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United States · Election results history · 1938 governors · California
Election 1938 Results

Each election opens in its own mode: the forecast before the votes are counted, the live count while races are still too close to call, and the results once every race is decided.

1938 California governor election

Culbert L. Olson (Democrat) beat Frank F. Merriam (Republican) in California in 1938, 52.5% to 44.2%, a margin of 8.3 points and 220,715 votes.

California changed party: in 1934 it went Republican, for Frank F. Merriam.

Democrats led in 31 of the 58 counties as they stood then and Republicans in 27. The largest, Los Angeles, cast 1,098,417 votes and went to the Democrat by 15.2 points. The closest was Mono, where 1 vote separated the two parties.

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Early projection, based on early and incomplete polling: the likely matchups, each weighted by the betting markets' odds of both nominations, not a result. Each county is its 2024 presidential margin moved by its state's projected swing; set a national vote and every state, district and county moves by the same amount from our projection. Colours run in 100 steps from a safe Republican to a safe Democratic margin. Boundaries: US Census Bureau.

Governor

CandidatePartyVotesShare
Culbert L. Olson won Democratic 1,391,734 52.5%
Frank F. Merriam Republican 1,171,019 44.2%
All other candidates 88,710 3.3%
Total2,651,463

Every county

CountyDemocratRepublicanOthersTotalMargin
Los Angeles 612,499 55.8% 446,069 40.6% 39,849 1,098,417 D+15.2
San Francisco 132,346 53.4% 111,046 44.8% 4,643 248,035 D+8.6
Alameda 109,010 49.5% 106,694 48.4% 4,617 220,321 D+1.1
San Diego 54,552 52.8% 45,891 44.5% 2,790 103,233 D+8.4
Santa Clara 32,994 46.7% 36,191 51.2% 1,463 70,648 R+4.5
Sacramento 32,885 54.1% 25,836 42.5% 2,100 60,821 D+11.6
San Bernardino 30,696 51.5% 27,515 46.1% 1,423 59,634 D+5.3
Fresno 32,937 55.5% 22,728 38.3% 3,664 59,329 D+17.2
Orange 24,257 43.3% 29,774 53.1% 2,033 56,064 R+9.8
San Joaquin 22,340 50.3% 20,990 47.3% 1,047 44,377 D+3.0
San Mateo 20,723 47.8% 21,579 49.8% 1,009 43,311 R+2.0
Kern 25,392 58.7% 16,116 37.2% 1,781 43,289 D+21.4
Contra Costa 23,782 56.8% 17,096 40.8% 978 41,856 D+16.0
Riverside 17,026 45.9% 18,895 51.0% 1,148 37,069 R+5.0
Tulare 16,162 50.3% 14,571 45.3% 1,404 32,137 D+5.0
Sonoma 12,207 42.2% 15,582 53.9% 1,106 28,895 R+11.7
Stanislaus 12,730 47.3% 12,333 45.9% 1,830 26,893 D+1.5
Santa Barbara 10,870 41.8% 14,325 55.1% 801 25,996 R+13.3
Ventura 11,264 49.3% 10,647 46.6% 930 22,841 D+2.7
Monterey 9,736 44.8% 11,436 52.6% 550 21,722 R+7.8
Santa Cruz 8,962 45.2% 10,198 51.4% 681 19,841 R+6.2
Marin 8,340 43.5% 10,445 54.4% 407 19,192 R+11.0
Humboldt 8,795 46.0% 9,617 50.3% 708 19,120 R+4.3
Solano 9,037 50.9% 8,051 45.4% 660 17,748 D+5.6
Butte 8,408 48.4% 8,249 47.5% 697 17,354 D+0.9
Merced 8,303 54.1% 6,367 41.4% 691 15,361 D+12.6
San Luis Obispo 6,660 45.9% 7,046 48.6% 800 14,506 R+2.7
Imperial 5,495 45.5% 6,259 51.8% 332 12,086 R+6.3
Siskiyou 5,882 49.0% 5,146 42.8% 984 12,012 D+6.1
Mendocino 5,355 45.9% 5,897 50.6% 409 11,661 R+4.6
Napa 4,786 42.0% 6,275 55.1% 327 11,388 R+13.1
Placer 6,653 58.9% 3,834 34.0% 804 11,291 D+25.0
Kings 5,545 53.3% 4,395 42.3% 454 10,394 D+11.1
Yolo 3,997 43.3% 4,865 52.7% 374 9,236 R+9.4
Shasta 4,994 56.3% 3,445 38.8% 438 8,877 D+17.4
Nevada 3,494 43.8% 4,052 50.8% 424 7,970 R+7.0
Madera 4,148 57.1% 2,805 38.6% 310 7,263 D+18.5
Sutter 3,093 44.0% 3,691 52.5% 251 7,035 R+8.5
Yuba 3,133 48.6% 3,097 48.1% 210 6,440 D+0.6
Tehama 2,740 45.0% 2,882 47.3% 468 6,090 R+2.3
El Dorado 3,375 57.2% 2,079 35.3% 443 5,897 D+22.0
Lassen 2,764 48.5% 2,624 46.1% 307 5,695 D+2.5
Glenn 2,068 39.9% 2,924 56.4% 193 5,185 R+16.5
Tuolumne 2,672 53.8% 2,091 42.1% 204 4,967 D+11.7
San Benito 1,910 42.2% 2,466 54.5% 145 4,521 R+12.3
Colusa 1,768 41.1% 2,339 54.4% 194 4,301 R+13.3
Plumas 2,373 56.2% 1,607 38.1% 239 4,219 D+18.2
Lake 1,571 37.7% 2,438 58.5% 156 4,165 R+20.8
Calaveras 1,818 46.4% 1,866 47.7% 231 3,915 R+1.2
Amador 1,803 52.5% 1,486 43.2% 147 3,436 D+9.2
Modoc 1,472 48.3% 1,416 46.4% 162 3,050 D+1.8
Inyo 1,184 42.4% 1,456 52.2% 150 2,790 R+9.7
Del Norte 1,092 43.6% 1,325 52.9% 89 2,506 R+9.3
Mariposa 1,362 54.5% 1,043 41.7% 94 2,499 D+12.8
Trinity 1,081 53.4% 808 39.9% 137 2,026 D+13.5
Sierra 719 49.7% 565 39.1% 162 1,446 D+10.7
Mono 445 47.4% 446 47.5% 48 939 R+0.1
Alpine 29 19.0% 110 71.9% 14 153 R+52.9

Counties as they stood in 1938; some have since been split, merged or renamed. Margin: the Democrat's share of all votes minus the Republican's. Sources and how the results were checked.

California governor elections we hold

YearWinnerMargin
2022 Gavin Newsom (D) D+18.4
2018 Gavin Newsom (D) D+23.9
2014 Edmund G. Brown (D) D+19.9
2010 Edmund G. Brown (D) D+12.9
2006 Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) R+17.0
2003 Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) R+17.1
2002 Gray Davis (D) D+4.9
1998 Gray Davis (D) D+19.6
1994 Pete Wilson (R) R+14.6
1990 Pete Wilson (R) R+3.5
1986 George Deukmejian (R) R+23.2
1982 George Deukmejian (R) R+1.2
1978 Edmund G. Brown Jr. (D) D+19.5
1974 Edmund G. Brown (D) D+2.9
1970 Ronald Reagan (R) R+7.7
1966 Ronald Reagan (R) R+15.3
1962 Edmund G. Brown (D) D+5.1
1958 Edmund G. Brown (D) D+19.6
1954 Goodwin J. Knight (R) R+13.7
1950 Earl Warren (R) R+29.7
1946 Earl Warren (R) R+91.6
1942 Earl Warren (R) R+15.3
1938 Culbert L. Olson (D) D+8.3
1934 Frank F. Merriam (R) R+11.1
1930 James Rolph Jr. (R) R+48.0
1926 Clement C. Young (R) R+46.5
1922 Friend William Richardson (R) R+23.7
1918 William Stephens (R) R+56.3
1914 Hiram W. Johnson (other)
1910 Hiram W. Johnson (R) R+5.8
1906 James Gillett (R) R+2.6
1902 George C. Pardee (R) R+0.8
1898 Henry Gage (R) R+6.7
1894 James H. Budd (D) D+0.4
1890 Henry H. Markham (R) R+3.1
1886 Washington Bartlett (D) D+0.3
1882 George Stoneman (D) D+14.3
1879 George C. Perkins (R) R+12.7
1875 William Irwin (D) D+24.6
1871 Newton Booth (R) R+4.2
1867 Henry H. Haight (D) D+10.3