1942 California gubernatorial election

The 1942 California gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1942. The election pitted incumbent Democratic Governor Culbert Olson against state Attorney General Earl Warren. Warren won in a landslide to become the 30th governor of California, receiving 57% of the vote to Olson's 42%.

1942 California gubernatorial election

← 1938 November 3, 1942 1946 →
 
Nominee Earl Warren Culbert Olson
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 1,275,287 932,995
Percentage 57.07% 41.75%

County results
Warren:      50-60%      60-70%      70-80%
Olson:      50–60%

Governor before election

Culbert Olson
Democratic

Elected Governor

Earl Warren
Republican

Primary election results

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Candidates

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  • Culbert L. Olson (D), incumbent governor
  • Ray G. Owens (D)
  • Alonzo J. Riggs (D)
  • William E. Riker (R), white supremacist preacher
  • Earl Warren (R), Attorney General of California
  • Nathan T. Porter (Townsend)
  • Fred Dyster (Prohibition)

Results

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Democratic primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Culbert L. Olson (incumbent) 514,144 52.04%
Democratic Earl Warren 404,778 40.97%
Democratic Ray G. Owens 50,780 5.14%
Democratic Nathan T. Porter 11,032 1.12%
Democratic Alonzo J. Riggs 7,231 0.73%
Total votes 987,965 100.00%
Republican primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Earl Warren 635,230 94.22%
Republican Nathan T. Porter 15,602 2.31%
Republican William E. Riker 10,004 1.48%
Republican Fred Dyster 9,824 1.46%
Republican Culbert L. Olson (write-in) 3,504 0.52%
Total votes 674,164 100.00%
Townsend primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Townsend Nathan T. Porter 1,899 65.33%
Townsend Earl Warren (write-in) 747 25.70%
Townsend Culbert L. Olson (write-in) 261 8.98%
Total votes 2,907 100.00%
Prohibition primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Prohibition Fred Dyster 1,561 100.00%
Total votes 1,561 100.00%

General election results

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1942 California gubernatorial election[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Earl Warren 1,275,287 57.07% +12.91%
Democratic Culbert Olson (incumbent) 932,995 41.75% −10.74%
Townsend Nathan T. Porter 15,501 0.69% +0.69%
Prohibition Fred Dyster 10,640 0.48% +0.48%
Scattering 122 0.01%
Majority 342,292 15.32%
Total votes 2,234,545 100.00%
Republican gain from Democratic Swing +23.64%

Results by county

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County Earl Warren
Republican
Culbert L. Olson
Democratic
Nathan T. Porter
Townsend
Fred Dyster
Prohibition
Scattering
Write-in
Margin Total votes cast[2]
# % # % # % # % # % # %
Alameda 110,438 55.23% 87,964 43.99% 963 0.48% 579 0.29% 18 0.01% 22,474 11.24% 199,962
Alpine 92 76.03% 27 22.31% 1 0.83% 1 0.83% 0 0.00% 65 53.72% 121
Amador 1,506 61.37% 926 37.73% 11 0.45% 11 0.45% 0 0.00% 580 23.63% 2,454
Butte 8,345 65.43% 4,198 32.91% 132 1.03% 80 0.63% 0 0.00% 4,147 32.51% 12,755
Calaveras 1,922 73.81% 664 25.50% 13 0.50% 5 0.19% 0 0.00% 1,258 48.31% 2,604
Colusa 2,102 71.59% 805 27.42% 22 0.75% 7 0.24% 0 0.00% 1,297 44.18% 2,936
Contra Costa 21,450 51.88% 19,542 47.27% 173 0.42% 175 0.42% 4 0.01% 1,908 4.61% 41,344
Del Norte 876 59.47% 568 38.56% 23 1.56% 6 0.41% 0 0.00% 308 20.91% 1,473
El Dorado 2,632 60.44% 1,662 38.16% 35 0.80% 26 0.60% 0 0.00% 970 22.27% 4,355
Fresno 23,002 51.39% 21,116 47.18% 384 0.86% 258 0.58% 0 0.00% 1,886 4.21% 44,760
Glenn 2,955 68.42% 1,321 30.59% 25 0.58% 18 0.42% 0 0.00% 1,634 37.83% 4,319
Humboldt 9,053 58.68% 6,242 40.46% 89 0.58% 43 0.28% 0 0.00% 2,811 18.22% 15,427
Imperial 5,490 67.21% 2,567 31.42% 69 0.84% 43 0.53% 0 0.00% 2,923 35.78% 8,169
Inyo 1,861 70.76% 734 27.91% 23 0.87% 12 0.46% 0 0.00% 1,127 42.85% 2,630
Kern 18,083 60.14% 11,707 38.94% 139 0.46% 138 0.46% 1 0.00% 6,376 21.21% 30,068
Kings 4,859 59.47% 3,222 39.43% 46 0.56% 44 0.54% 0 0.00% 1,637 20.03% 8,171
Lake 1,980 72.53% 676 24.76% 56 2.05% 18 0.66% 0 0.00% 1,304 47.77% 2,730
Lassen 2,151 54.26% 1,763 44.48% 43 1.08% 7 0.18% 0 0.00% 388 9.79% 3,964
Los Angeles 506,038 54.12% 417,360 44.64% 6,729 0.72% 4,866 0.52% 54 0.01% 88,678 9.48% 935,047
Madera 3,377 63.09% 1,903 35.55% 43 0.80% 30 0.56% 0 0.00% 1,474 27.54% 5,353
Marin 11,307 66.73% 5,531 32.64% 58 0.34% 48 0.28% 0 0.00% 5,776 34.09% 16,944
Mariposa 1,019 65.07% 521 33.27% 19 1.21% 7 0.45% 0 0.00% 498 31.80% 1,566
Mendocino 5,719 64.37% 3,056 34.40% 54 0.61% 55 0.62% 0 0.00% 2,663 29.98% 8,884
Merced 7,075 61.26% 4,310 37.32% 87 0.75% 76 0.66% 2 0.02% 2,765 23.94% 11,550
Modoc 1,203 60.15% 771 38.55% 19 0.95% 7 0.35% 0 0.00% 432 21.60% 2,000
Mono 393 72.78% 143 26.48% 1 0.19% 3 0.56% 0 0.00% 250 46.30% 540
Monterey 11,278 65.73% 5,738 33.44% 88 0.51% 52 0.30% 2 0.01% 5,540 32.29% 17,158
Napa 5,630 62.57% 3,240 36.01% 83 0.92% 45 0.50% 0 0.00% 2,390 26.56% 8,998
Nevada 3,974 67.14% 1,893 31.98% 28 0.47% 24 0.41% 0 0.00% 2,081 35.16% 5,919
Orange 31,065 69.54% 12,847 28.76% 377 0.84% 385 0.86% 1 0.00% 18,218 40.78% 44,675
Placer 4,709 52.60% 4,149 46.35% 57 0.64% 36 0.40% 1 0.01% 560 6.26% 8,952
Plumas 1,348 46.35% 1,537 52.85% 16 0.55% 7 0.24% 0 0.00% -189 -6.50% 2,908
Riverside 18,547 65.81% 9,000 31.94% 290 1.03% 342 1.21% 2 0.01% 9,547 33.88% 28,181
Sacramento 29,175 51.92% 26,475 47.11% 372 0.66% 173 0.31% 0 0.00% 2,700 4.80% 56,195
San Benito 2,592 74.06% 878 25.09% 11 0.31% 17 0.49% 2 0.06% 1,714 48.97% 3,500
San Bernardino 28,517 64.49% 14,880 33.65% 365 0.83% 453 1.02% 5 0.01% 13,637 30.84% 44,220
San Diego 51,709 58.56% 35,113 39.76% 906 1.03% 579 0.66% 0 0.00% 16,596 18.79% 88,307
San Francisco 120,979 53.40% 103,888 45.85% 1,178 0.52% 514 0.23% 1 0.00% 17,091 7.54% 226,560
San Joaquin 24,511 71.55% 9,380 27.38% 228 0.67% 138 0.40% 0 0.00% 15,131 44.17% 34,257
San Luis Obispo 7,121 64.28% 3,784 34.16% 100 0.90% 73 0.66% 0 0.00% 3,337 30.12% 11,078
San Mateo 26,037 63.43% 14,737 35.90% 175 0.43% 96 0.23% 5 0.01% 11,300 27.53% 41,050
Santa Barbara 14,657 68.71% 6,437 30.18% 152 0.71% 85 0.40% 1 0.00% 8,220 38.53% 21,332
Santa Clara 37,905 64.23% 20,367 34.51% 482 0.82% 244 0.41% 20 0.03% 17.538 29.72% 59,018
Santa Cruz 9,858 66.45% 4,761 32.09% 136 0.92% 80 0.54% 0 0.00% 5,097 34.36% 14,835
Shasta 4,591 56.48% 3,382 41.60% 119 1.46% 37 0.46% 0 0.00% 1,209 14.87% 8,129
Sierra 442 53.77% 376 45.74% 3 0.36% 1 0.12% 0 0.00% 66 8.03% 822
Siskiyou 5,217 61.03% 3,151 36.86% 150 1.75% 30 0.35% 0 0.00% 2,066 24.17% 8,548
Solano 9,453 53.25% 8,131 45.81% 123 0.69% 44 0.25% 0 0.00% 1,322 7.45% 17,751
Sonoma 14,299 60.94% 8,962 38.19% 132 0.56% 70 0.30% 2 0.01% 5,337 22.74% 23,465
Stanislaus 13,286 62.49% 7,624 35.86% 149 0.70% 201 0.95% 1 0.00% 5,662 26.63% 21,261
Sutter 3,552 73.13% 1,258 25.90% 30 0.62% 17 0.35% 0 0.00% 2,294 47.23% 4,857
Tehama 3,339 73.71% 1,133 25.01% 34 0.75% 24 0.53% 0 0.00% 2,206 48.70% 4,530
Trinity 948 58.74% 635 39.34% 26 1.61% 5 0.31% 0 0.00% 313 19.39% 1,614
Tulare 14,797 68.41% 6,498 30.04% 175 0.81% 160 0.74% 0 0.00% 8,299 38.38% 21,630
Tuolumne 2,624 65.13% 1,360 33.76% 33 0.82% 12 0.30% 0 0.00% 1,264 31.37% 4,029
Ventura 10,282 56.36% 7,730 42.37% 147 0.81% 86 0.47% 0 0.00% 2,552 13.99% 18,245
Yolo 4,853 61.93% 2,921 37.28% 35 0.45% 27 0.34% 0 0.00% 1,932 24.66% 7,836
Yuba 3,014 66.92% 1,431 31.77% 39 0.87% 20 0.44% 0 0.00% 1,583 35.15% 4,504
Total 1,275,287[a] 57.07% 932,995 41.75% 15,501[b] 0.69% 10,640 0.48% 122 0.01% 342,292 15.32% 2,234,545

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

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Notes

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  1. ^ The county figures add up to 1,275,237
  2. ^ The county figures add up to 15,496

References

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  1. ^ a b c d California Secretary of State. State of California Statement of Vote Primary Election August 25, 1942. Sacramento, California: State Printing Office. pp. 5–6. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  2. ^ a b California Secretary of State. State of California Statement of Vote General Election November 3, 1942. Sacramento, California: State Printing Office. p. 4. Retrieved July 20, 2024.