1978 Alaska gubernatorial election

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1978 Alaska gubernatorial election
Flag of Alaska.svg
  1974 November 7, 1978 1982  
  Jay Hammond 1975.jpg Hickel.gif
Nominee Jay Hammond Wally Hickel
Party Republican Write-In
Running mate Terry Miller None
Popular vote49,58033,555
Percentage39.07%26.44%

  Chancy Croft.jpg No image.svg
Nominee Chancy Croft Tom Kelly
Party Democratic Independent
Running mate Katie Hurley Kathryn Poland
Popular vote25,65615,656
Percentage20.22%12.34%

1978 Alaska gubernatorial election by State House District.svg
Results by state house district
Hammond:     30–40%     40–50%     50–60%
Hickel:     30–40%
Croft:     30–40%

Governor before election

Jay Hammond
Republican

Elected Governor

Jay Hammond
Republican

The 1978 Alaska gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 1978, to elect the governor of Alaska. Republican incumbent Jay Hammond defeated four opponents: former Governor of Alaska and write-in candidate Wally Hickel, Alaska Senator and Democratic nominee Chancy Croft, former Commissioner of Natural Resources and Independent candidate Tom Kelly and Alaskan Independence Party nominee Don Wright. After losing to Hammond in the Republican primary, Hickel ran as a write-in candidate and was able to outperform Croft. Republican Tom Fink and Democrat Jay Kerttula also ran in the open primary.

This was the first time an incumbent Republican governor was re-elected for a second term, and this would not occur again until 2022. This was also the last time until 1998 that an incumbent governor, regardless of party, would be re-elected, and the last time a Republican was elected governor of Alaska until 2002.

Results

Open Primary Result [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Republican Jay Hammond (inc.) 31,921 30.01%
Republican Wally Hickel 31,82329.92%
Republican Tom Fink 17,48716.44%
Democratic Chancy Croft 8,910 8.38%
Democratic Edward A. Merdes8,6558.14%
Democratic Jay Kerttula 7,1256.70%
Republican Jimmie D. Lockhart4510.42%
Turnout 106,372
1978 Alaska gubernatorial election [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Republican Jay Hammond (inc.) 49,580 39.07% −8.60%
Write-In Wally Hickel (write-in)33,55526.44%
Democratic Chancy Croft 25,65620.22%−27.15%
Independent Tom Kelly15,65612.34%
Independence Don Wright 2,4631.94%−3.02%
Majority 16,02512.63%
Turnout 126,910
Republican hold Swing

References

  1. "Our Campaigns - AK Governor - Open Primary Race - Aug 22, 1978".
  2. "1978 Gubernatorial General Election Results – Alaska" (PDF). Alaska Division of Elections. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 3, 2018. Retrieved August 31, 2009.