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 County results Congressional district resultsReagan: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Brown: 50–60% 60–70% 80–90% | |||||||||||||||||
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Entertainment and personal 33rd Governor of California 40th President of the United States Tenure   | ||
The1966 California gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1966. Incumbent Democratic GovernorPat Brown was defeated in his bid for re-election by Republican nominee and future PresidentRonald Reagan. As of 2025, this remains the last time an incumbent governor of California lost re-election, though one subsequent governorwas recalled from office in 2003.
Incumbent governor Pat Brown had been twice elected with significant accomplishments, such as the construction of thestate highway system.[1] After his re-election victory over former vice presidentRichard Nixon in 1962, Brown was strongly considered forLyndon B. Johnson's running matein 1964.[2] However, Brown's popularity began to sag amidst the civil disorders of theWatts riots and the early student protests at theUniversity of California, Berkeley including theFree Speech Movement.[3]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Pat Brown (incumbent) | 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% | ||
California's liberal Republicans includingGeorge Christopher leveled attacks on Ronald Reagan for his conservative positions.[5] In response, Reagan popularized the eleventh commandment created byCalifornia Republican Party chairman Gaylord Parkinson. In his 1990 autobiographyAn 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."[6] Parkinson used the phrase as common ground to prevent a split in the party.[5]
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 columnistDrew Pearson.[7]
| 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% | ||
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.[9] Nixon worked tirelessly behind the scenes and Reagan trumpeted hislaw-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".[10]
At first, Brown tried to smear Reagan's conservative supporters with "lame Nazi metaphors".[11] After Reagan deftly parried that tactic, Brown made a serious gaffe.[11] He ran a television commercial in which he used a rhetorical question to remind a group of elementary school children thatJohn Wilkes Booth, another actor,had killed Abraham Lincoln.[11] Brown's crude comparison of Reagan to Booth based on their common background as actors—in the state that happens to be home toHollywood—did not go over well with the California electorate.[11][12] Within 48 hours, Reagan had overtaken Brown in the polls.[11]
With a lead that grew throughout September and October, Reagan won by 993,739 votes, aided by traditionally Democratic working-class areas in Los Angeles and elsewhere.[13] Brown won in only three counties,Alameda,Plumas, andSan Francisco. He narrowly won Alameda by about 2,000 votes and Plumas by about 100 votes.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Ronald Reagan | 3,742,913 | 57.55% | +10.74% | |
| Democratic | Pat Brown (incumbent) | 2,749,174 | 42.27% | −9.62% | |
| Scattering | 11,358 | 0.17% | |||
| Majority | 993,739 | 15.28% | |||
| Total votes | 6,503,445 | 100.00% | |||
| Republicangain fromDemocratic | Swing | +20.35% | |||
| County | Ronald Reagan Republican | Edmund G. Brown Democratic | Scattering Write-in | Margin | Total votes cast[14] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| 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 | 58,068 | 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 |
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