1974 California gubernatorial election County results Congressional district results Brown : 40–50% 50–60% 60–70%Flournoy : 40–50% 50–60% 60–70%
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.
Election background [ edit ] 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 a man named James Flournoy – no relation to Houston – in a very close election.
American Independent Party [ edit ] Peace and Freedom Party [ edit ] General election results [ edit ] County Edmund G. Brown Jr. Democratic Houston I. Flournoy Republican Edmon V. Kaiser American Independent Elizabeth Keathley Peace & Freedom Margin Total votes cast[ a] [ 2] # % # % # % # % # % Alameda 200,165 60.15% 123,656 37.16% 3,588 1.08% 5,341 1.61% 76,509 22.99% 332,750 Alpine 185 44.90% 212 51.46% 5 1.21% 10 2.43% -27 -6.55% 412 Amador 3,198 46.48% 3,483 50.63% 141 2.05% 58 0.84% -285 -4.14% 6,880 Butte 17,007 41.47% 22,499 54.86% 859 2.09% 643 1.57% -5,492 -13.39% 41,008 Calaveras 2,702 41.25% 3,709 56.63% 87 1.33% 52 0.79% -1,007 -15.37% 6,550 Colusa 1,884 42.16% 2,503 56.01% 54 1.21% 28 0.63% -619 -13.85% 4,469 Contra Costa 97,038 48.31% 99,470 49.52% 2,372 1.18% 1,975 0.98% -2,432 -1.21% 200,855 Del Norte 2,149 51.60% 1,921 46.12% 54 1.30% 41 0.98% 228 5.47% 4,165 El Dorado 8,076 46.09% 8,922 50.92% 342 1.95% 183 1.04% -846 -4.83% 17,523 Fresno 61,596 52.41% 53,308 45.36% 1,337 1.14% 1,277 1.09% 8,288 7.05% 117,518 Glenn 2,645 40.86% 3,675 56.77% 115 1.78% 39 0.60% -1,030 -15.91% 6,474 Humboldt 22,805 58.66% 14,958 38.48% 319 0.82% 792 2.04% 7,847 20.19% 38,875 Imperial 9,033 49.04% 9,011 48.92% 203 1.10% 171 0.93% 22 0.12% 18,418 Inyo 2,417 41.54% 3,238 55.65% 106 1.82% 58 1.00% -821 -14.11% 5,819 Kern 44,828 48.29% 45,775 49.31% 1,616 1.74% 621 0.67% -947 -1.02% 92,840 Kings 7,444 52.11% 6,540 45.78% 163 1.14% 138 0.97% 904 6.33% 14,285 Lake 4,733 45.71% 5,381 51.97% 159 1.54% 81 0.78% -648 -6.26% 10,354 Lassen 3,111 57.13% 2,165 39.76% 117 2.15% 52 0.96% 946 17.37% 5,445 Los Angeles 1,059,533 52.84% 898,808 44.82% 24,601 1.23% 22,223 1.11% 160,725 8.02% 2,005,165 Madera 5,584 51.17% 5,137 47.08% 124 1.14% 67 0.61% 447 4.10% 10,912 Marin 36,384 45.84% 40,619 51.18% 905 1.14% 1,456 1.83% -4,235 -5.34% 79,364 Mariposa 1,658 45.28% 1,893 51.69% 66 1.80% 45 1.23% -235 -6.42% 3,662 Mendocino 9,158 50.31% 8,373 46.00% 312 1.71% 360 1.98% 785 4.31% 18,203 Merced 12,779 51.89% 11,339 46.05% 318 1.29% 189 0.77% 1,440 5.85% 24,625 Modoc 1,395 44.16% 1,705 53.97% 41 1.30% 18 0.57% -310 -9.81% 3,159 Mono 817 39.45% 1,161 56.06% 55 2.66% 38 1.83% -344 -16.61% 2,071 Monterey 28,832 46.09% 32,218 51.50% 748 1.20% 764 1.22% -3,386 -5.41% 62,562 Napa 15,200 47.44% 16,048 50.09% 441 1.38% 350 1.09% -848 -2.65% 32,039 Nevada 5,225 41.00% 7,101 55.72% 249 1.95% 169 1.33% -1,876 -14.72% 12,744 Orange 212,638 40.60% 297,870 56.87% 8,198 1.57% 5,090 0.97% -85,232 -16.27% 523,796 Placer 15,744 50.50% 14,510 46.54% 566 1.82% 358 1.15% 1,234 3.96% 31,178 Plumas 3,031 55.77% 2,279 41.93% 66 1.21% 59 1.09% 752 13.84% 5,435 Riverside 70,515 47.93% 73,102 49.69% 2,115 1.44% 1,374 0.93% -2,587 -1.76% 147,106 Sacramento 117,711 51.62% 104,595 45.86% 2,812 1.23% 2,934 1.29% 13,116 5.75% 228,052 San Benito 2,722 45.05% 3,199 52.95% 60 0.99% 61 1.01% -477 -7.89% 6,042 San Bernardino 87,133 49.85% 82,611 47.27% 3,624 2.07% 1,413 0.81% 4,522 2.59% 174,782 San Diego 196,930 42.82% 249,444 54.24% 7,999 1.74% 5,501 1.20% -52,514 -11.42% 459,874 San Francisco 136,896 61.81% 78,759 35.56% 1,806 0.82% 4,009 1.81% 58,137 26.25% 221,470 San Joaquin 38,429 45.69% 43,744 52.01% 1,284 1.53% 643 0.76% -5,315 -6.32% 84,100 San Luis Obispo 19,429 47.82% 20,300 49.96% 394 0.97% 510 1.26% -871 -2.14% 40,633 San Mateo 91,808 49.62% 88,235 47.69% 2,622 1.42% 2,361 1.28% 3,573 1.93% 185,026 Santa Barbara 42,221 45.99% 47,263 51.48% 854 0.93% 1,470 1.60% -5,042 -5.49% 91,808 Santa Clara 166,760 50.63% 153,761 46.69% 4,628 1.41% 4,201 1.28% 12,999 3.95% 329,350 Santa Cruz 28,600 48.67% 27,750 47.23% 822 1.40% 1,587 2.70% 850 1.45% 58,789 Shasta 15,764 55.51% 11,716 41.25% 637 2.24% 284 1.00% 4,048 14.25% 28,401 Sierra 629 52.99% 513 43.22% 26 2.19% 19 1.60% 116 9.77% 1,187 Siskiyou 6,515 53.93% 5,229 43.28% 201 1.66% 136 1.13% 1,286 10.64% 12,081 Solano 24,955 54.43% 19,524 42.58% 591 1.29% 781 1.70% 5,431 11.84% 45,851 Sonoma 40,756 48.48% 40,339 47.98% 1,077 1.28% 1,898 2.26% 417 0.50% 84,070 Stanislaus 27,931 47.97% 29,186 50.13% 673 1.16% 430 0.74% -1,255 -2.16% 58,220 Sutter 5,141 39.32% 7,642 58.45% 182 1.39% 110 0.84% -2,501 -19.13% 13,075 Tehama 5,618 49.73% 5,373 47.56% 219 1.94% 87 0.77% 245 2.17% 11,297 Trinity 1,762 51.24% 1,519 44.17% 104 3.02% 54 1.57% 243 7.07% 3,439 Tulare 20,589 44.93% 24,103 52.60% 692 1.51% 440 0.96% -3,514 -7.67% 45,824 Tuolumne 4,165 40.16% 5,952 57.39% 162 1.56% 93 0.90% -1,787 -17.23% 10,372 Ventura 56,189 47.20% 60,122 50.50% 1,554 1.31% 1,184 0.99% -3,933 -3.30% 119,049 Yolo 18,249 54.00% 14,734 43.60% 230 0.68% 579 1.71% 3,515 10.40% 33,792 Yuba 5,237 51.04% 4,752 46.32% 173 1.69% 98 0.96% 485 4.73% 10,260 Total 3,131,648 50.12% 2,952,954 47.26% 83,869 1.34% 75,004 1.20% 178,694 2.86% 6,248,070
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic [ edit ] Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican [ edit ] ^ County totals do not include the write-in votes, which are only given as statewide totals in the Statement Of Vote