1978 California gubernatorial election
The 1978 California gubernatorial election occurred on November 7, 1978. The Democratic incumbent, Jerry Brown, defeated the Republican nominee, Attorney General Evelle J. Younger, in a landslide.
Primary election summary
In the Republican gubernatorial primary, California Attorney General Evelle Younger defeated Ed Davis, Ken Maddy, and Pete Wilson. Incumbent Jerry Brown had only minor opposition in the Democratic Primary. The most newsworthy battle in this primary election was Proposition 13, the initiative authored by Howard Jarvis which sought to drastically reduce property taxes and change the way property taxes were calculated. Younger and most Republicans supported Proposition 13 while Brown and most Democrats opposed it. The initiative passed with 64.8% of the vote; it is still in effect, and many other states passed similar laws.Primary Election-Republican June 6, 1978
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
| Evelle J. Younger | Republican | 1,008,087 | 41.0 |
| Edward M. Davis | Republican | 738,087 | 30.0 |
| Kenneth Maddy | Republican | 484,583 | 19.7 |
| Pete Wilson | Republican | 230,146 | 9.3 |
Primary Election-Democratic June 6, 1978
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
| Jerry Brown | Democrat | 2,567,067 | 77.5 |
| David Rock | Democrat | 132,706 | 4.0 |
| John Hancock Abbott | Democrat | 127,506 | 3.9 |
| Others | Democrat | 357,245 | 14.6 |
General election
What followed in the general election was one of the most remarkable turnarounds in California election history. Younger attempted to seize the momentum from his support and passage of Proposition 13, but was a drab speaker, dull campaigner, and lacked an effective organization. In addition, the tough primary battle left him short of money. On the other hand, Brown, who opposed Proposition 13, used the power of incumbency and announced "the people have spoken, and as Governor I will diligently enforce their will." Thus Brown turned a negative into a positive. In addition, since he was relatively unchallenged in the primary, he had a much bigger campaign war chest. Brown ultimately won reelection in a landslide.Results by county
Brown is the most recent Democratic California gubernatorial nominee to have won Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Fresno, Kern, Lassen, Madera, Mariposa, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, Tuolumne, and Yuba Counties. The Democratic gubernatorial candidate would not win Amador, Alpine, Kings, Merced, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Stanislaus, and Trinity Counties again until 1998, Nevada County again until 2014, and Orange County again until 2018.| County | Brown | Votes | Younger | Votes | Clark | Votes | Others | Votes |
| San Francisco | 69.46% | 156,601 | 22.81% | 51,429 | 5.13% | 11,577 | 2.60% | 5,858 |
| Alameda | 63.81% | 217,746 | 25.97% | 88,619 | 7.13% | 24,336 | 3.08% | 10,516 |
| Santa Clara | 61.35% | 227,493 | 29.79% | 110,444 | 6.89% | 25,550 | 1.97% | 7,296 |
| Santa Cruz | 60.85% | 40,490 | 31.11% | 20,698 | 5.21% | 3,470 | 2.83% | 1,882 |
| Yolo | 59.39% | 24,357 | 30.97% | 12,703 | 7.47% | 3,064 | 2.17% | 891 |
| Solano | 58.05% | 34,513 | 33.94% | 20,176 | 6.17% | 3,670 | 1.84% | 1,093 |
| San Diego | 57.49% | 316,223 | 35.85% | 197,167 | 4.72% | 25,964 | 1.94% | 10,653 |
| Los Angeles | 57.34% | 1,178,368 | 36.23% | 744,491 | 4.56% | 93,692 | 1.87% | 38,461 |
| Santa Barbara | 56.68% | 59,933 | 36.56% | 38,656 | 4.50% | 4,763 | 2.25% | 2,379 |
| San Mateo | 56.18% | 113,402 | 34.25% | 69,131 | 7.47% | 15,072 | 2.10% | 4,243 |
| Marin | 55.75% | 49,759 | 33.49% | 29,888 | 8.61% | 7,683 | 2.16% | 1,925 |
| Fresno | 55.67% | 71,657 | 39.58% | 50,950 | 2.84% | 3,653 | 1.91% | 2,459 |
| Merced | 55.62% | 16,825 | 40.21% | 12,165 | 2.50% | 756 | 1.67% | 505 |
| Stanislaus | 55.62% | 36,676 | 38.29% | 25,247 | 3.85% | 2,539 | 2.25% | 1,481 |
| Plumas | 55.48% | 3,599 | 39.17% | 2,541 | 3.21% | 208 | 2.14% | 139 |
| Shasta | 55.26% | 19,432 | 36.11% | 12,698 | 6.42% | 2,256 | 2.21% | 777 |
| Sacramento | 54.91% | 139,821 | 34.74% | 88,445 | 8.30% | 21,137 | 2.05% | 5,211 |
| Yuba | 54.84% | 6,434 | 37.52% | 4,402 | 5.75% | 675 | 1.88% | 221 |
| Sonoma | 54.29% | 56,920 | 35.85% | 37,584 | 7.16% | 7,506 | 2.70% | 2,836 |
| Contra Costa | 54.27% | 122,565 | 35.79% | 80,821 | 7.97% | 17,989 | 1.97% | 4,458 |
| Riverside | 54.23% | 101,377 | 40.42% | 75,564 | 3.74% | 6,982 | 1.61% | 3,007 |
| Mendocino | 54.14% | 11,877 | 36.09% | 7,916 | 6.57% | 1,442 | 3.20% | 702 |
| San Bernardino | 54.01% | 115,082 | 40.66% | 86,638 | 3.36% | 7,151 | 1.98% | 4,224 |
| Kings | 53.84% | 8,794 | 42.49% | 6,940 | 1.72% | 281 | 1.96% | 320 |
| Mariposa | 53.02% | 2,361 | 39.84% | 1,774 | 4.76% | 212 | 2.38% | 106 |
| Lake | 52.87% | 6,670 | 39.72% | 5,012 | 5.16% | 651 | 2.25% | 284 |
| Ventura | 52.78% | 75,173 | 40.57% | 57,777 | 4.86% | 6,916 | 1.80% | 2,557 |
| Alpine | 52.74% | 202 | 39.43% | 151 | 4.70% | 18 | 3.13% | 12 |
| Monterey | 52.35% | 34,649 | 41.07% | 27,180 | 4.95% | 3,278 | 1.63% | 1,080 |
| Madera | 52.17% | 7,529 | 43.16% | 6,230 | 2.87% | 414 | 1.80% | 260 |
| San Joaquin | 52.17% | 49,169 | 41.84% | 39,425 | 4.31% | 4,063 | 1.68% | 1,582 |
| San Luis Obispo | 51.20% | 25,695 | 43.22% | 21,689 | 3.53% | 1,772 | 2.05% | 1,030 |
| Placer | 51.12% | 20,384 | 39.03% | 15,563 | 8.38% | 3,342 | 1.48% | 589 |
| Siskiyou | 51.11% | 6,851 | 42.88% | 5,747 | 3.71% | 497 | 2.31% | 309 |
| Tuolumne | 51.09% | 6,772 | 43.44% | 5,757 | 3.61% | 478 | 1.86% | 247 |
| Napa | 50.53% | 19,202 | 41.11% | 15,621 | 6.48% | 2,461 | 1.89% | 717 |
| Trinity | 50.39% | 2,215 | 40.24% | 1,769 | 6.78% | 298 | 2.59% | 114 |
| Humboldt | 50.37% | 21,243 | 39.49% | 16,658 | 6.60% | 2,783 | 3.54% | 1,494 |
| Lassen | 50.34% | 3,377 | 42.47% | 2,849 | 4.83% | 324 | 2.37% | 159 |
| Tehama | 50.25% | 5,986 | 41.99% | 5,002 | 5.33% | 635 | 2.43% | 289 |
| Amador | 49.65% | 4,144 | 42.34% | 3,534 | 5.71% | 477 | 2.30% | 192 |
| Butte | 49.65% | 26,051 | 42.20% | 22,142 | 5.79% | 3,038 | 2.37% | 1,243 |
| Sierra | 49.45% | 725 | 43.93% | 644 | 4.84% | 71 | 1.77% | 26 |
| San Benito | 49.23% | 2,805 | 42.31% | 2,411 | 6.12% | 349 | 2.33% | 133 |
| Calaveras | 48.74% | 4,019 | 44.76% | 3,691 | 4.57% | 377 | 1.93% | 159 |
| Orange | 48.68% | 299,577 | 44.21% | 272,076 | 5.67% | 34,903 | 1.43% | 8,821 |
| El Dorado | 48.35% | 13,832 | 42.60% | 12,187 | 6.36% | 1,819 | 2.69% | 771 |
| Kern | 47.71% | 49,144 | 40.32% | 41,531 | 10.25% | 10,560 | 1.71% | 1,760 |
| Tulare | 46.80% | 24,989 | 48.95% | 26,136 | 2.48% | 1,322 | 1.78% | 949 |
| Imperial | 46.05% | 8,385 | 47.39% | 8,629 | 4.78% | 870 | 1.78% | 324 |
| Nevada | 45.36% | 9,016 | 42.09% | 8,365 | 11.25% | 2,236 | 1.30% | 259 |
| Colusa | 45.01% | 1,958 | 46.09% | 2,005 | 7.22% | 314 | 1.68% | 73 |
| Mono | 44.82% | 1,042 | 50.06% | 1,164 | 3.27% | 76 | 1.85% | 43 |
| Sutter | 44.09% | 6,357 | 47.65% | 6,871 | 6.96% | 1,003 | 1.30% | 188 |
| Glenn | 42.98% | 3,120 | 48.51% | 3,521 | 6.12% | 444 | 2.40% | 174 |
| Del Norte | 41.73% | 2,451 | 49.93% | 2,933 | 3.20% | 188 | 5.14% | 302 |
| Modoc | 40.28% | 1,235 | 52.71% | 1,616 | 4.47% | 137 | 2.54% | 78 |
| Inyo | 39.53% | 2,540 | 55.42% | 3,561 | 3.39% | 218 | 1.65% | 106 |