2018 California lieutenant gubernatorial election
The 2018 California lieutenant gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the lieutenant governor of California. Incumbent Democratic lieutenant governor Gavin Newsom was ineligible to run for reelection due to term limits and ran for governor of California instead. Democrats Eleni Kounalakis and Ed Hernandez faced each other in the general election, as no Republican finished in the top two positions of the nonpartisan blanket primary that was held on June 5, 2018.
Primary
Candidates
Democratic Party
Declared
- Jeff Bleich, former United States Ambassador to Australia
- Cameron Gharabiklou, attorney and businessman
- Ed Hernandez, state senator
- Eleni Kounalakis, former United States Ambassador to Hungary
Declined
- Kevin de León, President pro tempore of the California State Senate
- Mike Gatto, State Assemblyman
- Mark Leno, former state senator
- John Pérez, former Speaker of the California State Assembly
- Darrell Steinberg, Mayor of Sacramento and former state senator
Republican Party
Declared
- David Fennell, venture capitalist
- Cole Harris, businessman
- David Hernandez, retired business owner
- Lydia Ortega, San Jose State University economics professor
- Matthew Salzer, micronationlist
Declined
- Tom Berryhill, state senator
- Anthony Cannella, state senator
Libertarian Party
Declared
- Tim Ferreira
No party preference
Declared
- Gayle McLaughlin, former mayor of Richmond
- Danny Thomas
Results
By county
Results by county. majorities. Red represents counties won by Harris and counties with Republican vote majorities. Ed Hernandez. Light blue represents counties with Democratic vote pluralities. red represents counties with Republican vote pluralities.| County | McLaughlin | Kounalakis | Ed Hernandez | Bleich | Democratic total | Fennell | Harris | Ortega | David Hernandez | Republican total | Other |
| Alameda | 8.7 | 31.4 | 19.0 | 20.3 | 71.9% | 4.7 | 6.3 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 17.6% | 1.8 |
| Alpine | 1.9 | 25.4 | 18.4 | 12.8 | 58.2% | 13.1 | 10.4 | 9.1 | 4.0 | 36.6% | 3.2 |
| Amador | 2.2 | 21.6 | 10.2 | 4.4 | 36.6% | 16.1 | 23.2 | 9.3 | 9.5 | 58.1% | 3.0 |
| Butte | 4.4 | 18.8 | 15.6 | 6.4 | 42.7% | 12.1 | 21.5 | 9.5 | 6.9 | 50.0% | 2.9 |
| Calaveras | 2.4 | 20.2 | 12.0 | 4.5 | 37.3% | 17.8 | 21.7 | 9.3 | 8.2 | 57.0% | 3.3 |
| Colusa | 2.0 | 14.4 | 13.8 | 3.7 | 33.1% | 20.3 | 24.2 | 9.5 | 7.4 | 61.4% | 3.3 |
| Contra Costa | 6.2 | 26.7 | 17.4 | 17.3 | 62.4% | 8.0 | 11.2 | 5.6 | 4.3 | 29.1% | 2.3 |
| Del Norte | 4.3 | 14.8 | 16.9 | 5.6 | 38.4% | 16.5 | 22.3 | 7.2 | 8.3 | 54.3% | 3.1 |
| El Dorado | 2.5 | 23.5 | 11.2 | 4.9 | 40.1% | 15.2 | 20.9 | 11.5 | 7.4 | 55.0% | 2.5 |
| Fresno | 2.6 | 12.3 | 19.1 | 9.2 | 41.9% | 9.6 | 23.6 | 12.1 | 7.7 | 53.0% | 2.6 |
| Glenn | 2.2 | 8.4 | 10.0 | 5.0 | 25.8% | 24.2 | 25.7 | 8.9 | 9.3 | 68.1% | 3.8 |
| Humboldt | 8.2 | 25.4 | 19.5 | 8.8 | 55.1% | 10.6 | 13.4 | 5.6 | 4.7 | 34.3% | 2.4 |
| Imperial | 1.9 | 9.1 | 33.5 | 8.8 | 53.1% | 11.9 | 12.2 | 8.1 | 10.0 | 42.2% | 2.8 |
| Inyo | 3.5 | 16.5 | 15.1 | 6.6 | 39.2% | 15.8 | 22.2 | 8.3 | 7.5 | 53.8% | 3.5 |
| Kern | 1.9 | 9.7 | 15.3 | 6.3 | 34.4% | 13.5 | 35.2 | 8.0 | 6.4 | 63.1% | 2.6 |
| Kings | 2.1 | 7.6 | 19.2 | 6.0 | 33.2% | 12.6 | 26.2 | 14.2 | 8.8 | 61.8% | 2.5 |
| Lake | 4.3 | 25.6 | 10.7 | 13.1 | 50.5% | 11.6 | 18.0 | 7.4 | 5.8 | 42.8% | 2.6 |
| Lassen | 1.7 | 9.2 | 10.7 | 3.9 | 24.5% | 18.3 | 30.7 | 10.9 | 11.7 | 70.6% | 2.4 |
| Los Angeles | 4.1 | 27.4 | 28.9 | 7.1 | 64.7% | 4.9 | 12.9 | 5.4 | 6.1 | 29.3% | 1.9 |
| Madera | 2.1 | 9.0 | 18.4 | 5.1 | 33.3% | 17.0 | 29.6 | 7.7 | 7.6 | 59.9% | 2.8 |
| Marin | 5.2 | 32.2 | 16.3 | 25.5 | 74.6% | 3.8 | 6.4 | 6.3 | 2.0 | 18.5 | 1.6 |
| Mariposa | 3.4 | 14.1 | 15.8 | 5.6 | 36.2% | 18.0 | 24.0 | 7.2 | 8.3 | 57.5% | 2.9 |
| Mendocino | 7.4 | 30.4 | 16.5 | 14.1 | 62.3% | 7.4 | 10.7 | 5.2 | 4.7 | 28.0% | 2.4 |
| Merced | 2.8 | 12.0 | 22.0 | 7.6 | 42.9% | 9.9 | 23.1 | 10.6 | 7.3 | 50.9% | 3.5 |
| Modoc | 2.6 | 8.2 | 9.0 | 4.3 | 22.3% | 22.7 | 27.2 | 10.4 | 12.3 | 72.6% | 2.4 |
| Mono | 3.9 | 18.9 | 18.7 | 11.6 | 50.0% | 14.5 | 16.2 | 6.9 | 5.9 | 43.5% | 2.7 |
| Monterey | 2.8 | 26.7 | 24.8 | 9.5 | 61.8% | 5.4 | 18.2 | 5.3 | 4.6 | 34.5% | 1.9 |
| Napa | 3.0 | 30.0 | 17.3 | 13.9 | 61.7% | 11.1 | 10.6 | 5.3 | 4.9 | 31.9% | 3.2 |
| Nevada | 4.4 | 30.7 | 10.6 | 8.3 | 50.1% | 12.0 | 17.9 | 7.7 | 5.8 | 43.4% | 2.2 |
| Orange | 2.3 | 18.5 | 19.8 | 5.7 | 45.2% | 8.3 | 25.4 | 7.5 | 9.1 | 50.3% | 2.2 |
| Placer | 2.2 | 24.0 | 11.4 | 5.1 | 41.1% | 9.0 | 28.7 | 9.4 | 6.9 | 54.0% | 2.7 |
| Plumas | 3.0 | 23.3 | 9.2 | 5.4 | 38.5% | 17.8 | 16.9 | 10.9 | 10.2 | 55.8% | 2.7 |
| Riverside | 2.0 | 16.6 | 20.8 | 5.8 | 44.1% | 10.8 | 26.0 | 6.7 | 8.5 | 52.0% | 1.9 |
| Sacramento | 3.0 | 31.4 | 17.2 | 7.2 | 56.6% | 8.5 | 14.9 | 7.1 | 7.5 | 38.0% | 2.4 |
| San Benito | 2.9 | 23.3 | 21.8 | 6.2 | 52.0% | 9.2 | 15.0 | 8.6 | 9.6 | 42.5% | 2.6 |
| San Bernardino | 2.4 | 16.6 | 22.3 | 4.3 | 44.5% | 9.2 | 24.2 | 7.2 | 10.4 | 51.0% | 2.1 |
| San Diego | 3.0 | 20.8 | 18.9 | 10.1 | 51.4% | 7.3 | 24.5 | 6.7 | 5.2 | 43.7% | 1.9 |
| San Francisco | 18.0 | 29.0 | 17.5 | 20.8 | 68.2% | 2.5 | 4.9 | 3.2 | 2.3 | 12.9% | 0.9 |
| San Luis Obispo | 3.5 | 27.6 | 15.1 | 5.8 | 49.7% | 11.0 | 22.1 | 6.7 | 5.4 | 44.2% | 2.6 |
| San Joaquin | 2.2 | 24.9 | 17.6 | 5.2 | 49.2% | 9.6 | 21.3 | 8.1 | 7.0 | 46.0% | 2.6 |
| San Mateo | 4.1 | 34.2 | 16.5 | 19.8 | 71.5% | 6.4 | 8.5 | 5.0 | 2.4 | 22.3% | 2.1 |
| Santa Barbara | 2.9 | 25.9 | 21.5 | 6.7 | 55.0% | 9.2 | 18.5 | 6.7 | 5.4 | 39.8% | 2.3 |
| Santa Clara | 3.1 | 28.3 | 18.3 | 19.8 | 68.0% | 7.3 | 9.9 | 4.9 | 4.5 | 26.6% | 2.3 |
| Santa Cruz | 5.9 | 34.7 | 22.8 | 12.2 | 70.6% | 4.6 | 9.0 | 5.3 | 2.8 | 21.7% | 1.8 |
| Shasta | 2.7 | 10.9 | 12.3 | 6.0 | 30.1% | 19.0 | 25.4 | 9.4 | 10.5 | 64.3% | 2.9 |
| Sierra | 5.8 | 21.4 | 7.7 | 5.4 | 35.0% | 16.5 | 21.2 | 11.0 | 7.4 | 55.1% | 4.1 |
| Siskiyou | 4.5 | 15.3 | 13.3 | 8.1 | 37.1% | 19.4 | 18.4 | 8.9 | 8.2 | 54.9% | 3.5 |
| Solano | 3.4 | 28.7 | 16.8 | 10.0 | 57.5% | 10.9 | 11.9 | 7.5 | 5.4 | 38.7% | 3.3 |
| Sonoma | 5.5 | 34.4 | 17.2 | 15.1 | 67.7% | 5.8 | 9.6 | 5.8 | 3.6 | 24.8% | 2.0 |
| Stanislaus | 2.0 | 22.2 | 16.7 | 6.3 | 46.1% | 12.5 | 23.2 | 7.2 | 6.4 | 49.3% | 2.6 |
| Sutter | 1.6 | 14.8 | 12.9 | 4.3 | 35.6% | 12.0 | 31.1 | 8.6 | 7.6 | 59.3% | 3.5 |
| Tehama | 2.4 | 8.5 | 13.3 | 3.7 | 27.4% | 20.2 | 26.7 | 9.0 | 11.3 | 67.2% | 3.1 |
| Trinity | 4.2 | 16.1 | 16.1 | 6.5 | 40.1% | 17.7 | 14.6 | 10.4 | 9.2 | 51.9% | 3.8 |
| Tulare | 1.6 | 7.7 | 21.1 | 4.7 | 34.0% | 11.9 | 33.9 | 7.5 | 8.0 | 61.0% | 3.1 |
| Tuolumne | 2.8 | 22.1 | 11.2 | 5.1 | 39.2% | 20.2 | 19.0 | 8.2 | 8.0 | 55.4% | 2.7 |
| Ventura | 3.0 | 22.1 | 21.6 | 6.7 | 51.2% | 11.2 | 18.9 | 6.2 | 7.1 | 43.4% | 2.4 |
| Yolo | 4.1 | 33.0 | 21.1 | 8.9 | 64.0% | 6.8 | 12.4 | 6.0 | 4.0 | 29.2% | 2.6 |
| Yuba | 2.6 | 15.8 | 12.0 | 3.5 | 33.1% | 17.3 | 27.9 | 7.4 | 8.1 | 60.7% | 3.6 |
| Total | 4.0 | 24.2 | 20.6 | 9.9 | 55.8% | 7.9 | 17.5 | 6.4 | 6.2 | 38.0% | 2.2 |
General election
Polling
| Poll source | Date administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Ed Hernandez | Eleni Kounalakis | - | Undecided |
| Thomas Partners Strategies | October 25–27, 2018 | 1,068 | ± 3.5% | 34% | 34% | – | 32% |
| UC Berkeley | October 19–26, 2018 | 1,339 | ± 4.0% | 31% | 45% | – | 24% |
| YouGov | October 10–24, 2018 | 2,178 | ± 3.1% | 19% | 32% | 22% | 28% |
| Thomas Partners Strategies | October 18–20, 2018 | 1,068 | ± 3.5% | 29% | 34% | – | 37% |
| Thomas Partners Strategies | October 12–14, 2018 | 1,068 | ± 3.5% | 26% | 26% | – | 48% |
| Thomas Partners Strategies | October 5–7, 2018 | 1,068 | ± 3.5% | 24% | 30% | – | 46% |
| Thomas Partners Strategies | September 28–30, 2018 | 1,068 | ± 3.5% | 22% | 24% | – | 54% |
| Thomas Partners Strategies | September 21–23, 2018 | 1,068 | ± 3.5% | 27% | 27% | – | 46% |
| Thomas Partners Strategies | September 14–16, 2018 | 1,040 | ± 3.5% | 18% | 15% | – | 67% |
| Thomas Partners Strategies | September 7–9, 2018 | 1,227 | ± 3.3% | 18% | 16% | – | 66% |