% 17.4% 8.2% 9.7% Tehama 13.2% 45.4% 4.5% 21.6% 4.7% 10.6% Trinity 23.6% 31.4% 4.7% 17.9% 5.4% 17.0% Tulare 13.9% 36.5% 16.4% 20.4% 5.2% 7.6% Tuolumne 26.8% 37.6% 5.7% 15.8% 5.6% 8.5% Ventura 26.7% 32.6% 13.4% 9.1% 11.0% 7.2% Yolo 31.6% 19.9% 13.7% 7.0% 14.6% 13.2% Yuba 16.3% 39.6% 7.6% 21.1% 6.6% 8.8%Totals 33.6% 25.5% 13.3% 9.5% 9.5% 8.6%

General election Predictions