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1966 California gubernatorial election

The 1966 California gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1966. Incumbent Democratic Governor Pat Brown was defeated in his bid for re-election by Republican nominee and future President Ronald Reagan. As of the 2022 gubernatorial election, this is the last time an incumbent governor of California lost re-election, though one subsequent incumbent governor was recalled.

1966 California gubernatorial election
← 1962 November 8, 1966 1970 →
 
Nominee Ronald Reagan Pat Brown
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 3,742,913 2,749,174
Percentage 57.55% 42.27%
Reagan:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
Brown:      50–60%      60–70%      80–90%
Governor before election

Pat Brown
Democratic

Elected Governor

Ronald Reagan
Republican

Background

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Incumbent governor Pat Brown had been twice elected with significant accomplishments, such as the construction of the state highway system.[1] After his re-election victory over former vice president Richard Nixon in 1962, Brown was strongly considered for Lyndon B. Johnson's running mate in 1964.[2] However, Brown's popularity began to sag amidst the civil disorders of the Watts riots and the early student protests at the University of California, Berkeley including the Free Speech Movement.[3]

Primaries

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California's liberal Republicans including George Christopher leveled attacks on Ronald Reagan for his conservative positions.[4] Reagan popularized the eleventh commandment created by California Republican Party chairman Gaylord Parkinson. In his 1990 autobiography An American Life, Reagan attributed the rule to Parkinson, explained its origin, and claimed to have followed it, writing, "The personal attacks against me during the primary finally became so heavy that the state Republican chairman, Gaylord Parkinson, postulated what he called the Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican. It's a rule I followed during that campaign and have ever since."[5] Parkinson used the phrase as common ground to prevent a split in the party.[4]

Candidates

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Results

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Democratic primary results[6]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Edmund G. "Pat" Brown (inc.) 1,355,262 51.91%
Democratic Samuel William Yorty 981,088 37.58%
Democratic Carlton B. Goodlett 95,476 3.66%
Democratic Wallace James Duffy 77,029 2.95%
Democratic Dale Alexander 43,453 1.66%
Democratic Ronald Reagan (write-in) 27,422 1.05%
Democratic Ingram W. Goad 18,088 0.69%
Democratic George Christopher (write-in) 13,058 0.50%
Total votes 2,610,876 100.00%
Republican primary results[6]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ronald Reagan 1,417,623 64.68%
Republican George Christopher 675,683 30.83%
Republican Warren N. Dorn 44,812 2.04%
Republican William Penn Patrick 40,887 1.87%
Republican Joseph R. Maxwell 7,052 0.32%
Republican Samuel William Yorty (write-in) 3,993 0.18%
Republican Edmund G. "Pat" Brown (write-in) 1,700 0.08%
Total votes 2,191,750 100.00%

Campaign

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Polls in February 1966 showed Christopher with a seven-point lead over Brown and Brown leading Reagan by four, so Brown sought to influence the Republican primary in Reagan's favor by having operatives pass negative claims against Christopher to columnist Drew Pearson.[7] With the nomination of Reagan, a well-known and charismatic political outsider-actor, the Republicans seized upon Brown's sudden unpopularity evidenced by a tough battle in the Democratic primary.[8] Nixon worked tirelessly behind the scenes and Reagan trumpeted his law-and-order campaign message, going into the general election with a great deal of momentum. After pollsters discovered that the Berkeley student protests were a major priority of Republican voters, Reagan repeatedly promised to "clean up the mess at Berkeley."[9]

At first, Brown tried to smear Reagan's conservative supporters with "lame Nazi metaphors".[10] After Reagan deftly parried that tactic, Brown made a serious gaffe.[10] He ran a television commercial in which he used a rhetorical question to remind a group of elementary school children that John Wilkes Booth, another actor, had killed Abraham Lincoln.[10] Brown's crude comparison of Reagan to Booth based on their common background as actors—in the state that happens to be home to Hollywood—did not go over well with the California electorate.[10][11] Within 48 hours, Reagan had overtaken Brown in the polls.[10]

With a lead that grew throughout September and October, Reagan won by over 990,000 votes, aided by traditionally Democratic working-class areas in Los Angeles and elsewhere.[12] Brown won in only three counties, Alameda, Plumas, and San Francisco. He narrowly won Alameda by about 2,000 votes and Plumas by about 100 votes.

Results

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1966 California gubernatorial election[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Ronald Reagan 3,742,913 57.55% +10.74%
Democratic Edmund G. "Pat" Brown (inc.) 2,749,174 42.27% −9.62%
Scattering 11,358 0.17%
Majority 993,739 15.28%
Total votes 6,503,445 100.00%
Republican gain from Democratic Swing +20.35%

Results by county

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County Ronald Reagan
Republican 		Edmund G. Brown
Democratic 		Scattering
Write-in 		Margin Total votes cast[13]
# % # % # % # %
Alameda 189,055 49.54% 190,968 50.04% 1,607 0.42% -1,913 -0.50% 381,630
Alpine 148 65.78% 77 34.22% 0 0.00% 71 31.56% 225
Amador 2,985 58.29% 2,132 41.63% 4 0.08% 853 16.66% 5,121
Butte 25,443 67.48% 12,263 32.52% 0 0.00% 13,180 34.95% 37,706
Calaveras 3,810 67.72% 1,812 32.21% 4 0.07% 1,998 35.51% 5,626
Colusa 2,806 62.07% 1,713 37.89% 2 0.04% 1,093 24.18% 4,521
Contra Costa 107,543 54.79% 87,525 44.59% 1,217 0.62% 20,018 10.20% 196,285
Del Norte 3,409 63.96% 1,918 35.98% 3 0.06% 1,491 27.97% 5,330
El Dorado 9,189 62.97% 5,378 36.86% 25 0.17% 3,811 26.12% 14,592
Fresno 70,182 53.90% 59,869 45.98% 167 0.13% 10,313 7.92% 130,218
Glenn 4,676 66.33% 2,371 33.63% 3 0.04% 2,305 32.70% 7,050
Humboldt 19,210 57.16% 14,374 42.77% 23 0.07% 4,836 14.39% 33,607
Imperial 12,372 62.84% 7,307 37.12% 8 0.04% 5,065 25.73% 19,687
Inyo 3,961 66.14% 2,023 33.78% 5 0.08% 1,938 32.36% 5,989
Kern 64,716 62.62% 38,543 37.29% 96 0.09% 26,173 25.32% 103,355
Kings 9,957 55.77% 7,890 44.19% 7 0.04% 2,067 11.58% 17,854
Lake 5,499 63.01% 3,217 36.86% 11 0.13% 2,282 26.15% 8,727
Lassen 3,190 53.95% 2,723 46.05% 0 0.00% 467 7.90% 5,913
Los Angeles 1,389,995 57.18% 1,037,663 42.68% 3,435 0.14% 352,332 14.49% 2,431,093
Madera 7,490 54.13% 6,335 45.78% 12 0.09% 1,155 8.35% 13,837
Marin 40,411 57.02% 30,230 42.66% 227 0.32% 10,181 14.37% 70,868
Mariposa 1,811 61.45% 1,133 38.45% 3 0.10% 678 23.01% 2,947
Mendocino 10,161 59.76% 6,827 40.15% 15 0.09% 3,334 19.61% 17,003
Merced 14,103 52.98% 12,499 46.96% 16 0.06% 1,604 6.03% 26,618
Modoc 1,946 62.67% 1,156 37.23% 3 0.10% 790 25.44% 3,105
Mono 1,205 77.84% 343 22.16% 0 0.00% 862 55.68% 1,548
Monterey 35,944 60.96% 22,923 38.88% 96 0.16% 13,021 22.08% 58,963
Napa 17,740 59.45% 12,060 40.42% 40 0.13% 5,680 19.03% 29,840
Nevada 7,373 65.80% 3,823 34.12% 9 0.08% 3,550 31.68% 11,205
Orange 293,413 72.06% 113,275 27.82% 466 0.11% 180,138 44.24% 407,154
Placer 14,664 54.55% 12,187 45.33% 32 0.12% 2,477 9.21% 26,883
Plumas 2,658 49.15% 2,747 50.80% 3 0.06% -89 -1.65% 5,408
Riverside 84,501 62.35% 50,112 36.98% 907 0.67% 34,389 25.38% 135,520
Sacramento 109,801 50.85% 105,861 49.03% 262 0.12% 3,940 1.82% 215,924
San Benito 3,565 60.96% 2,283 39.04% 0 0.00% 1,282 21.92% 5,848
San Bernardino 121,916 62.13% 74,120 37.77% 187 0.10% 47,796 24.36% 196,223
San Diego 252,070 63.76% 142,890 36.14% 398 0.10% 109,180 27.62% 395,358
San Francisco 114,796 41.06% 164,435 58.82% 341 0.12% -49,639 -17.76% 279,572
San Joaquin 54,647 60.73% 35,281 39.21% 51 0.06% 19,366 21.52% 89,979
San Luis Obispo 21,528 62.52% 12,891 37.44% 13 0.04% 8,637 25.08% 34,432
San Mateo 107,498 53.63% 92,654 46.23% 276 0.14% 14,844 7.41% 200,428
Santa Barbara 50,284 63.21% 28,853 36.27% 414 0.52% 21,431 26.94% 79,551
Santa Clara 164,970 55.33% 132,793 44.54% 410 0.14% 32,177 10.79% 298,173
Santa Cruz 26,988 61.42% 16,913 38.49% 42 0.10% 10,075 22.93% 43,943
Shasta 15,155 54.76% 12,486 45.12% 32 0.12% 2,669 9.64% 27,673
Sierra 650 55.27% 526 44.73% 0 0.00% 124 10.54% 1,176
Siskiyou 7,057 54.17% 5,962 45.76% 9 0.07% 1,095 8.40% 13,028
Solano 23,187 50.11% 23,047 49.81% 39 0.08% 140 0.30% 46,273
Sonoma 41,516 60.57% 26,898 39.24% 126 0.18% 14,618 21.33% 68,540
Stanislaus 31,473 54.36% 26,418 45.63% 10 0.02% 5,055 8.73% 57,901
Sutter 9,828 70.43% 4,126 29.57% 0 0.00% 5,702 40.86% 13,954
Tehama 6,629 62.94% 3,891 36.94% 12 0.11% 2,738 26.00% 10,532
Trinity 2,050 62.23% 1,242 37.70% 2 0.06% 808 24.53% 3,294
Tulare 33,095 59.91% 22,109 40.02% 41 0.07% 10,986 19.89% 55,245
Tuolumne 4,845 58.16% 3,479 41.76% 6 0.07% 1,366 16.40% 8,330
Ventura 580,68 60.82% 37,224 38.99% 181 0.19% 20,844 21.83% 95,473
Yolo 13,073 49.97% 13,032 49.81% 57 0.22% 41 0.16% 26,162
Yuba 6,658 60.50% 4,344 39.47% 3 0.03% 2,314 21.03% 11,005
Total 3,742,913 57.55% 2,749,174 42.27% 11,358 0.17% 993,739 15.28% 6,503,445

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

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References

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  1. ^ Cannon 2003, pp. 3–5
  2. ^ "California State of Mind: The Legacy of Pat Brown". Paley Center. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  3. ^ Cannon 2003, pp. 6–9
  4. ^ a b Wilcox, David C. (April 8, 2002). "The "Eleventh Commandment"". Enter Stage Right. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
  5. ^ Reagan, Ronald (1990). An American Life. Simon and Schuster. p. 150.
  6. ^ a b California Secretary of State. California Statement of Vote Direct Primary Election June 7, 1966. Sacramento, California. p. 6. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  7. ^ Cannon 2003, pp. 146–147
  8. ^ Cannon 2003, pp. 147–150
  9. ^ Kerr, Clark (2001). The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949-1967, Volume 2. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 288. ISBN 9780520925014. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  10. ^ a b c d e Reagan, Michael; Denney, Jim (2010), The New Reagan Revolution: How Ronald Reagan's Principles Can Restore America's Greatness, p. 111, ISBN 978-0-312-64454-3
  11. ^ Cannon 2003, pp. 151–152
  12. ^ Cannon 2003, pp. 156–160
  13. ^ a b California Secretary of State. State of California Statement of Vote and Supplement November 8, 1966 General Election. Sacramento, California. p. 6. Retrieved July 21, 2024.

Further reading

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  • Anderson, Totton J.; Lee, Eugene C. (1967), "The 1966 Election in California", Western Political Quarterly, 20#2 pp. 535–554 in JSTOR
  • Becker, Jules, and Douglas A. Fuchs. "How two major California dailies covered Reagan vs. Brown." Journalism Quarterly 44.4 (1967): 645–653.
  • Cannon, Lou (2003). Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power. New York: PublicAffairs. ISBN 1-58648-030-8.
  • Cannon, Lou (2001), Ronald Reagan: The Presidential Portfolio (PublicAffairs, 2001)
  • Cannon, Lou. "Preparing for the Presidency: The Political Education of Ronald Reagan" in A Legacy of Leadership: Governors and American History ed. by Clayton McClure Brooks (2008) pp 137–155. online
  • Dallek, Matthew. The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan's First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics (2000), 1966 election;
  • De Groot, Gerard J. "'A Goddamned Electable Person': The 1966 California Gubernatorial Campaign of Ronald Reagan." History 82#267 (1997) pp: 429-448 online.
  • De Groot, Gerard J. "Ronald Reagan and Student Unrest in California, 1966-1970." Pacific Historical Review 65.1 (1996): 107–129. online free Archived 2023-02-13 at the Wayback Machine
  • Edwards, Anne. Early Reagan: The Rise to Power (New York, 1987), includes 1966 election
  • McKenna, Kevin. "The 'Total Campaign': How Ronald Reagan Overwhelmingly Won the California Gubernatorial Election of 1966." (Thesis, Columbia University, 2010)
  • Pawel, Miriam. (2018). The Browns of California: the family dynasty that transformed a state and shaped a nation. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.
  • Rapoport, R. California Dreaming: The Political Odyssey of Pat & Jerry Brown. Berkeley: Nolo Press (1982) ISBN 0-917316-48-7.
  • Rarick, Ethan (2006), California Rising: The Life and Times of Pat Brown, Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 9780520939844 summary
  • Rarick, Ethan. "The Brown Dynasty." in Modern American Political Dynasties: A Study of Power, Family, and Political Influence ed by Kathleen Gronnerud and Scott J. Spitzer. (2018): 211–30.
  • Reeves, Michelle. "Obey the Rules or Get Out": Ronald Reagan's 1966 Gubernatorial Campaign and the 'Trouble in Berkeley'." Southern California Quarterly (2010): 275–305. in JSTOR
  • Rice, Richard B. The Elusive Eden: A New History of California. (McGraw-Hill, 2012). ). ISBN 978-0-07-338556-3.
  • Rogin, Michael Paul, John L. Shover. Political Change in California: Critical Elections and Social Movements, 1890-1966 (Greenwood, 1970).
  • Rorabaugh, William J. Berkeley at War, the 1960s (Oxford University Press, 1989).
  • Schuparra, Kurt. Triumph of the Right: The Rise of the California Conservative Movement, 1945-1966 (M.E. Sharpe, 1998).
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