1857 California gubernatorial election

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1857 California gubernatorial election
← 1855 September 2, 1857 1859 →
	County results; Weller: 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90%; Stanly: 50–60%; Bowie: 50–60%; Unknown
Governor before election; J. Neely Johnson ; Know Nothing	Elected Governor; John B. Weller ; Democratic

Last updated February 02, 2026

The 1857 California gubernatorial election was held on September 2, 1857, to elect the governor of California.

Results

California gubernatorial election, 1857^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John B. Weller	53,122	56.71%	+9.26%
	Republican	Edward Stanly	21,040	22.46%	+22.46%
	Know Nothing	George Washington Bowie	19,481	20.80%	−31.73%
		Scattering	29	0.03%	+0.01%
Majority			32,082	34.25%
Total votes			93,672	100.00%
	Democratic gain from Know Nothing		Swing	+39.32%

Results by county

County	John B. Weller Democratic		Edward Stanly Republican		George W. Bowie Know Nothing		Scattering Write-in		Margin		Total votes cast^[1]
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast^[1]
Alameda	784	44.90%	945	54.12%	14	0.80%	3	0.17%	-161	-9.22%	1,746
Amador	1,619	52.09%	492	15.83%	997	32.08%	0	0.00%	622^[a]	20.01%	3,108
Butte	2,341	55.19%	1,043	24.59%	853	20.11%	5	0.12%	1,298	30.60%	4,242
Calaveras	2,603	68.57%	505	13.30%	688	18.12%	0	0.00%	1,915^[a]	50.45%	3,796
Colusa	321	59.89%	37	6.90%	178	33.21%	0	0.00%	143^[a]	26.68%	536
Contra Costa	532	60.80%	270	30.86%	73	8.34%	0	0.00%	262	29.94%	875
Del Norte	310	70.62%	67	15.26%	64	14.12%	0	0.00%	243	55.35%	439
El Dorado	3,129	50.80%	1,337	21.70%	1,693	27.48%	1	0.02%	1,436^[a]	23.31%	6,160
Fresno	276	99.64%	1	0.36%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	275	99.28%	277
Humboldt	366	67.28%	178	32.72%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	188	34.56%	544
Klamath	485	85.54%	22	3.88%	60	10.58%	0	0.00%	425^[a]	74.96%	567
Los Angeles	1,304	93.08%	82	5.85%	15	1.07%	0	0.00%	1,222	87.22%	1,401
Marin	444	70.03%	188	29.65%	2	0.32%	0	0.00%	256	40.38%	634
Mariposa	1,217	67.24%	152	8.40%	441	24.36%	0	0.00%	776^[a]	42.87%	1,810
Merced	257	90.18%	9	3.16%	19	6.67%	0	0.00%	238^[a]	83.51%	285
Monterey	509	82.10%	91	14.68%	20	3.23%	0	0.00%	418	67.42%	620
Napa	765	75.97%	224	22.24%	18	1.79%	0	0.00%	541	53.72%	1,007
Nevada	2,956	53.33%	967	17.45%	1,606	28.97%	14	0.25%	1,350^[a]	24.36%	5,543
Placer	1,978	48.04%	715	17.37%	1,424	34.59%	0	0.00%	554^[a]	13.46%	4,117
Plumas	1,460	77.04%	199	10.50%	236	12.45%	0	0.00%	1,224^[a]	64.59%	1,895
Sacramento	2,518	39.00%	1,844	28.56%	2,092	32.40%	2	0.03%	426^[a]	6.60%	6,456
San Bernardino	414	98.34%	7	1.66%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	407	96.67%	421
San Diego	207	99.52%	1	0.48%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	206	99.04%	208
San Francisco	4,430	42.90%	5,535	53.60%	361	3.50%	1	0.01%	-1,105	-10.70%	10,327
San Joaquin	1,549	60.86%	394	15.48%	602	23.65%	0	0.00%	947^[a]	37.21%	2,545
San Luis Obispo	225	80.36%	55	19.64%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	170	60.71%	280
San Mateo	229	54.65%	190	45.35%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	39	9.31%	419
Santa Barbara	469	98.95%	3	0.63%	2	0.42%	0	0.00%	466	98.31%	474
Santa Clara	1,298	58.26%	891	39.99%	37	1.66%	2	0.09%	407	18.27%	2,228
Santa Cruz	450	57.54%	265	33.89%	67	8.57%	0	0.00%	185	23.66%	782
Shasta	1,406	62.91%	109	4.88%	720	32.21%	0	0.00%	686^[a]	30.69%	2,235
Sierra	2,555	52.81%	473	9.78%	1,810	37.41%	0	0.00%	745^[a]	15.40%	4,838
Siskiyou	2,425	61.11%	331	8.34%	1,212	30.54%	0	0.00%	1,213^[a]	30.57%	3,968
Solano	923	61.17%	329	21.80%	257	17.03%	0	0.00%	594	39.36%	1,509
Sonoma	1,742	68.99%	521	20.63%	262	10.38%	0	0.00%	1,221	48.36%	2,525
Stanislaus	419	75.22%	8	1.44%	130	23.34%	0	0.00%	289^[a]	51.89%	557
Sutter	550	66.43%	181	21.86%	97	11.71%	0	0.00%	369	44.57%	828
Tehama	563	67.91%	41	4.95%	225	27.14%	0	0.00%	338^[a]	40.77%	829
Trinity	901	52.14%	118	6.83%	709	41.03%	0	0.00%	192^[a]	11.11%	1,728
Tulare	404	93.74%	23	5.34%	4	0.93%	0	0.00%	381	88.40%	431
Tuolumne	3,133	56.92%	1,307	23.75%	1,064	19.33%	0	0.00%	1,826	33.18%	5,504
Yolo	521	46.77%	173	15.53%	419	37.61%	1	0.09%	102^[a]	9.16%	1,114
Yuba	2,135	55.25%	717	18.56%	1,012	26.19%	0	0.00%	1,123^[a]	29.06%	3,864
Total	53,122	56.71%	21,040	22.46%	19,481	20.80%	29	0.03%	32,082	34.25%	93,672

Counties that flipped from Know Nothing to Democratic

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Alameda
San Francisco

Notes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Margin over Bowie

References

1 2 California State Archives, Statement of the Votes Polled in the State of California, on the Second Day of September, A.D. 1857

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[Bowie-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Margin over Bowie

[results-1] 1 2 California State Archives, Statement of the Votes Polled in the State of California, on the Second Day of September, A.D. 1857

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