The 1994 California gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1994, in the midst of that year's "Republican Revolution". Incumbent Republican Pete Wilson easily won re-election over his main challenger, Democratic State Treasurer Kathleen Brown, the daughter of Pat Brown and younger sister of Jerry Brown, both of whom had previously served as governor. Primaries were held on June 3, 1994.

Although Wilson initially trailed Brown in the polls as a result of the state's faltering economy, his signature opposition to affirmative action and state services for illegal immigrants (with the associated Proposition 187) eventually led to his win. Wilson won 25% of the African-American vote, a fairly strong performance for a Republican; however, he won only 25% of the Latino vote, a weak performance which was widely attributed to his support of Proposition 187. This was the first California gubernatorial election since 1974 in which the winner was of a different party from the incumbent president.

Republican primary Candidates Louis Darrigo, Aptos farmer and contractor Jim Hart, San Diego resident Ron Unz, Palo Alto businessman Pete Wilson, incumbent Governor

Results

Democratic primary Candidates Kathleen Brown, California Treasurer Mark Calney, Los Angeles resident John Garamendi, California Insurance Commissioner and candidate for Governor in 1982 Tom Hayden, State Senator from Los Angeles Charles Pineda Jr., Sacramento criminal justice administrator Jonathan Trip, Burbank business consultant

Results

Minor party primaries American Independent Party

Green Party

Libertarian Party

Peace and Freedom Party

General election Candidates Kathleen Brown, California Treasurer (Democratic) Gloria Estela LaRiva, San Francisco political organizer and printer (Peace and Freedom) Jerome McCready, Castroville businessman (American Independent) Richard Rider, San Diego stockbroker and financial planner (Libertarian) Pete Wilson, incumbent Governor and former U.S. Senator (Republican)

Polling Source Date PeteWilson KathleenBrown KNBC-TV November 4, 199448% 44% KCAL-TV November 3, 199449% 39% Field Poll November 1, 199450% 41% San Francisco Examiner October 23, 199448% 43% Los Angeles Times October 16, 199450% 42% KCAL-TV October 7, 199448% 38% Los Angeles Times September 16, 199446% 44%

Results

Results by county County Pete WilsonRepublican Kathleen BrownDemocratic Richard RiderLibertarian Jerome McCreadyAIP Gloria La RivaPFP All OthersWrite-in Margin Total votes cast # % # % # % # % # % # % # %Alameda147,23836.61%240,49059.80%5,8101.44%4,1611.03%4,4601.11%60.00%-93,252-23.19%402,165Alpine38956.54%24034.88%111.60%284.07%202.91%00.00%14921.66%688Amador8,78166.81%3,77628.73%2571.96%2611.99%680.52%00.00%5,00538.08%13,143Butte42,99862.88%21,88732.01%1,3892.03%1,5622.28%5460.80%10.00%21,11130.87%68,383Calaveras10,43866.08%4,43228.06%4152.63%3612.29%1490.94%00.00%6,00638.02%15,795Colusa3,69172.70%1,20223.68%721.42%831.63%290.57%00.00%2,48949.03%5,077Contra Costa154,48251.47%135,13345.02%4,4831.49%3,9981.33%2,0390.68%50.00%19,3496.45%300,140Del Norte4,62661.83%2,37231.70%1481.98%2783.72%580.78%00.00%2,25430.13%7,482El Dorado36,69567.14%15,28927.97%1,2062.21%1,1242.06%3400.62%00.00%21,40639.17%54,654Fresno112,85162.83%60,95833.94%2,1531.20%2,1461.19%1,4960.83%140.01%51,89328.89%179,618Glenn5,91673.54%1,71921.37%1421.77%2172.70%510.63%00.00%4,19752.17%8,045Humboldt23,58649.34%21,16244.27%1,1642.43%1,0882.28%8051.68%20.00%2,4245.07%47,807Imperial13,20854.97%9,52539.64%2861.19%3411.42%6672.78%00.00%3,68315.33%24,027Inyo5,05469.51%1,87825.83%1321.82%1492.05%580.80%00.00%3,17643.68%7,271Kern105,73369.49%39,13725.72%2,7111.78%3,1912.10%1,3890.91%10.00%66,59643.77%152,162Kings14,75065.02%7,09731.28%2871.27%3501.54%2020.89%00.00%7,65333.73%22,686Lake11,41657.88%7,27936.90%4232.14%4502.28%1560.79%00.00%4,13720.97%19,724Lassen4,82758.63%2,67132.44%2773.36%3834.65%750.91%00.00%2,15626.19%8,233Los Angeles1,043,83550.43%953,30146.06%28,3681.37%23,4691.13%20,9101.01%60.00%90,5344.37%2,069,889Madera18,62369.24%7,22326.85%3111.16%5632.09%1770.66%00.00%11,40042.38%26,897Marin45,98343.35%56,66553.43%1,6791.58%9580.90%7770.73%10.00%-10,682-10.07%106,063Mariposa4,69965.18%2,17830.21%1211.68%1722.39%390.54%00.00%2,52134.97%7,209Mendocino14,64548.37%13,71645.30%7672.53%5901.95%5611.85%00.00%9293.07%30,279Merced24,87362.90%13,19733.37%4441.12%7631.93%2670.68%00.00%11,67629.53%39,544Modoc1,97251.47%1,25732.81%2175.66%3378.80%481.25%00.00%71518.66%3,831Mono2,26364.88%1,05130.13%882.52%601.72%260.75%00.00%1,21234.75%3,488Monterey49,56553.89%38,59741.96%1,2281.34%1,8432.00%7380.80%80.01%10,96811.92%91,979Napa23,42954.69%17,45440.74%7641.78%8351.95%3570.83%00.00%5,97513.95%42,839Nevada25,15965.97%11,28329.59%8052.11%6581.73%2300.30%00.00%13,87636.39%38,135Orange516,81167.72%211,13227.67%16,3512.14%13,5661.78%5,2740.69%50.00%305,67940.06%763,139Placer51,21367.02%21,91528.68%1,5702.05%1,2991.70%4130.54%00.00%29,29838.34%76,410Plumas5,49263.87%2,63030.58%2102.44%2102.44%570.66%00.00%2,86233.28%8,599Riverside221,02764.17%107,20731.13%6,0851.77%7,1822.09%2,8580.83%580.02%113,82033.05%344,417Sacramento196,22954.79%146,42340.88%6,5071.82%5,8811.64%3,1110.87%50.00%49,80613.91%358,156San Benito6,39854.17%4,85241.08%2492.11%2121.79%1000.85%00.00%1,54613.09%11,811San Bernardino217,08562.30%112,63632.32%7,1482.05%7,9162.27%3,6911.06%00.00%104,44929.97%348,476San Diego477,43963.35%240,93731.97%16,3882.17%12,3951.64%6,4930.86%80.00%236,50231.38%753,660San Francisco66,49427.81%165,27969.12%2,5611.07%1,0730.45%3,7041.55%20.00%-98,785-41.31%239,113San Joaquin78,68261.35%44,78734.92%1,6691.30%2,1191.65%9840.77%20.00%33,89526.43%128,243San Luis Obispo52,27060.07%30,68635.27%1,6811.93%1,6881.94%6720.77%120.01%21,58424.81%87,009San Mateo102,98947.63%106,39149.21%3,0801.42%2,2441.04%1,4980.69%140.01%-3,402-1.57%216,216Santa Barbara75,05156.68%52,42039.59%1,8171.37%2,0751.57%1,0480.79%10.00%22,63117.09%132,412Santa Clara212,07547.50%211,90447.46%10,1432.27%7,3931.66%4,9221.10%320.01%1710.04%446,469Santa Cruz37,92741.09%49,27253.39%2,1592.34%1,4901.61%1,4391.56%70.01%-11,345-12.29%92,294Shasta37,57768.45%13,63324.84%1,1952.18%2,0343.71%4550.83%00.00%23,94443.62%54,894Sierra1,01861.77%52832.04%412.49%513.09%100.61%00.00%49029.73%1,648Siskiyou11,07560.17%6,05332.88%4742.58%6433.49%1610.87%10.01%5,02227.28%18,407Solano51,26551.89%43,17043.70%1,7531.77%1,7651.79%8360.85%10.00%8,0958.19%98,790Sonoma73,23445.65%79,72049.69%3,2702.04%2,5401.58%1,6631.04%10.00%-6,486-4.04%160,428Stanislaus60,99260.68%35,08034.90%1,5691.56%2,1462.14%7220.72%10.00%25,91225.78%100,510Sutter15,99772.11%5,29323.86%3201.44%4582.06%1150.52%00.00%10,70448.25%22,183Tehama12,83668.77%4,62624.78%4402.36%6313.38%1330.71%00.00%8,21043.98%18,666Trinity3,07856.88%1,78332.95%1813.35%2855.27%831.53%10.02%1,29523.93%5,411Tulare54,26769.02%21,63427.52%8561.09%1,2411.58%6280.80%00.00%32,63341.50%78,626Tuolumne12,70664.41%6,11731.01%3691.87%4212.13%1130.57%00.00%6,58933.40%19,726Ventura136,41762.36%73,16333.44%3,8941.78%3,3661.54%1,9270.88%10.00%63,25428.91%218,768Yolo23,01946.58%24,35749.28%8461.71%7131.44%4810.97%50.01%-1,338-2.71%49,421Yuba9,37865.95%4,00228.14%2972.09%4323.04%1110.78%00.00%5,37637.81%14,220Total4,781,76655.18%3,519,79940.62%149,2811.72%133,8881.55%80,4400.93%2010.00%1,261,96714.56%8,665,375

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Contra Costa Lake Los Angeles Mendocino Monterey Napa San Benito Santa Clara Solano

Notes

References

External links Digitized political advertisements on California Revealed