Kwanzan Cherry

by | Feb 6, 2018 | Flowering Trees

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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 election to feature a candidate who is still alive or living today as of 2024.

Election 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 a man named James Flournoy – no relation to Houston – in a very close election.

Primary results

Democratic Party

Democratic primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Edmund G. Brown Jr. 1,085,752 37.86%
Democratic Joseph Alioto 544,007 18.97%
Democratic Bob Moretti 478,469 16.68%
Democratic William M. Roth 293,686 10.24%
Democratic Jerome R. Waldie 227,489 7.93%
Democratic Baxter Ward 79,745 2.78%
Democratic Herbert Hafif 77,505 2.70%
Democratic Alex A. Aloia 18,400 0.64%
Democratic Conie R. Robertson 11,493 0.40%
Democratic George Henry Wagner 8,955 0.31%
Democratic Jim Wedworth 7,973 0.28%
Democratic Joseph Francis Brouillette 7,906 0.28%
Democratic John Hancock Abbott 6,961 0.24%
Democratic Josephum S. Ramos 6,721 0.23%
Democratic Eileen Anderson 6,666 0.23%
Democratic Chris Musun 3,495 0.12%
Democratic Russ Priebe 1,427 0.05%
Democratic Scattering 1,349 0.05%
Total votes 2,867,999 100.00%

Republican Party

Republican primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Houston I. Flournoy 1,164,015 62.96%
Republican Ed Reinecke 556,259 30.09%
Republican James Ware 36,784 1.99%
Republican Glenn Mitchel 31,518 1.70%
Republican J. F. Stay 29,297 1.58%
Republican William Nelson 22,597 1.22%
Republican Scattering 8,355 0.45%
Total votes 1,848,825 100.00%

American Independent Party

American Independent primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
American Independent Edmon V. Kasier 12,408 95.15%
American Independent Scattering 633 4.85%
Total votes 13,041 100.00%

Peace and Freedom Party

Peace and Freedom primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Peace and Freedom Elizabeth Keathley 2,111 28.06%
Peace and Freedom Lester Higby 1,855 24.65%
Peace and Freedom C. T. Weber 1,822 24.22%
Peace and Freedom Trudy Saposhnek 1,417 18.83%
Peace and Freedom Scattering 319 4.24%
Total votes 7,524 100.00%

General election results

1974 California gubernatorial election[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Edmund G. Brown Jr. 3,131,648 50.12% +4.98%
Republican Houston I. Flournoy 2,952,954 47.26% −5.57%
American Independent Edmon V. Kaiser 83,869 1.34% +0.33%
Peace and Freedom Elizabeth Keathley 75,004 1.20% +0.19%
Scattering 4,595 0.07%
Majority 178,694 2.86%
Total votes 6,248,070 100.00%
Democratic gain from Republican Swing +10.56%

Results by county

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

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Notes

  1. ^ County totals do not include the write-in votes, which are only given as statewide totals in the Statement Of Vote

References

  1. ^ a b c d California Secretary of State. Statement of Vote Primary Election June 4, 1974. Sacramento, California. pp. 5–8. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  2. ^ a b California Secretary of State. Statement of Vote General Election, November 5, 1974. Sacramento, California. p. 7. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
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