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United States · Election results history · 1973
Election 1973 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.

1973 governor election results by state and county

Democrat Brendan T. Byrne won New Jersey in a landslide in 1973, while former Democrat Mills E. Godwin Jr. returned to Virginia's governorship as a Republican.

2 governor races were held in 1973. Democrats won 1 and Republicans 1.

The closest were New Jersey (D+34.8) and Virginia (R+50.7). 1 governorship changed party: New Jersey to the Democrats.

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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.

About the 1973 governor elections

The 1973 governor elections were held as the Watergate scandal grew, weeks after the Saturday Night Massacre and in the middle of the Arab oil embargo. In New Jersey, Democrat Brendan T. Byrne, a former prosecutor and judge, defeated Republican Charles W. Sandman by about 35 points. Sandman had beaten Governor William T. Cahill in the Republican primary, and Byrne campaigned as a clean-government candidate. Virginia's race was different. Mills E. Godwin Jr., who had been a Democratic governor from 1966 to 1970, ran as a Republican and narrowly beat Henry Howell, a populist who ran as an independent with no Democratic nominee in the field. Godwin's party switch reflected the steady movement of conservative Virginia Democrats toward the Republicans.

Every race

StateDemocratVotesRepublicanVotesOthersMargin
New Jersey flip Brendan T. Byrne1,414,613 (66.7%) Charles W. Sandman676,235 (31.9%) 31,162 D+34.8
Virginia none Mills Godwin525,075 (50.7%) Henry Howell (Independent) 510,103 (49.3%)
 R+50.7

Margin: the Democrat's share of all votes minus the Republican's. Margins are Democrat minus Republican, of all votes. Certified results, from the states' own archives, the MIT Election Data and Science Lab, Heideman (2026) and Algara & Amlani (2021). By county: "As they were" draws each county as it stood on election day; "Today's" shares the old votes among today's counties by area. County boundaries: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5). How these results were checked.

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