2018 California gubernatorial election

See also: 2018 United States gubernatorial elections

Elections in California
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The 2018 California gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the governor of California, concurrently with elections for the rest of California's executive branch, as well as elections to the United States Senate and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic governor Jerry Brown was ineligible to run for re-election for a third consecutive (and fifth non-consecutive) term due to term limits from the Constitution of California. The race was between the incumbent Democratic lieutenant governor Gavin Newsom and businessman John H. Cox, a Republican, who qualified for the general election after placing first and second in the June 5, 2018, primary election.

Newsom won in a landslide, with 62% of the vote, the biggest victory in a gubernatorial race in California since Earl Warren won re-election in 1950, and the biggest victory for a non-incumbent since 1930; Newsom received almost eight million votes. The election also marked the first time in 40 years since Orange County had voted for the Democratic candidate since Jerry Brown won it in 1978, and the first time Democrats won three consecutive gubernatorial elections in the state's history. Newsom was sworn in on January 7, 2019.

Candidates

A primary election was held on June 5, 2018. Under California's non-partisan blanket primary law, all candidates appeared on the same ballot, regardless of party. Voters may vote for any candidate, regardless of their party affiliation. The top two finishers – regardless of party – advance to the general election in November, regardless of whether a candidate manages to receive a majority of the votes cast in the primary election.

Democratic Party

Declared

Declined

Republican Party

Declared

  • Travis Allen, state assemblyman
  • John H. Cox, businessman
  • Yvonne Girard, US military veteran
  • Peter Y. Liu, entrepreneur, real estate agent, US Army veteran
  • Robert C. Newman II, businessman, psychologist, farmer
  • K. Pearce (write-in)

Withdrawn

Declined

Libertarian Party

Declared

Green Party

Declared

  • Christopher Carlson, puppeteer
  • Veronika Fimbres (write-in)
  • Josh Jones, author, geologist, solar electric designer

Peace and Freedom Party

Declared

Independent (no party)

Declared

  • Armando M. Arreola (write-in)
  • Shubham Goel (later a contestant on Netflix's The Circle)
  • Hakan "Hawk" Mikado
  • Desmond Silveira, engineer and former national committee member of the American Solidarity Party
  • Arman Soltani (write-in)
  • Jeffrey Edward Taylor
  • Peter Crawford Valentino (write-in)
  • Johnny Wattenburg

Notes

Primary election

From the latter half of 2017, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom was widely seen as the favored front runner for the top two primary. Businessman John Cox and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had both been running closely behind Newsom to obtain the second place spot. However, in late 2017, as more prominent Democrats entered the race, Villaraigosa saw his polling numbers slip out of competition with Cox. This mainly left the race between Newsom and Cox, with a third place free-for-all between Allen and Villaraigosa.

Endorsements

Travis Allen (R)

U.S. representatives

State-level officials

Individuals

Newspapers and other media

Organizations

  • California Republican Assembly
John Chiang (D)

Federal elected officials

State-level officials

Local-level officials

Organizations

Individuals

Delaine Eastin (D)

State-level officials

Local-level officials

Organizations

Josh Jones (G)

Individuals

Desmond Silveira (ASP)

Individuals

Organizations

Antonio Villaraigosa (D)

U.S. representatives

State-level officials

Local-level officials

Organizations

Individuals

Nickolas Wildstar (L)

Individuals

Organizations

Zoltan Istvan (L)

Organizations

Polling

Graphical summary

Notes
Hypothetical polling

with Kevin Faulconer and Eric Garcetti

Results

county
Results by county:
  Newsom—60–70%
  Newsom—50–60%
  Newsom—40–50%
  Newsom—30–40%
  Newsom—20–30%
  Cox—20–30%
  Cox—30–40%
  Cox—40–50%
  Villaraigosa—30–40%
congressional district
Results by congressional district:
  Newsom—50–60%
  Newsom—40–50%
  Newsom—30–40%
  Newsom—20–30%
  Cox—20–30%
  Cox—30–40%
  Cox—40–50%
  Villaraigosa—20–30%
  Villaraigosa—30–40%
  Villaraigosa—40–50%

Results by county

Red represents counties won by Cox. Blue represents counties won by Newsom. Green represents counties won by Villaraigosa.

General election

Predictions

Notes

Endorsements

John H. Cox (R)

Federal officials

U.S. representatives

State-level officials

Local-level officials

Individuals

Organizations

Newspapers

Gavin Newsom (D)

Federal officials

U.S. senators

U.S. representatives

State-level officials

Local-level officials

Organizations

Individuals

Newspapers

Polling

Hypothetical polling

with Newsom and Chiang

with Newsom and Villaraigosa

with Villaraigosa and Garcetti

Results

Newsom won the general election by the largest margin of any California gubernatorial candidate since Earl Warren's re-election in 1950. In addition to winning the traditional Democratic strongholds of the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles County, Sacramento, and North Coast, Newsom performed well in the traditionally swing Central Coast, San Bernardino County, and San Diego County, as well as narrowly winning traditionally Republican Orange County – the latter voting for a Democrat for the first time in a gubernatorial election since Jerry Brown's first re-election in 1978. Cox did well in the state's more rural areas, even flipping Stanislaus County; Stanislaus is the only county that voted for Brown in 2014 but flipped to Cox in 2018. Cox also narrowly won Fresno County and Riverside County in the Inland Empire in addition to handily winning traditionally Republican Kern County in the Central Valley.

By county

Blue represents counties won by Newsom. Red represents counties won by Cox.

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

By congressional district

Newsom won 42 of 53 congressional districts, with the remaining 11 going to Cox, including four that elected Democrats.

By city

Cities & Unincorporated Areas that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Cities & Unincorporated Areas that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Voter demographics

See also

Notes

References

Official campaign websites

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