1970 California gubernatorial election

1970 California gubernatorial election

←  1966 November 3, 1970 1974  →

Nominee Ronald Reagan Jesse Unruh Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 3,439,174 2,938,607 Percentage 52.84% 45.14%

County results Reagan:      40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80% Unruh:      40–50%     50–60%

Governor before election Ronald Reagan Republican Elected Governor Ronald Reagan Republican

The 1970 California gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1970. The incumbent governor, Republican Ronald Reagan, won re-election over Democrat and Speaker of the Assembly Jesse Unruh. This would be the closest victory of Ronald Reagan's entire political career.

Republican primary

Candidates

• Ronald Reagan, incumbent governor since 1967

Results

Republican primary results ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ronald Reagan (incumbent)	1,906,568	100.00%
Total votes			1,906,568	100.00%

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Walter R. Buchanan
• Jack W. Clapper
• Florence E. Douglas, mayor of Vallejo since 1955 ^[2]
• Raymond L. Haight Jr., high school history teacher, anti-war advocate, and son of Raymond Haight ^[3]
• Harry F. May
• Eddie M. Ramirez, Boyle Heights (Los Angeles) pharmacist ^[4]
• Joseph S. Ramos
• Jesse M. Unruh, former Speaker of the California Assembly (1961–69) and Assemblyman from Marina del Rey
• George H. Wagner
• Samuel William Yorty, mayor of Los Angeles since 1961

Results

Democratic primary results ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jesse M. Unruh	1,602,690	64.03%
	Democratic	Samuel William Yorty	659,494	26.35%
	Democratic	George H. Wagner	44,118	1.76%
	Democratic	Florence E. Douglas	43,456	1.74%
	Democratic	Walter R. Buchanan	40,192	1.61%
	Democratic	Eddie M. Ramirez	31,092	1.24%
	Democratic	Joseph S. Ramos	25,874	1.03%
	Democratic	Raymond L. Haight	20,328	0.81%
	Democratic	Harry F. May	19,471	0.78%
	Democratic	Jack W. Clapper	16,142	0.64%
	Democratic	Samuel A. Reeve (write-in)	3	0.00%
Total votes			2,502,861	100.00%

Other primaries

American Independent Party

American Independent primary results ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	American Independent	William K. Shearer	14,069	61.45%
	American Independent	Keith H. Greene	8,827	38.55%
Total votes			22,896	100.00%

Peace and Freedom Party

Peace and Freedom primary results ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Peace and Freedom	Ricardo Romo	6,214	63.52%
	Peace and Freedom	Warren E. Nielsen	3,569	36.48%
Total votes			9,783	100.00%

General election results

1970 California gubernatorial election ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Ronald Reagan (incumbent)	3,439,664	52.84%	−4.72%
	Democratic	Jesse M. Unruh	2,938,607	45.14%	+2.87%
	Peace and Freedom	Ricardo Romo	65,954	1.01%
	American Independent	William K. Shearer	65,847	1.01%
Majority			501,057	7.70%
Total votes			6,510,072	100.00%
	Republican hold		Swing	-7.58%

Results by county

County	Ronald Reagan Republican		Jesse M. Unruh Democratic		Ricardo Romo Peace & Freedom		William K. Shearer American Independent		Margin		Total votes cast [5]
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Alameda	162,727	43.05%	206,693	54.68%	5,591	1.48%	2,975	0.79%	-43,966	-11.63%	377,986
Alpine	203	66.34%	89	29.08%	4	1.31%	10	3.27%	114	37.25%	306
Amador	2,866	53.12%	2,445	45.32%	28	0.52%	56	1.04%	421	7.80%	5,395
Butte	22,656	62.82%	12,558	34.82%	429	1.19%	420	1.16%	10,098	28.00%	36,063
Calaveras	3,499	63.10%	1,947	35.11%	44	0.79%	55	0.99%	1,552	27.99%	5,545
Colusa	2,302	57.69%	1,627	40.78%	26	0.65%	35	0.88%	675	16.92%	3,990
Contra Costa	106,965	53.15%	91,156	45.30%	1,323	0.66%	1,800	0.89%	15,809	7.86%	201,244
Del Norte	2,755	57.13%	1,977	41.00%	37	0.77%	53	1.10%	778	16.13%	4,822
El Dorado	7,932	56.59%	5,818	41.51%	65	0.46%	202	1.44%	2,114	15.08%	14,017
Fresno	60,644	48.74%	61,801	49.67%	752	0.60%	1,227	0.99%	-1,157	-0.93%	124,424
Glenn	3,805	59.37%	2,482	38.73%	39	0.61%	83	1.30%	1,323	20.64%	6,409
Humboldt	16,778	51.12%	15,232	46.41%	400	1.22%	410	1.25%	1,546	4.71%	32,820
Imperial	10,636	58.47%	7,006	38.51%	352	1.93%	198	1.09%	3,630	19.95%	18,192
Inyo	4,006	63.50%	2,202	34.90%	43	0.68%	58	0.92%	1,804	28.59%	6,309
Kern	54,216	55.19%	41,768	42.52%	534	0.54%	1,710	1.74%	12,448	12.67%	98,228
Kings	8,068	49.11%	8,134	49.52%	107	0.65%	118	0.72%	-66	-0.40%	16,427
Lake	5,317	58.18%	3,683	40.30%	46	0.50%	93	1.02%	1,634	17.88%	9,139
Lassen	2,494	44.93%	2,911	52.44%	44	0.79%	102	1.84%	-417	-7.51%	5,551
Los Angeles	1,173,161	50.74%	1,095,899	47.40%	21,891	0.95%	21,312	0.92%	77,262	3.34%	2,312,263
Madera	6,205	48.94%	6,304	49.72%	73	0.58%	96	0.76%	-99	-0.78%	12,678
Marin	43,092	56.56%	31,525	41.38%	939	1.23%	632	0.83%	11,567	15.18%	76,188
Mariposa	1,568	57.46%	1,111	40.71%	14	0.51%	36	1.32%	457	16.75%	2,729
Mendocino	9,134	53.33%	7,614	44.46%	126	0.74%	252	1.47%	1,520	8.88%	17,126
Merced	12,117	49.64%	11,840	48.50%	247	1.01%	207	0.85%	277	1.13%	24,411
Modoc	1,760	59.40%	1,138	38.41%	24	0.81%	41	1.38%	622	20.99%	2,963
Mono	1,350	73.09%	460	24.91%	21	1.14%	16	0.87%	890	48.19%	1,847
Monterey	33,691	56.63%	24,508	41.19%	722	1.21%	575	0.97%	9,183	15.43%	59,496
Napa	16,844	55.29%	13,018	42.73%	161	0.53%	442	1.45%	3,826	12.56%	30,465
Nevada	6,756	59.45%	4,442	39.09%	77	0.68%	89	0.78%	2,314	20.36%	11,364
Orange	308,982	66.89%	145,420	31.48%	2,981	0.65%	4,557	0.99%	163,562	35.41%	461,940
Placer	13,886	49.37%	13,751	48.89%	149	0.53%	342	1.22%	135	0.48%	28,128
Plumas	2,280	44.97%	2,678	52.82%	27	0.53%	85	1.68%	-398	-7.85%	5,070
Riverside	81,768	56.60%	59,425	41.13%	1,735	1.20%	1,538	1.06%	22,343	15.47%	144,466
Sacramento	105,523	46.04%	120,365	52.52%	1,378	0.60%	1,925	0.84%	-14,842	-6.48%	229,191
San Benito	3,134	59.54%	1,993	37.86%	90	1.71%	47	0.89%	1,141	21.68%	5,264
San Bernardino	107,219	56.57%	77,069	40.66%	2,946	1.55%	2,294	1.21%	30,150	15.91%	189,528
San Diego	253,378	60.11%	158,098	37.51%	4,161	0.99%	5,886	1.40%	95,280	22.60%	421,523
San Francisco	106,606	41.97%	140,829	55.44%	3,958	1.56%	2,625	1.03%	-34,223	-13.47%	254,018
San Joaquin	50,631	55.25%	39,495	43.10%	682	0.74%	833	0.91%	11,136	12.15%	91,641
San Luis Obispo	18,301	55.84%	13,758	41.98%	292	0.89%	425	1.30%	4,543	13.86%	32,776
San Mateo	109,356	54.31%	88,069	43.74%	1,820	0.90%	2,121	1.05%	21,287	10.57%	201,366
Santa Barbara	51,523	60.10%	32,202	37.56%	1,362	1.59%	638	0.74%	19,321	22.54%	85,725
Santa Clara	172,562	51.47%	154,570	46.10%	4,683	1.40%	3,475	1.04%	17,992	5.37%	335,290
Santa Cruz	26,679	58.07%	18,186	39.58%	634	1.38%	445	0.97%	8,493	18.49%	45,944
Shasta	11,864	43.93%	14,643	54.22%	156	0.58%	343	1.27%	-2,779	-10.29%	27,006
Sierra	617	46.92%	674	51.25%	7	0.53%	17	1.29%	-57	-4.33%	1,315
Siskiyou	6,092	49.58%	5,920	48.18%	96	0.78%	180	1.46%	172	1.40%	12,288
Solano	21,939	48.43%	21,583	47.64%	774	1.71%	1,006	2.22%	356	0.79%	45,302
Sonoma	44,823	58.60%	29,953	39.16%	830	1.09%	881	1.15%	14,870	19.44%	76,487
Stanislaus	29,157	45.07%	34,510	53.34%	640	0.99%	391	0.60%	-5,353	-8.27%	64,698
Sutter	9,084	64.48%	4,811	34.15%	76	0.54%	118	0.84%	4,273	30.33%	14,089
Tehama	5,500	52.46%	4,819	45.97%	55	0.52%	110	1.05%	681	6.50%	10,484
Trinity	1,643	50.21%	1,549	47.34%	15	0.46%	65	1.99%	94	2.87%	3,272
Tulare	27,564	57.69%	19,327	40.45%	432	0.90%	456	0.95%	8,237	17.24%	47,779
Tuolumne	4,567	53.74%	3,779	44.46%	88	1.04%	65	0.76%	788	9.27%	8,499
Ventura	63,790	58.64%	42,350	38.93%	1,343	1.23%	1,308	1.20%	21,440	19.71%	108,791
Yolo	12,344	41.01%	17,135	56.92%	338	1.12%	286	0.95%	-4,791	-15.92%	30,103
Yuba	5,305	54.74%	4,258	43.93%	47	0.48%	82	0.85%	1,047	10.80%	9,692
Total	3,439,664	52.84%	2,938,607	45.14%	65,954	1.01%	65,847	1.01%	501,057	7.70%	6,510,072

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Fresno
• Kings
• Lassen
• Madera
• Sacramento
• Shasta
• Sierra
• Stanislaus
• Yolo

See also

• 1970 Folsom Prison strike

References

1. California Secretary of State. Statement of Vote State of California Direct Primary Election, June 2, 1970. Sacramento, California. pp. 6–7. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
2. "Obituary for Florence Vallejos Douglas". Escondido Times-Advocate. April 6, 1982. p. 19.
3. Fallows, James (December 15, 2009). "Raymond Haight Jr". The Atlantic . Retrieved March 5, 2024.
4. Ramos, George (July 31, 2000). "Heart of the Eastside". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved March 5, 2024.
5. California Secretary of State. Statement of Vote State of California General Election, November 3, 1970. Sacramento, California. p. 10. Retrieved July 21, 2024.

External links

• California Elections Page
• Reagan's Heritage Archived 2006-07-08 at the Wayback Machine