2018 California gubernatorial election

The 2018 California gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the governor of California, concurrently with elections for the rest of California's executive branch, as well as elections to the United States Senate and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic Governor Jerry Brown was ineligible to run for a third consecutive term due to term limits. The race was between the incumbent Democratic Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom and businessman John H. Cox, a [California California Republican Party|Republican Party|Republican], who qualified for the general election after placing first and second in the June 5, 2018 primary election.
Newsom won in a landslide, with 62% of the vote, the biggest victory in a gubernatorial race in California since Earl Warren won re-election in 1950, and the biggest victory for a non-incumbent since 1930. The election also marked the first time in 40 years since Orange County had voted for the Democratic candidate since Jerry Brown won it in 1978, and the first time Democrats won three consecutive gubernatorial elections in the state's history. Newsom was sworn in on January 7, 2019.

Candidates

A primary election was held on June 5, 2018. Under California's non-partisan blanket primary law, all candidates appeared on the same ballot, regardless of party. Voters may vote for any candidate, regardless of their party affiliation. The top two finishers – regardless of party – advance to the general election in November, regardless of whether a candidate manages to receive a majority of the votes cast in the primary election.

Democratic Party

Declared

Akinyemi Agbede, mathematician
Juan M. Bribiesca, retired physician
Thomas Jefferson Cares, blockchain start-up CEO
John Chiang, California State Treasurer
Delaine Eastin, former California State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Robert Davidson Griffis, 2016 Libertarian candidate for president
Albert Caesar Mezzetti, former Manteca city councilman
Gavin Newsom, lieutenant governor of California
Amanda Renteria, national political director for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and candidate for CA-21 in 2014
Michael Shellenberger, founder of the Breakthrough Institute
Klement Tinaj, actor, martial artist, stuntman, and producer
Antonio Villaraigosa, former mayor of Los Angeles

Declined

Xavier Becerra, Attorney General of California
Scooter Braun, music manager
George Clooney, actor and activist
Kevin de León, president pro tempore of the California State Senate
Eric Garcetti, mayor of Los Angeles
Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO
Libby Schaaf, mayor of Oakland
Jackie Speier, U.S. representative
Tom Steyer, hedge fund manager, philanthropist, and environmentalist

Republican Party

Declared

Travis Allen, state assemblyman
John H. Cox, businessman
Yvonne Girard, US military veteran
Peter Y. Liu, entrepreneur, real estate agent, US Army veteran
Robert C. Newman II, businessman, psychologist, farmer
K. Pearce

Withdrawn

Rosey Grier, minister and retired NFL player
David Hadley, former state assemblyman
Allen Ishida, former Tulare County Supervisor
Doug Ose, former U.S. representative

Declined

Tim Donnelly, former state assemblyman, candidate for governor in 2014, and candidate for CA-08 in 2016
Kevin Faulconer, mayor of San Diego
Ashley Swearengin, former mayor of Fresno
Peter Thiel, venture capitalist

Libertarian Party

Declared

Zoltan Istvan, Transhumanist Party nominee for President of the United States in 2016
Nickolas Wildstar, political activist, rapper, and write-in candidate for governor in 2014

Green Party

Declared

Christopher Carlson, puppeteer
Veronika Fimbres
Josh Jones, author, geologist, solar electric designer

Peace and Freedom Party

Declared

Gloria La Riva, activist and nominee for president of the United States in 2016

Independent (no party)

Declared

Armando M. Arreola
Shubham Goel
Hakan "Hawk" Mikado
Desmond Silveira, engineer and former national committee member of the American Solidarity Party
Arman Soltani
Jeffrey Edward Taylor
Peter Crawford Valentino
Johnny Wattenburg

Primary election

From the latter half of 2017, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom was widely seen as the favored front runner for the top two primary. Businessman John Cox and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had both been running closely behind Newsom to obtain the second place spot. However, in late 2017, as more prominent Democrats entered the race, Villaraigosa saw his polling numbers slip out of competition with Cox. This mainly left the race between Newsom and Cox, with a third place free-for-all between Allen and Villaraigosa.

Polling

Graphical summary

Poll source	Date administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Travis Allen	John Chiang	John Cox	Delaine Eastin	Gavin Newsom	Antonio Villaraigosa	Other / Undecided
Competitive Edge Research & Communication	May 29–30, 2018	504	± 4.4%	10%	4%	23%	5%	31%	13%	15%
UC Berkeley	May 22−28, 2018	2,106	± 3.5%	12%	7%	20%	4%	33%	13%	11%
Emerson College	May 21–24, 2018	600	± 4.2%	11%	10%	16%	4%	24%	12%	23%
YouGov	May 12–24, 2018	1,113	± 4.0%	10%	8%	17%	4%	33%	9%	16%
Competitive Edge Research & Communication	May 20–22, 2018	501	± 4.4%	9%	7%	22%	8%	26%	12%	17%
SurveyUSA	May 21, 2018	678	± 6.1%	12%	10%	17%	2%	33%	8%	16%
Public Policy Institute of California	May 11–20, 2018	901	± 4.1%	11%	9%	19%	6%	25%	15%	16%
USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times	April 18 – May 18, 2018	517	± 4.0%	5%	6%	10%	3%	21%	11%	43%
Gravis Marketing	May 4–5, 2018	525	± 4.3%	8%	9%	23%	4%	22%	19%	15%
SmithJohnson Research	April 26–27, 2018	533	± 4.2%	13%	4%	20%	4%	36%	8%	16%
SurveyUSA	April 19–23, 2018	520	± 5.5%	10%	9%	15%	1%	21%	18%	25%
UC Berkeley	April 16−22, 2018	1,738	± 3.5%	16%	7%	18%	4%	30%	9%	16%
J. Wallin Opinion Research/Tulchin Research	March 30 – April 4, 2018	800	± 3.7%	9%	9%	16%	5%	26%	7%	28%
Public Policy Institute of California	March 25 – April 3, 2018	867	± 4.4%	10%	7%	15%	6%	26%	13%	23%
SurveyUSA	March 22–25, 2018	517	± 5.0%	7%	9%	11%	3%	22%	14%	34%
David Binder Research	March 16–21, 2018	1,750	–	13%	9%	16%	2%	29%	7%	24%
Public Policy Institute of California	March 7–13, 2018	1,706	± 3.4%	10%	6%	14%	5%	28%	12%	25%
David Binder Research	March 1–5, 2018	1,000	–	10%	13%	16%	7%	26%	12%	16%
David Binder Research	January 31 – February 4, 2018	800	± 3.5%	4%	11%	7%	4%	30%	11%	33%
Global Strategy Group	January 27 – February 1, 2018	500	–	7%	10%	10%	5%	28%	14%	3%
Public Policy Institute of California	January 21–30, 2018	1,705	± 3.2%	8%	9%	7%	4%	23%	21%	28%
Tulchin Research/Moore Information	January 21–28, 2018	2,500	± 2.0%	8%	9%	10%	6%	29%	11%	26%
SurveyUSA	January 7–9, 2018	506	± 4.4%	9%	5%	4%	1%	19%	10%	53%
UC Berkeley	December 7–16, 2017	672	± 3.8%	9%	5%	9%	5%	26%	17%	29%
Public Policy Institute of California	November 10–19, 2017	1,070	± 4.3%	6%	9%	9%	3%	23%	18%	31%
USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times	October 27 – November 6, 2017	1,070	± 4.0%	15%	12%	11%	4%	31%	21%	6%
UC Berkeley	August 27 – September 5, 2017	1,000	± 4.0%	9%	7%	11%	4%	26%	10%	33%
SmithJohnson Research	July 27–30, 2017	500	± 4.4%	10%	7%	14%	3%	25%	12%	28%
GSSR	May 30 – June 5, 2017	602	–	–	10%	11%	–	26%	12%	–
UC Berkeley	May 4–29, 2017	1,628	± 3.3%	–	5%	9%	3%	22%	17%	44%
The Feldman Group	March 2017	–	–	–	–	22%	–	26%	20%	–

with Kevin Faulconer and Eric Garcetti

Poll source

Date
administered

Sample
size

Margin
of error

John
Chiang

John
Cox

Kevin
Faulconer

Eric
Garcetti

Gavin
Newsom

Tom
Steyer

Ashley
Swearengin

Antonio
Villaraigosa

Other /
Undecided

UC Berkeley/YouGov

March 13–20, 2017

1,000

± 3.6%

11%

24%

–

25%

Public Policy Polling

January 17–18, 2017

882

± 3.3%

–

20%

13%

25%

12%

16%

Field Research Corporation

October 25–31, 2016

600

–

16%

23%

11%

30%

Public Policy Polling

February 6–8, 2015

824

–

10%

–

30%

11%

22%

–

13%

26%

Results by county

Blue represents counties won by Newsom. Alameda53.5%10.6%10.0%4.4%9.6%11.9%Alpine38.5%24.1%6.7%8.7%10.4%11.6%Amador21.5%41.8%5.8%15.1%8.0%7.8%Butte25.6%34.4%5.5%14.5%6.1%13.9%Calaveras23.3%38.2%5.3%18.1%6.6%8.5%Colusa13.0%43.3%16.0%16.3%3.6%7.8%Contra Costa49.9%19.7%8.7%7.4%6.9%7.4%Del Norte23.4%27.0%3.5%24.8%7.7%13.6%El Dorado24.5%40.7%5.8%13.9%8.1%7.0%Fresno16.8%33.7%20.2%14.3%7.6%7.4%Glenn12.4%48.1%7.9%18.2%3.3%10.1%Humboldt37.9%22.3%5.0%9.6%6.4%18.8%Imperial11.8%22.7%31.2%9.8%7.9%16.6%Inyo22.6%30.7%8.6%15.9%8.7%13.5%Kern12.1%40.6%13.9%19.9%5.4%8.1%Kings9.4%36.7%17.0%23.8%6.7%6.4%Lake37.5%28.4%6.6%12.0%5.0%10.5%Lassen13.1%41.7%2.1%26.8%6.6%9.7%Los Angeles32.7%19.6%21.7%5.8%13.2%7.0%Madera12.8%40.2%15.7%18.9%5.2%7.2%Marin64.1%12.5%8.2%3.8%5.3%6.1%Mariposa19.1%34.9%8.2%23.4%6.3%8.1%Mendocino45.2%17.9%7.8%9.1%5.1%14.9%Merced18.2%29.7%17.9%16.0%7.3%10.8%Modoc11.4%49.9%3.0%18.0%3.1%14.6%Mono31.6%26.1%12.2%12.0%5.0%13.1%Monterey37.8%19.8%16.8%9.4%6.6%9.6%Napa46.1%19.4%10.0%9.7%5.5%9.3%Nevada34.1%25.7%5.9%17.4%7.0%9.9%Orange24.3%36.3%11.4%11.5%9.0%7.5%Placer25.7%40.2%5.8%13.1%9.0%6.2%Plumas26.9%38.5%3.8%15.5%5.7%9.6%Riverside22.3%34.4%13.7%15.3%7.5%6.8%Sacramento29.7%26.2%10.7%10.2%14.5%8.7%San Benito33.6%23.4%13.3%16.0%4.8%8.9%San Bernardino19.7%33.9%15.2%14.7%9.2%7.3%San Diego30.5%32.6%10.4%7.5%9.8%9.2%San Francisco57.5%6.6%9.1%2.2%8.9%15.7%San Joaquin26.3%31.4%11.1%13.6%9.3%8.3%San Luis Obispo33.2%29.4%6.8%14.6%7.3%8.7%San Mateo55.0%13.9%10.4%5.1%7.1%8.5%Santa Barbara33.8%26.2%12.3%11.5%6.8%9.4%Santa Clara48.5%13.9%10.9%8.3%7.7%10.7%Santa Cruz52.4%11.8%11.5%7.0%4.5%12.8%Shasta16.9%44.3%3.9%19.9%4.5%10.5%Sierra22.9%35.1%3.7%17.6%7.1%13.6%Siskiyou23.3%34.5%3.4%18.5%5.0%15.3%Solano41.6%23.3%8.9%11.3%6.9%8.0%Sonoma54.6%16.4%8.9%5.5%4.9%9.7%Stanislaus23.2%31.6%12.3%16.3%7.3%9.3%Sutter16.4%40.0%8.3%17.4%8.2%9.7%Tehama13.2%45.4%4.5%21.6%4.7%10.6%Trinity23.6%31.4%4.7%17.9%5.4%17.0%Tulare13.9%36.5%16.4%20.4%5.2%7.6%Tuolumne26.8%37.6%5.7%15.8%5.6%8.5%Ventura26.7%32.6%13.4%9.1%11.0%7.2%Yolo31.6%19.9%13.7%7.0%14.6%13.2%Yuba16.3%39.6%7.6%21.1%6.6%8.8%Totals33.6%25.5%13.3%9.5%9.5%8.6%

General election

Polling

Poll source	Date administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Gavin Newsom	John Cox	-	Other	Undecided
Change Research	November 2–4, 2018	1,108	–	53%	41%	–	–	–
Research Co.	November 1–3, 2018	450	± 4.6%	58%	38%	–	–	4%
SurveyUSA	November 1–2, 2018	924	± 4.6%	53%	38%	–	–	9%
Probolsky Research	October 25–30, 2018	900	± 3.3%	47%	37%	–	–	16%
Thomas Partners Strategies	October 25–27, 2018	1,068	± 3.5%	55%	42%	–	–	3%
Gravis Marketing	October 25–26, 2018	743	± 3.6%	55%	35%	–	–	9%
UC Berkeley	October 19–25, 2018	1,339	± 4.0%	58%	40%	–	–	2%
YouGov	October 10–24, 2018	2,178	± 3.1%	53%	34%	3%	–	10%
Public Policy Institute of California	October 12–21, 2018	989	± 4.2%	49%	38%	2%	–	10%
Thomas Partners Strategies	October 18–20, 2018	1,068	± 3.5%	54%	41%	–	–	5%
Emerson College	October 17–19, 2018	671	± 4.1%	52%	32%	–	–	16%
SurveyUSA	October 12–14, 2018	762	± 4.9%	52%	35%	–	–	14%
Thomas Partners Strategies	October 12–14, 2018	1,068	± 3.5%	51%	43%	–	–	6%
USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times	September 17 – October 14, 2018	794 LV	± 4.0%	54%	31%	–	–	15%
USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times	September 17 – October 14, 2018	980 RV	± 4.0%	51%	30%	–	–	19%
Thomas Partners Strategies	October 5–7, 2018	1,068	± 3.5%	54%	42%	–	–	4%
Thomas Partners Strategies	September 28–30, 2018	1,068	± 3.5%	50%	45%	–	–	5%
Thomas Partners Strategies	September 21–23, 2018	1,068	± 3.5%	53%	42%	–	–	5%
Vox Populi Polling	September 16–18, 2018	500	± 4.4%	60%	40%	–	–	–
Public Policy Institute of California	September 9–18, 2018	964	± 4.8%	51%	39%	3%	–	7%
Thomas Partners Strategies	September 14–16, 2018	1,040	± 3.5%	45%	41%	–	–	14%
Ipsos	September 5–14, 2018	1,021	± 4.0%	52%	40%	–	3%	6%
Thomas Partners Strategies	September 7–9, 2018	1,227	± 3.3%	48%	40%	–	–	12%
Probolsky Research	August 29 – September 2, 2018	900	± 5.8%	44%	39%	–	–	17%
Public Policy Institute of California	July 8–17, 2018	1,020	± 4.3%	55%	31%	5%	–	9%
SurveyUSA	June 26–27, 2018	559	± 5.9%	58%	29%	–	–	13%
USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times	June 6–17, 2018	767	± 4.0%	45%	28%	–	–	27%
J. Wallin Opinion Research/Tulchin Research	March 30 – April 4, 2018	800	± 3.7%	42%	32%	–	–	26%

with Newsom and Chiang

Poll source	Date administered	Sample size	John Chiang	Gavin Newsom	Undecided
Global Strategy Group	January 27 – February 1, 2018	500	44%	30%	–
Public Policy Polling	February 6–8, 2015	824	30%	37%	33%

with Newsom and Villaraigosa

Poll source	Date administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Gavin Newsom	Antonio Villaraigosa	Undecided
J. Wallin Opinion Research/Tulchin Research	March 30 – April 4, 2018	800	± 3.7%	38%	21%	41%
Public Policy Polling	February 6–8, 2015	824	–	42%	22%	36%

with Villaraigosa and Garcetti

Poll source	Date administered	Sample size	Eric Garcetti	Antonio Villaraigosa	Undecided
Public Policy Polling	February 6–8, 2015	824	28%	30%	42%

Results

Newsom won the general election by the largest margin of any California gubernatorial candidate since Earl Warren's re-election in 1950. In addition to winning the traditional Democratic strongholds of the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles County, Sacramento, and North Coast, Newsom performed well in the traditionally swing Central Coast, San Bernardino County, and San Diego County, as well as narrowly winning traditionally Republican Orange County – the latter voting for a Democrat for the first time in a gubernatorial election since Jerry Brown's first re-election in 1978. Cox did well in the state's more rural areas, even flipping Stanislaus County; Stanislaus is the only county that voted for Brown in 2014 but flipped to Cox in 2018. Cox also narrowly won Fresno County and Riverside County in the Inland Empire in addition to handily winning traditionally Republican Kern County in the Central Valley.

By county

Blue represents counties won by Newsom. Red represents counties won by Cox.
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Stanislaus

By congressional district

Newsom won 42 of 53 congressional districts, with the remaining 11 going to Cox, including four that elected Democrats.

District	Newsom	Cox	Representative
	39%	61%	Doug LaMalfa
	72%	28%	Jared Huffman
	52%	48%	John Garamendi
	41%	59%	Tom McClintock
	70%	30%	Mike Thompson
	69%	31%	Doris Matsui
	52%	48%	Ami Bera
	40%	60%	Paul Cook
	54%	46%	Jerry McNerney
	49.5%	50.5%	Josh Harder
	71%	29%	Mark DeSaulnier
	87%	13%	Nancy Pelosi
	90%	10%	Barbara Lee
	76%	24%	Jackie Speier
	69%	31%	Eric Swalwell
	56%	44%	Jim Costa
	72%	28%	Ro Khanna
	73%	27%	Anna Eshoo
	70%	30%	Zoe Lofgren
	70%	30%	Jimmy Panetta
	52%	48%	TJ Cox
	43%	57%	Devin Nunes
	37%	63%	Kevin McCarthy
	57%	43%	Salud Carbajal
	51%	49%	Katie Hill
	57%	43%	Julia Brownley
	65%	35%	Judy Chu
	75%	25%	Adam Schiff
	78%	22%	Tony Cárdenas
	70%	30%	Brad Sherman
	57%	43%	Pete Aguilar
	65%	35%	Grace Napolitano
	68%	32%	Ted Lieu
	85%	15%	Jimmy Gomez
	66%	34%	Norma Torres
	53%	47%	Raul Ruiz
	86%	14%	Karen Bass
	65%	35%	Linda Sánchez
	49.6%	50.4%	Gil Cisneros
	80%	20%	Lucille Roybal-Allard
	59%	41%	Mark Takano
	41%	59%	Ken Calvert
	78%	22%	Maxine Waters
	81%	19%	Nanette Barragán
	49%	51%	Katie Porter
	64%	36%	Lou Correa
	62%	38%	Alan Lowenthal
	48%	52%	Harley Rouda
	51%	49%	Mike Levin
	41%	59%	Duncan Hunter
	68%	32%	Juan Vargas
	58%	42%	Scott Peters
	65%	35%	Susan Davis

By city

Cities & Unincorporated Areas that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Cities & Unincorporated Areas that flipped from Democratic to Republican