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United States · Election results history · 1978 governors · California
Election 1978 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.

1978 California governor election

Edmund G. Brown Jr. (Democrat) beat Evelle J. Younger (Republican) in California in 1978, 56.0% to 36.5%, a margin of 19.5 points and 1,352,278 votes.

The Democratic hold continued from 1974, when Edmund G. Brown also won.

Democrats led in 49 of the 58 counties as they stood then and Republicans in 9. The largest, Los Angeles, cast 2,055,012 votes and went to the Democrat by 21.1 points. The closest was Colusa, where 47 votes 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
Edmund G. Brown Jr. won Democratic 3,878,812 56.0%
Evelle J. Younger Republican 2,526,534 36.5%
Ed Clark Independent 377,960 5.5%
All other candidates 139,072 2.0%
Total6,922,378

Every county

CountyDemocratRepublicanOthersTotalMargin
Los Angeles 1,178,368 57.3% 744,491 36.2% 132,153 2,055,012 D+21.1
Orange 299,577 48.7% 272,076 44.2% 43,724 615,377 D+4.5
San Diego 316,223 57.5% 197,167 35.8% 36,617 550,007 D+21.6
Santa Clara 227,493 61.4% 110,444 29.8% 32,846 370,783 D+31.6
Alameda 217,746 63.8% 88,619 26.0% 34,852 341,217 D+37.8
Sacramento 139,821 54.9% 88,445 34.7% 26,348 254,614 D+20.2
Contra Costa 122,565 54.3% 80,821 35.8% 22,447 225,833 D+18.5
San Francisco 156,601 69.5% 51,429 22.8% 17,435 225,465 D+46.6
San Bernardino 115,082 54.0% 86,638 40.7% 11,375 213,095 D+13.3
San Mateo 113,402 56.2% 69,131 34.2% 19,315 201,848 D+21.9
Riverside 101,377 54.2% 75,564 40.4% 9,989 186,930 D+13.8
Ventura 75,173 52.8% 57,777 40.6% 9,473 142,423 D+12.2
Fresno 71,657 55.7% 50,950 39.6% 6,112 128,719 D+16.1
Santa Barbara 59,933 56.7% 38,656 36.6% 7,142 105,731 D+20.1
Sonoma 56,920 54.3% 37,584 35.8% 10,342 104,846 D+18.4
Kern 49,144 47.7% 41,531 40.3% 12,320 102,995 D+7.4
San Joaquin 49,169 52.2% 39,425 41.8% 5,645 94,239 D+10.3
Marin 49,759 55.7% 29,888 33.5% 9,608 89,255 D+22.3
Santa Cruz 40,490 60.9% 20,698 31.1% 5,352 66,540 D+29.7
Monterey 34,649 52.4% 27,180 41.1% 4,358 66,187 D+11.3
Stanislaus 36,676 55.6% 25,247 38.3% 4,020 65,943 D+17.3
Solano 34,513 58.1% 20,176 33.9% 4,763 59,452 D+24.1
Tulare 24,989 46.8% 26,136 48.9% 2,271 53,396 R+2.1
Butte 26,051 49.6% 22,142 42.2% 4,281 52,474 D+7.4
San Luis Obispo 25,695 51.2% 21,689 43.2% 2,802 50,186 D+8.0
Humboldt 21,243 50.4% 16,658 39.5% 4,277 42,178 D+10.9
Yolo 24,357 59.4% 12,703 31.0% 3,955 41,015 D+28.4
Placer 20,384 51.1% 15,563 39.0% 3,931 39,878 D+12.1
Napa 19,202 50.5% 15,621 41.1% 3,178 38,001 D+9.4
Shasta 19,432 55.3% 12,698 36.1% 3,033 35,163 D+19.2
Merced 16,825 55.6% 12,165 40.2% 1,261 30,251 D+15.4
El Dorado 13,832 48.3% 12,187 42.6% 2,590 28,609 D+5.7
Mendocino 11,877 54.1% 7,916 36.1% 2,144 21,937 D+18.1
Nevada 9,016 45.4% 8,365 42.1% 2,495 19,876 D+3.3
Imperial 8,385 46.1% 8,629 47.4% 1,194 18,208 R+1.3
Kings 8,794 53.8% 6,940 42.5% 601 16,335 D+11.3
Madera 7,529 52.2% 6,230 43.2% 674 14,433 D+9.0
Sutter 6,357 44.1% 6,871 47.7% 1,191 14,419 R+3.6
Siskiyou 6,851 51.1% 5,747 42.9% 806 13,404 D+8.2
Tuolumne 6,772 51.1% 5,757 43.4% 725 13,254 D+7.7
Lake 6,670 52.9% 5,012 39.7% 935 12,617 D+13.1
Tehama 5,986 50.3% 5,002 42.0% 924 11,912 D+8.3
Yuba 6,434 54.8% 4,402 37.5% 896 11,732 D+17.3
Amador 4,144 49.6% 3,534 42.3% 669 8,347 D+7.3
Calaveras 4,019 48.7% 3,691 44.8% 536 8,246 D+4.0
Glenn 3,120 43.0% 3,521 48.5% 618 7,259 R+5.5
Lassen 3,377 50.3% 2,849 42.5% 483 6,709 D+7.9
Plumas 3,599 55.5% 2,541 39.2% 347 6,487 D+16.3
Inyo 2,540 39.5% 3,561 55.4% 324 6,425 R+15.9
Del Norte 2,451 41.7% 2,933 49.9% 490 5,874 R+8.2
San Benito 2,805 49.2% 2,411 42.3% 482 5,698 D+6.9
Mariposa 2,361 53.0% 1,774 39.8% 318 4,453 D+13.2
Trinity 2,215 50.4% 1,769 40.2% 412 4,396 D+10.1
Colusa 1,958 45.0% 2,005 46.1% 387 4,350 R+1.1
Modoc 1,235 40.3% 1,616 52.7% 215 3,066 R+12.4
Mono 1,042 44.8% 1,164 50.1% 119 2,325 R+5.2
Sierra 725 49.5% 644 43.9% 97 1,466 D+5.5
Alpine 202 52.7% 151 39.4% 30 383 D+13.3

Counties as they stood in 1978; 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