1978 Arizona gubernatorial election

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1978 Arizona gubernatorial election
Flag of Arizona.svg
  1974 November 7, 1978 1982  
  Bruce babbitt.jpg Evan Mecham (Arizona governor).jpg
Nominee Bruce Babbitt Evan Mecham
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote282,605241,093
Percentage52.5%44.8%

1978 Arizona gubernatorial election results map by county.svg
County results
Babbitt:      50–60%     60–70%
Mecham:      40–50%     50–60%

Governor before election

Bruce Babbitt
Democratic

Elected Governor

Bruce Babbitt
Democratic

The 1978 Arizona gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 1978, for the post of Governor of Arizona. Democrat Bruce Babbitt defeated Republican nominee Evan Mecham. Babbitt was the former Attorney General of Arizona, but after the death of Governor Wesley Bolin, Babbit became governor. Bolin himself ascended to office from the position of Secretary of State, meaning his replacement, Rose Mofford was not eligible to the office as she was not elected. This drama of exchanging office would continue after Babbitt's term came to an end, as Mofford would become governor and succeeded Evan Mecham, Babbitt's challenger, in 1988.

Contents

Until 2022, this was the last gubernatorial election where a Democratic governor was elected during the tenure of a Democratic president.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Withdrew

Results

Democratic primary results [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Bruce Babbitt (incumbent) 108,548 76.80
Democratic Dave Moss32,78523.20
Total votes141,333 100.00

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary results [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Evan Mecham 50,713 44.07
Republican Jack Londen40,11634.86
Republican Charles King24,25321.08
Total votes115,082 100.00

General election

Results

Arizona gubernatorial election, 1978 [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic Bruce Babbitt (incumbent) 282,605 52.47% +2.06%
Republican Evan Mecham 241,09344.77%-4.79%
Libertarian V. Gene Lewter10,4211.93%+1.93%
Socialist Workers Jessica Sampson4,4370.82%+0.82%
Majority41,5127.71%+6.86%
Turnout 538,556
Democratic hold Swing

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References

  1. Our Campaigns - AZ Governor - D Primary Race - Sep 12, 1978
  2. Our Campaigns - AZ Governor - R Primary Race - Sep 12, 1978
  3. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 20, 2013. Retrieved December 31, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)