Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, 1978

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Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, 1978
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←  1974 November 7, 1978 (1978-11-07) 1982  →

  Dick Thornburgh 1978.jpg 3x4.svg
Nominee Dick Thornburgh Pete Flaherty
Party Republican Democratic
Running mate Bill Scranton III Robert Casey
Popular vote1,966,0421,737,888
Percentage52.4%46.4%
Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Election Results by County, 1978.svg
County results
Governor before election

Milton Shapp
Democratic

Elected Governor

Dick Thornburgh
Republican

The Pennsylvania gubernatorial election of 1978 was held on November 7, 1978 between Republican Dick Thornburgh and Democrat Pete Flaherty.

Republican Party (United States) Major political party in the United States

The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major political parties in the United States; the other is its historic rival, the Democratic Party.

Dick Thornburgh 76th United States Attorney General

Richard Lewis Thornburgh is an American lawyer, author and Republican politician who served as the 41st Governor of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1987, and then as the U.S. Attorney General from 1988 to 1991. Before his time as Attorney General and Governor, he worked in the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Democratic Party (United States) Major political party in the United States

The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party.

Contents

Primary Elections

Candidates

Democratic

  • Bob Casey, Auditor General (from Lackawanna County)
  • Pete Flaherty, US Deputy Attorney General and former Mayor of Pittsburgh (from Allegheny County)
  • Ernie Kline, Lt. Governor (from Westmoreland County)
  • Jennifer Wesner, Mayor of Knox (from Clarion County)
Pittsburgh City in western Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, and is the county seat of Allegheny County. In 2017, a population of 302,407 lives within the city limits, making it the 63rd-largest city in the U.S. The metropolitan population of 2,324,743 is the largest in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the 27th-largest in the U.S.

Republican

  • Bob Butera, former State House Minority Leader (from Montgomery County)
  • Henry Hager, State Senate Minority Leader (from Lycoming County)
  • Alvin Jacobson, disabled former soldier (from Adams County)
  • Dave Marston, former US Attorney (from Montgomery County)
  • Arlen Specter, former Philadelphia District Attorney
  • Dick Thornburgh, former US Attorney (from Allegheny County)
  • Andrew Watson

Robert J. Butera is a former Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Henry G. Hager III is a former member of the Pennsylvania State Senate who served from 1973 to 1984. He was the Lycoming County District Attorney from 1964 to 1968.

David Weese Marston, Sr., known as Dave Marston, is a Philadelphia lawyer and author. He served as United States Attorney for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania under U.S. President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., and later ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Pennsylvania and Mayor of Philadelphia.

Campaign

The race began with a primary that slated an impressive field of candidates. Flaherty, the former Mayor of Pittsburgh who was known for providing a progressive challenge to urban machine politics, bested State Auditor General Bob Casey, who had lost the Democratic nomination for this office twice before. Casey's campaign was greatly hurt by the presence of another Bob Casey who was running on the ballot for Lieutenant Governor; voters apparently believed they were selecting a ticket of Flaherty and the Auditor General when they chose the Pittsburgh teacher as the Democratic running mate. Lieutenant Governor Ernie Kline, who was frequently known as "assistant governor" during his time in office due to his policy skills, was endorsed by outgoing governor Milton Shapp, but finished a distant third.

Milton Shapp American businessman

Milton Jerrold Shapp was the 40th Governor of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1971 to 1979 and the first Jewish governor of Pennsylvania. He was also the first governor of Pennsylvania to take advantage of an amendment to the state constitution lifting the ban on state governors succeeding themselves in office and authorizing them to serve a maximum of two consecutive terms at a time, while still requiring a minimum of four years out of office between any two such consecutive terms.

Thornburgh's win came over the Republican leaders of both houses of the state legislature (House Minority Leader Bob Butera and Senate Minority Leader Henry Hager), as well as a former US Attorney, Dave Marston. Former Philadelphia District Attorney and future senator Arlen Specter was considered the front-runner in the months preceding the primary, but the moderate urban Republican's campaign faded as Thornburgh presented himself as a leader than could bridge both wings of the party. [1]

Philadelphia Largest city in Pennsylvania, United States

Philadelphia, known colloquially as Philly, is the largest city in the U.S. state and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the sixth-most populous U.S. city, with a 2018 census-estimated population of 1,584,138. Since 1854, the city has been coterminous with Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the eighth-largest U.S. metropolitan statistical area, with over 6 million residents as of 2017. Philadelphia is also the economic and cultural anchor of the greater Delaware Valley, located along the lower Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, within the Northeast megalopolis. The Delaware Valley's population of 7.2 million ranks it as the eighth-largest combined statistical area in the United States.

Arlen Specter American politician; former United States Senator from Pennsylvania

Arlen Specter was an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as United States Senator for Pennsylvania. Specter was a Democrat from 1951 to 1965, then a Republican from 1965 until 2009, when he switched back to the Democratic Party. First elected in 1980, he represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate for 30 years.

Results

Pennsylvania gubernatorial Democratic primary election, 1978 [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Pete Flaherty 574,89944.89
Democratic Bob Casey 445,14634.76
Democratic Ernie Kline 223,81117.48
Democratic Jennifer Wesner36,7702.87
Pennsylvania gubernatorial Republican primary election, 1978 [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Dick Thornburgh 325,37632.63
Republican Arlen Specter 206,80220.74
Republican Bob Butera 190,65319.12
Republican Dave Marston 161,81316.23
Republican Henry Hager 57,1195.73
Republican Andrew Watson48,4604.86
Republican Alvin Jacobson7,101.71

Major party candidates

Democratic

Peter Francis Flaherty was an American soldier, activist, and politician. He served as Assistant District Attorney of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania from 1957-64; a City of Pittsburgh Councilman 1966-70; Democratic mayor of Pittsburgh from 1970-77; United States Deputy Attorney General during the Carter administration from 1977-78, and County Commissioner of Allegheny County from 1984-96.

Republican

Campaign

Flaherty out-polled Thornburgh by double-digit margins for much of the campaign, but the Republican candidate used highly effective strategies to close the gap in the weeks leading up to election night. Thornburgh was successful in recruiting suburban moderates, as fellow moderate Republican Specter encouraged his metro Philadelphia supporters to rally behind Thornburgh. In contrast, the liberal Flaherty had trouble reaching out to conservative Democrats outside of his Western Pennsylvania base, a problem hindered by Casey's tepid support for the candidate over the lieutenant gubernatorial issue. Thornburgh also aggressively courted traditionally Democratic-leaning groups and gained the endorsements of the NAACP and several labor unions. Democratic support slowly waned under this strategy, which allowed Thornburgh to take a close victory. [1]

Results

Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, 1978 [4] [5]
PartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentage
Republican Dick Thornburgh Bill Scranton III 1,996,04252.54%
Democratic Pete Flaherty Bob Casey 1,737,88846.44%
Socialist Workers Mark Zola Naomi Berman 20,0620.54%
Consumer Lee Frissell Betty Burkett 17,5930.47%
Write-insWrite-in3840.01%
Totals3,741,969100.00%
Voter turnout (Voting age population)64.60%

Notes

  1. 1 2 Kennedy, John J. (2006). Pennsylvania Elections: Statewide Contests From 1950-2004. University Press of America. ISBN   9780761832799.
  2. ↑ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=43852.
  3. ↑ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=41000.
  4. ↑ The Pennsylvania Manual, p. 728.
  5. ↑ The Pennsylvania Manual, p. 727.

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References

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