Election 1974 Results
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1974 governor election results by state and county
Watergate gave Democrats a sweeping 1974, as they won 28 governor races and took nine states from Republicans, including California, New York and Massachusetts.
35 governor races were held in 1974. Democrats won 27 and Republicans 7, and 1 went to neither party.
The closest were Alaska (R+0.3), Ohio (R+0.4) and Kansas (R+0.5). 14 governorships changed party: Alaska to the Republicans, Arizona to the Democrats, California to the Democrats, Colorado to the Democrats, Connecticut to the Democrats, Kansas to the Republicans, Maine to the third party, Massachusetts to the Democrats, New York to the Democrats, Ohio to the Republicans, Oregon to the Democrats, South Carolina to the Republicans, Tennessee to the Democrats and Wyoming to the Democrats.
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 1974 governor elections
The 1974 midterms came three months after Richard Nixon resigned over Watergate and two months after Gerald Ford pardoned him. Inflation and recession added to Republican troubles, and Democrats made big gains at every level. Democrats won 28 governor races to the Republicans' six. They took Arizona, where Raul H. Castro won by under a point, California with Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown Jr., Colorado with Richard D. Lamm, Connecticut with Ella Grasso, Massachusetts with Michael Dukakis, New York with Hugh Carey, Oregon, Tennessee and Wyoming. Grasso was the first woman elected governor in her own right. In Maine, independent James B. Longley won the open seat. Republicans had few gains, but they were close ones. James A. Rhodes unseated John J. Gilligan in Ohio by 0.4 points, Robert F. Bennett won Kansas by half a point, and James B. Edwards became South Carolina's first Republican governor since Reconstruction. William G. Milliken held Michigan, and Meldrim Thomson Jr. kept New Hampshire.
Every race
| State | Democrat | Votes | Republican | Votes | Others | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | George C. Wallace | 497,574 (83.2%) | Elvin McCary | 88,381 (14.8%) | 12,350 | D+68.4 |
| Alaska flip | Bill Egan | 45,553 (47.4%) | Jay Hammond | 45,840 (47.7%) | 4,770 | R+0.3 |
| Arizona flip | Raul H. Castro | 278,375 (50.4%) | Jack R. Williams | 273,674 (49.6%) | 153 | D+0.9 |
| Arkansas | David H. Pryor | 358,018 (65.6%) | Ken Coon | 187,872 (34.4%) | 84 | D+31.2 |
| California flip | Edmund G. Brown | 3,131,648 (50.2%) | Houston I. Flournoy | 2,952,954 (47.3%) | 158,873 | D+2.9 |
| Colorado flip | Richard D. Lamm | 441,199 (53.2%) | John D. Vanderhoof | 378,907 (45.7%) | 8,862 | D+7.5 |
| Connecticut flip | Ella T. Grasso | 643,490 (58.4%) | Robert H. Steele | 440,169 (39.9%) | 19,114 | D+18.4 |
| Florida | Reubin Askew | 1,118,954 (61.2%) | Jerry Thomas | 709,438 (38.8%) | D+22.4 | |
| Georgia | George Busbee | 646,777 (69.1%) | Ronnie Thompson | 289,113 (30.9%) | 548 | D+38.2 |
| Hawaii | George R. Ariyoshi | 136,262 (54.6%) | Randolph Crossley | 113,388 (45.4%) | D+9.2 | |
| Idaho | Cecil D. Andrus | 184,142 (70.9%) | Jack M. Murphy | 68,731 (26.5%) | 6,759 | D+44.5 |
| Iowa | James F. Schaben | 377,553 (41.0%) | Robert E. Ray | 534,518 (58.1%) | 8,387 | R+17.1 |
| Kansas flip | Vern Miller | 384,115 (49.0%) | Robert F. Bennett | 387,792 (49.5%) | 11,968 | R+0.5 |
| Maine flip | George J. Mitchell | 132,219 (36.8%) | James S. Erwin | 84,176 (23.5%) | James B. Longley (Independent) 142,464 (39.7%) |
Ind. +2.9 |
| Maryland | Marvin Mandel | 602,648 (63.5%) | Louise Gore | 346,449 (36.5%) | D+27.0 | |
| Massachusetts flip | Michael S. Dukakis | 992,284 (53.5%) | Francis W. Sargent | 784,353 (42.3%) | 78,161 | D+11.2 |
| Michigan | Sander M. Levin | 1,242,250 (46.8%) | William G. Milliken | 1,356,865 (51.1%) | 57,905 | R+4.3 |
| Minnesota | Wendell R. Anderson | 786,787 (62.8%) | John W. Johnson | 367,722 (29.3%) | 98,389 | D+33.5 |
| Nebraska | J. James Exon | 267,012 (59.2%) | Richard D. Marvel | 159,780 (35.4%) | Ernie Chambers (Write-in) 24,320 (5.4%) |
D+23.8 |
| Nevada | Mike O'Callaghan | 114,114 (67.4%) | Shirley Crumpler | 28,959 (17.1%) | James Ray Houston (Independent American) 26,285 (15.5%) |
D+50.3 |
| New Hampshire | Richard W. Leonard | 110,591 (48.8%) | Meldrim Thomson Jr. | 115,933 (51.1%) | 141 | R+2.4 |
| New Mexico | Jerry Apodaca | 164,172 (49.9%) | Joseph R. Skeen | 160,430 (48.8%) | 4,140 | D+1.1 |
| New York flip | Hugh L. Carey | 3,028,503 (57.2%) | Malcolm Wilson | 2,219,667 (41.9%) | 45,006 | D+15.3 |
| Ohio flip | John J. Gilligan | 1,482,191 (48.2%) | James A. Rhodes | 1,493,679 (48.6%) | 96,140 | R+0.4 |
| Oklahoma | David L. Boren | 514,383 (63.9%) | James M. Inhofe | 290,459 (36.1%) | D+27.8 | |
| Oregon flip | Robert W. Straub | 444,812 (57.7%) | Victor Atiyeh | 324,751 (42.1%) | 1,011 | D+15.6 |
| Pennsylvania | Milton J. Shapp | 1,878,252 (53.8%) | Andrew L. Lewis | 1,578,917 (45.2%) | 34,065 | D+8.6 |
| Rhode Island | Philip W. Noel | 252,436 (78.5%) | James W. Nugent | 69,224 (21.5%) | D+57.0 | |
| South Carolina flip | W.J. Bryan Dorn | 248,861 (47.0%) | James B. Edwards | 266,338 (50.3%) | 13,841 | R+3.3 |
| South Dakota | Richard F. Kneip | 149,151 (53.6%) | John E. Olson | 129,077 (46.4%) | D+7.2 | |
| Tennessee flip | L. Ray Blanton | 576,833 (55.4%) | Lamar Alexander | 455,467 (43.8%) | 8,414 | D+11.7 |
| Texas | Dolph Briscoe | 1,016,334 (61.4%) | Jim Granberry | 514,725 (31.1%) | Ramsey Muniz (Raza Unida) 93,295 (5.6%) |
D+30.3 |
| Vermont | Thomas P. Salmon | 79,842 (56.6%) | Walter L. Kennedy | 53,672 (38.0%) | Martha Abbott (Liberty Union) 7,629 (5.4%) |
D+18.5 |
| Wisconsin | Patrick J. Lucey | 628,639 (53.2%) | William D. Dyke | 497,195 (42.1%) | 56,142 | D+11.1 |
| Wyoming flip | Ed Herschler | 71,741 (55.9%) | Dick Jones | 56,645 (44.1%) | D+11.8 |
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.