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United States · Election results history · 1977
Election 1977 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.

1977 governor election results by state and county

Brendan T. Byrne won a second term in New Jersey in 1977, and Republican John N. Dalton defeated Henry Howell in Virginia.

2 governor races were held in 1977. Democrats won 1 and Republicans 1.

The closest were Virginia (R+12.6) and New Jersey (D+13.9).

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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 1977 governor elections

New Jersey and Virginia elected governors in 1977, the first year of Jimmy Carter's presidency. In New Jersey, Democratic Governor Brendan T. Byrne had been considered vulnerable after signing the state's first income tax, which was tied to a court order on school funding. He nonetheless beat Republican Raymond H. Bateman by about 14 points. In Virginia, Republican John N. Dalton, the lieutenant governor, defeated Democrat Henry Howell by about 13 points. Howell, a populist from Norfolk, had nearly beaten Mills Godwin in 1973 as an independent. Dalton's win gave Republicans their third straight Virginia governorship, after Linwood Holton and Godwin, a run that ended in 1981. Neither state changed party in 1977. Both had voted narrowly for Gerald Ford over Carter in the presidential race a year earlier.

Every race

StateDemocratVotesRepublicanVotesOthersMargin
New Jersey Brendan T. Byrne1,184,564 (55.7%) Raymond H. Bateman888,880 (41.8%) 52,820 D+13.9
Virginia Henry Howell541,319 (43.3%) John N. Dalton699,302 (55.9%) 10,319 R+12.6

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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