The 1978 California gubernatorial election occurred on November 7, 1978. The Democratic incumbent, Jerry Brown, defeated the Republican nominee, Attorney GeneralEvelle J. Younger, in a landslide.
In the Republican gubernatorial primary, California Attorney General Evelle Younger (who was the only Republican elected to a statewide office in the post-Watergate Democratic onslaught in the 1974 California general election) defeated Ed Davis (State Senator and former Los Angeles Police Chief), Ken Maddy (State Senate Minority Leader from Fresno), and Pete Wilson (Mayor of San Diego). Incumbent Jerry Brown had only minor opposition in the Democratic Primary. The primary election included 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(i)
Democrat
2,567,067
77.5
Democrat
132,706
4.0
Democrat
127,506
3.9
Others
Democrat
357,245
14.6
General election[]
The primary battle left Younger short of money, while Brown had a much larger campaign fund and won reelection in a landslide.
1978 gubernatorial election, California
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Democratic
Jerry Brown (Incumbent)
3,878,812
56.05
Republican
Evelle J. Younger
2,526,534
36.50
Independent
Ed Clark
377,960
5.46
Peace and Freedom
Marilyn Seals
70,864
1.02
American Independent
Theresa F. "Tena" Dietrich
67,103
0.97
Total votes
6,921,273
100.00
Turnout
Democratichold
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.