- Source: 1974 California gubernatorial election
The 1974 California gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 1974. The primary elections occurred on June 4, 1974. Incumbent Governor and former actor Ronald Reagan retired after two terms. Democratic Secretary of State Jerry Brown, son of former Governor Pat Brown, defeated Republican Controller Houston I. Flournoy in the general election. This is the first election since 1958 to not feature a Republican candidate that went on to become a U.S. president. With Brown’s election, California had a Democratic Governor and two Democratic Senators (John V. Tunney and Alan Cranston) for the first time since the Civil War.
This is the earliest California gubernatorial election to feature a major party candidate who is still alive or living today as of 2024.
Background
For the first time since 1958, the incumbent governor of California (in this case, Ronald Reagan) was not running for reelection, in either the primary or general election. This led to a pair of hotly contested primary elections. On the Republican side, Lieutenant Governor Edwin Reinecke ran against State Controller Houston I. Flournoy. The moderate Flournoy won a surprisingly easy victory over the more conservative Reinecke. On the Democratic side, there were numerous contenders for the nomination, including Secretary of State (and son of former Governor Pat Brown) Jerry Brown, Assembly Speaker Bob Moretti, and the mayor of San Francisco, Joseph Alioto. Brown ultimately won the primary, easily outdistancing his nearest rival Alioto.
Brown had statewide name recognition, benefited from the fact Democrats outnumbered Republicans in California, and maintained a lead in most of the early polls. Flournoy began to gain in the polls as the election approached, but Brown won, although by a much smaller margin than predicted. Coincidentally, when Brown ran for Secretary of State four years earlier, he defeated James Flournoy – no relation to Houston – in a very close election.
Primary results
= Democratic Party
== Republican Party
== American Independent Party
== Peace and Freedom Party
=General election results
= Results by county
=Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
Del Norte
Humboldt
Imperial
Los Angeles
Mendocino
Merced
Placer
San Bernardino
San Mateo
Santa Clara
Santa Cruz
Siskiyou
Solano
Sonoma
Tehama
Trinity
Yuba
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
Stanislaus
Notes
References
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- 1974 California gubernatorial election
- 1994 California gubernatorial election
- 1986 California gubernatorial election
- 1998 California gubernatorial election
- 1978 California gubernatorial election
- 2010 California gubernatorial election
- 2022 California gubernatorial election
- 2006 California gubernatorial election
- 2026 California gubernatorial election
- 2002 California gubernatorial election
