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 County results Nigh: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Shotts: 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Oklahoma |
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The 1978 Oklahoma gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1978, to elect the next governor of Oklahoma. Incumbent Democratic governor David Boren chose not to run for re-election to a second term in office. Instead, Boren decided to run for the United States Senate. Former governor, and sitting lieutenant governor George Nigh was elected, defeating Republican nominee Ron Shotts.
The primary elections took place on August 22, 1978.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | George Nigh | 276,910 | 49.94 | |
| Democratic | Larry Derryberry | 208,055 | 37.52 | |
| Democratic | Bob Funston | 69,475 | 12.53 | |
| Total votes | 554,440 | 100.00 | ||
The Runoff election took place on September 19, 1978.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | George Nigh | 269,681 | 57.64 | |
| Democratic | Larry Derryberry | 197,457 | 42.36 | |
| Total votes | 467,138 | 100.00 | ||
The primary elections took place on August 22, 1978.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Ron Shotts | 82,895 | 76.85 | |
| Republican | Jerry L. Mash | 18,145 | 12.19 | |
| Republican | Jim Head | 11,826 | 10.96 | |
| Total votes | 107,866 | 100.00 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | George Nigh | 402,240 | 51.74 | |
| Republican | Ron Shotts | 367,055 | 47.21 | |
| Independent | Billy Joe Clegg | 3,887 | 0.50 | |
| Independent | Floyd Shealy | 2,395 | 0.31 | |
| Independent | Jim McCuiston | 1,395 | 0.18 | |
| Total votes | 777,414 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratic hold | ||||
The governor of Oklahoma is the head of government of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Under the Oklahoma Constitution, the governor serves as the head of the Oklahoma executive branch, of the government of Oklahoma. The governor is the ex officio commander-in-chief of the Oklahoma National Guard when not called into federal use. Despite being an executive branch official, the governor also holds legislative and judicial powers. The governor's responsibilities include making yearly "State of the State" addresses to the Oklahoma Legislature, submitting the annual state budget, ensuring that state laws are enforced, and that the peace is preserved. The governor's term is four years in length.
The 1978 United States Senate elections were held on November 7, in the middle of Democratic President Jimmy Carter's term. The 33 seats of Class 2 were contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies.
George Patterson Nigh is an American politician and civic leader from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Nigh served as the 17th and the 22nd governor of Oklahoma and as the eighth and tenth lieutenant governor of Oklahoma. He was the first Oklahoma governor to be re-elected and the first to win all 77 counties in the state. Additionally, short term vacancies in the governor's office twice resulted in Nigh assuming gubernatorial duties while serving as lieutenant governor.
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David Lyle Boren is a retired American lawyer and politician from Oklahoma. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as 21st governor of Oklahoma from 1975 to 1979 and three terms in the United States Senate from 1979 to 1994. A conservative Democrat, to date, he is the last in his party to have served as U.S. Senator from Oklahoma. He was the 13th and second-longest serving president of the University of Oklahoma from 1994 to 2018. He was the longest serving chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. On September 20, 2017, Boren officially announced his retirement as president of the University of Oklahoma, effective June 30, 2018.
The lieutenant governor of Oklahoma is the second-highest executive official of the state government of Oklahoma. As first in the gubernatorial line of succession, the lieutenant governor becomes the new governor of Oklahoma upon the death, resignation, or removal of the governor. The lieutenant governor also serves as the president of the Oklahoma Senate, and may cast a vote to break ties in that chamber.
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The 2014 Oklahoma gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 2014, to elect the governor of Oklahoma. Incumbent Governor Mary Fallin was re-elected with 55.8% of the vote over state representative Joe Dorman. Primaries were held on June 24, 2014. Fallin won the Republican nomination with more than 75% of the vote, and Dorman won the Democratic nomination uncontested.
The 2014 United States Senate special election in Oklahoma took place on November 4, 2014, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Oklahoma, concurrently with the regularly-scheduled election to Oklahoma's other Senate seat, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
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United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 8, 2022, in 36 states and three territories. As most governors serve four-year terms, the last regular gubernatorial elections for all but two of the seats took place in the 2018 U.S. gubernatorial elections. The gubernatorial elections took place concurrently with several other federal, state, and local elections, as part of the 2022 midterm elections.
The 1964 United States Senate special election in Oklahoma took place on November 3, 1964. Democratic senator Robert S. Kerr, who won re-election to his third term in 1960, died in office on January 1, 1963. Governor J. Howard Edmondson resigned from office so that his lieutenant governor, George Nigh, could appoint him to the U.S. Senate. Edmondson ran for election in the ensuing special election, and faced strong competition from former governor Raymond D. Gary and State Senator Fred R. Harris. Edmondson placed first in the primary, but failed to win a majority, with Harris narrowly beating out Gary for second place. In the runoff, Harris defeated Edmondson in a landslide. In the general election, Harris faced former Oklahoma Sooners football coach Bud Wilkinson, the Republican nominee. Even though President Lyndon B. Johnson won Oklahoma by a wide margin over Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater, the Senate race was much closer. Ultimately, Harris only narrowly defeated Wilkinson by just 2% of the vote.
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