1970 California gubernatorial election

1970 California gubernatorial election
	County results; Reagan: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% ; Unruh: 40–50% 50–60%
Governor before election; Ronald Reagan; Republican	Elected Governor ; Ronald Reagan; Republican

The 1970 California gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1970. The incumbent governor, Republican Ronald Reagan, won re-election over Democrat and Speaker of the Assembly Jesse Unruh. This would be the closest victory of Ronald Reagan's entire political career.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Walter Clarke Buchanan
Jack Clapper
Florence Douglas, mayor of Vallejo since 1955^[1]
Raymond Haight Jr., high school history teacher, anti-war advocate, and son of Raymond Haight^[2]
Harry May
Eddie Ramirez, Boyle Heights (Los Angeles) pharmacist^[3]
Joseph Ramos
Jesse M. Unruh, former Speaker of the California Assembly (1961–69) and Assemblyman from Marina del Rey
George Wagner
Sam Yorty, mayor of Los Angeles since 1961

Results

Democratic primary results^[4]^: 51
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jesse M. Unruh	1,602,690	64.03
	Democratic	Sam Yorty	659,494	26.35
	Democratic	George Wagner	44,118	1.76
	Democratic	Florence Douglas	43,456	1.74
	Democratic	Walter Clarke Buchanan	40,192	1.61
	Democratic	Eddie Ramirez	31,092	1.24
	Democratic	Joseph Ramos	25,874	1.03
	Democratic	Raymond Haight	20,328	0.81
	Democratic	Harry May	19,471	0.78
	Democratic	Jack Clapper	16,142	0.65
	Democratic	Samuel Reeve (write-in)	3	0.00
Total votes			2,502,860	100.00

Other primaries

American Independent Party

Candidate	# of votes^[4]^: 51	% of votes
William K. Shearer	14,069	61.5
Keith H. Greene	8,827	38.6

Peace and Freedom Party

Candidate	# of votes^[4]^: 52	% of votes
Ricardo Romo	6,214	63.5
Warren A. Nielsen	3,569	36.5

General election results

1970 gubernatorial election, California^[5]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ronald Reagan (incumbent)	3,439,174	52.83
	Democratic	Jesse M. Unruh	2,938,607	45.14
	Peace and Freedom	Ricardo Romo	65,954	1.01
	American Independent	William K. Shearer	65,847	1.01
Invalid or blank votes			123,851	1.87
Total votes			6,633,433	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	54.50
	Republican hold

Results by county

County results^[4]^: 43
County	Reagan	Votes	Unruh	Votes	Others	Votes
Mono	73.09%	1,350	24.91%	460	2.00%	37
Orange	66.89%	308,982	31.48%	145,420	1.63%	7,538
Alpine	66.34%	203	29.08%	89	4.58%	14
Sutter	64.48%	9,084	34.15%	4,811	1.38%	194
Inyo	63.50%	4,006	34.90%	2,202	1.60%	101
Calaveras	63.10%	3,499	35.11%	1,947	1.79%	99
Butte	62.82%	22,656	34.82%	12,558	2.35%	849
San Diego	60.11%	253,378	37.51%	158,098	2.38%	10,047
Santa Barbara	60.10%	51,523	37.56%	32,202	2.33%	2,000
San Benito	59.54%	3,134	37.86%	1,993	2.60%	137
Nevada	59.45%	6,756	39.09%	4,442	1.46%	166
Modoc	59.40%	1,760	38.41%	1,138	2.19%	65
Glenn	59.37%	3,805	38.73%	2,482	1.90%	122
Ventura	58.64%	63,790	38.93%	42,350	2.44%	2,651
Sonoma	58.60%	44,823	39.16%	29,953	2.24%	1,711
Imperial	58.47%	10,636	38.51%	7,006	3.02%	550
Lake	58.18%	5,317	40.30%	3,683	1.52%	139
Santa Cruz	58.07%	26,679	39.58%	18,186	2.35%	1,079
Colusa	57.69%	2,302	40.78%	1,627	1.53%	61
Tulare	57.69%	27,564	40.45%	19,327	1.86%	888
Mariposa	57.46%	1,568	40.71%	1,111	1.83%	50
Del Norte	57.13%	2,755	41.00%	1,977	1.87%	90
Monterey	56.63%	33,691	41.19%	24,508	2.18%	1,297
Riverside	56.60%	81,768	41.13%	59,425	2.27%	3,273
El Dorado	56.59%	7,932	41.51%	5,818	1.90%	267
San Bernardino	56.57%	107,219	40.66%	77,069	2.76%	5,240
Marin	56.56%	43,092	41.38%	31,525	2.06%	1,571
San Luis Obispo	55.84%	18,301	41.98%	13,758	2.19%	717
Napa	55.29%	16,844	42.73%	13,018	1.98%	603
San Joaquin	55.25%	50,631	43.10%	39,495	1.65%	1,515
Kern	55.19%	54,216	42.52%	41,768	2.28%	2,244
Yuba	54.74%	5,305	43.93%	4,258	1.33%	129
San Mateo	54.31%	109,356	43.74%	88,069	1.96%	3,941
Tuolumne	53.74%	4,567	44.46%	3,779	1.80%	153
Mendocino	53.33%	9,134	44.46%	7,614	2.21%	378
Contra Costa	53.15%	106,965	45.30%	91,156	1.55%	3,123
Amador	53.12%	2,866	45.32%	2,445	1.56%	84
Tehama	52.46%	5,500	45.97%	4,819	1.57%	165
Santa Clara	51.47%	172,562	46.10%	154,570	2.43%	8,158
Humboldt	51.12%	16,778	46.41%	15,232	2.47%	810
Los Angeles	50.74%	1,173,161	47.40%	1,095,899	1.87%	43,203
Trinity	50.21%	1,643	47.34%	1,549	2.44%	80
Merced	49.64%	12,117	48.50%	11,840	1.86%	454
Siskiyou	49.58%	6,092	48.18%	5,920	2.25%	276
Placer	49.37%	13,886	48.89%	13,751	1.75%	491
Kings	49.11%	8,068	49.52%	8,134	1.37%	225
Madera	48.94%	6,205	49.72%	6,304	1.33%	169
Fresno	48.74%	60,644	49.67%	61,801	1.59%	1,979
Solano	48.43%	21,939	47.64%	21,583	3.93%	1,780
Sierra	46.92%	617	51.25%	674	1.83%	24
Sacramento	46.04%	105,523	52.52%	120,365	1.44%	3,303
Stanislaus	45.07%	29,157	53.34%	34,510	1.59%	1,031
Plumas	44.97%	2,280	52.82%	2,678	2.21%	112
Lassen	44.93%	2,494	52.44%	2,911	2.63%	146
Shasta	43.93%	11,864	54.22%	14,643	1.85%	499
Alameda	43.05%	162,727	54.68%	206,693	2.27%	8,566
San Francisco	41.97%	106,606	55.44%	140,829	2.59%	6,583
Yolo	41.01%	12,344	56.92%	17,135	2.07%	624

References

External links

California Elections Page
Reagan's Heritage Archived 2006-07-08 at the Wayback Machine

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