The 1958 California gubernatorial election was held on Tuesday November 4. Incumbent governor Goodwin Knight initially ran for re-election to a third term, but eventually withdrew and ran for election to the Senate. Incumbent senator William Knowland switched places with Knight to run for governor, but was defeated in a landslide by Democratic Attorney GeneralPat Brown, who won the first of his two terms as governor of California.
Knowland's decision to run for governor came in spite of strong opposition from Knight, who had wanted to run for re-election rather than for the Senate. Knowland's use of heavy-handed tactics to force Knight from the race, along with labor mobilization against Proposition 18, was a major factor in the Democratic landslide in California in 1958.[1][2]
California was considered a Republican stronghold in the post-World War II era, electing Republican governors Earl Warren and Goodwin Knight, as well as senators Richard Nixon, Knowland, and Thomas Kuchel. Knowland was a prestigious two-term Senator who had served as Senate Majority Leader and Senate Minority Leader. His seat was considered safe going into the 1958 midterm elections, but he stunned everyone when he announced his intention to run for governor instead of re-election to the Senate. This was especially surprising because California had a relatively popular Republican governor in Goodwin Knight who was also expected to be re-elected. Knowland coerced Knight into a "backroom deal" in which Knowland and Knight would "trade places", with Knight running for Knowland's Senate seat. Knight really had no desire to be Senator and in later years lamented how Knowland "strongarmed" him into the switch. Knowland thought being governor would enhance his chances of challenging another Californian, Richard Nixon, for the 1960 Republican presidential nomination. For their part, the Democrats nominated popular state Attorney General Pat Brown, who was the only Democrat that held a statewide office in a Republican leaning state. As it turned out, the Knowland-Knight switch was not popular with California voters. Brown steadily gained in the polls and defeated Knowland for governor, and Knight lost to Congressman Clair Engle in the Senate race.
↑ Pat Brown's son, Jerry Brown, would ultimately flip Alpine, Orange, and Santa Barbara counties in his 1978 reelection landslide, but Mono County would not vote Democratic until 1998.
↑ Starr, Kevin (2011). Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance, 1950-1963. Oxford University Press. p.212-216. ISBN9780195153774.
↑ Anderson, Totton J. (1959). "The 1958 Election in California". The Western Political Quarterly. 12 (1). [University of Utah, Sage Publications, Inc., Western Political Science Association]: 276–300. ISSN0043-4078. JSTOR444055. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
Anderson, Totton J. “The 1958 Election in California.” Western Political Quarterly 12#1 (1959), pp.276–300. online
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Bell, Jonathan. "Social Democracy and the Rise of the Democratic Party in California, 1950–1964." Historical Journal 49.2 (2006): 497-524. online
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