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 Results by state house district Hammond: 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% Hickel: 30–40% Croft: 30–40% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Alaska |
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The1978 Alaska gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 1978, to elect thegovernor ofAlaska.Republican incumbentJay Hammond defeated four opponents: formerGovernor of Alaska and write-in candidateWally Hickel,Alaska Senator and Democratic nomineeChancy Croft, formerCommissioner of Natural Resources andIndependent candidate Tom Kelly andAlaskan Independence Party nomineeDon Wright. After losing to Hammond in the Republican primary, Hickel ran as a write-in candidate and was able to outperform Croft. RepublicanTom Fink and DemocratJay Kerttula also ran in the open primary.
This was the first time an incumbent Republican governor was re-elected for a second term, and this would not occur again until2022. This was also the last time until1998 that an incumbent governor, regardless of party, would be re-elected, and the last time a Republican was elected governor of Alaska until2002.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jay Hammond (inc.) | 31,921 | 30.01% | ||
| Republican | Wally Hickel | 31,823 | 29.92% | ||
| Republican | Tom Fink | 17,487 | 16.44% | ||
| Democratic | Chancy Croft | 8,910 | 8.38% | ||
| Democratic | Edward A. Merdes | 8,655 | 8.14% | ||
| Democratic | Jay Kerttula | 7,125 | 6.70% | ||
| Republican | Jimmie D. Lockhart | 451 | 0.42% | ||
| Turnout | 106,372 | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jay Hammond (inc.) | 49,580 | 39.07% | −8.60% | |
| Write-In | Wally Hickel (write-in) | 33,555 | 26.44% | ||
| Democratic | Chancy Croft | 25,656 | 20.22% | −27.15% | |
| Independent | Tom Kelly | 15,656 | 12.34% | ||
| Independence | Don Wright | 2,463 | 1.94% | −3.02% | |
| Majority | 16,025 | 12.63% | |||
| Turnout | 126,910 | ||||
| Republicanhold | Swing | ||||
 Alaska gubernatorial elections | |
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