1938 California gubernatorial election

1938 California gubernatorial election
November 8, 1938
 
Nominee Culbert Olson Frank Merriam
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 1,391,734 1,171,019
Percentage 52.49% 44.17%
County results
Olson:      40–50%      50–60%
Merriam:      40–50%      50–60%      70–80%
Governor before election

Frank Merriam
Republican

Elected Governor

Culbert Olson
Democratic

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The 1938 California gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1938. Culbert L. Olson defeated incumbent governor Frank F. Merriam to become the first Democrat elected Governor of California since James Budd in 1894. Merriam had angered the left and the right throughout his tenure as governor, leading a significant swing in favor of the Democratic party.

Olson was the first Democrat since George Stoneman in 1882 to receive an absolute majority of the vote. For the first time since 1882, Alameda County, Los Angeles County, and Ventura County were carried by a Democrat and San Diego County backed a Democrat for governor for the first time since 1879. California would not elect a Democrat as governor again until 1958. This was the last time until Gray Davis in 1998 that a Democrat who was not a member of the Brown family won the governorship.

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Frank F. Merriam (incumbent) 405,362 54.85%
Republican George J. Hatfield 169,278 22.91%
Republican Raymond L. Haight 124,102 16.79%
Republican Francis Michael O'Connor 18,642 2.52%
Republican John F. Dockweiler (write-in) 8,966 1.21%
Republican Z. S. Leymel 8,184 1.11%
Republican Culbert L. Olson (write-in) 4,469 0.60%
Total votes 739,003 100.00%

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Democratic primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Culbert L. Olson 483,483 41.97%
Democratic John F. Dockweiler 218,342 18.96%
Democratic Daniel C. Murphy 137,740 11.96%
Democratic Raymond L. Haight 125,012 10.85%
Democratic Herbert C. Legg 80,586 7.00%
Democratic J. F. T. O'Connor 71,999 6.25%
Democratic William H. Neblett 21,219 1.84%
Democratic Teodoro Antonio Tomasini 10,142 0.88%
Democratic Frank F. Merriam (write-in) 3,340 0.29%
Total votes 1,151,863 100.00%

Townsend Party primary

Results

Townsend primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Townsend Party Frank F. Merriam (write-in)[a] 5,350 64.82%
Townsend Party John F. Dockweiler (write-in) 1,471 17.82%
Townsend Party Culbert L. Olson (write-in) 1,432 17.35%
Total votes 8,253 100.00%

Progressive primary

Candidates

Progressive primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
California Progressive Party Raymond L. Haight 4,569 57.76%
California Progressive Party Culbert L. Olson 3,271 40.09%
California Progressive Party William E. Riker 170 2.15%
Total votes 7,910 100.00%

Commonwealth primary

Candidates

  • Robert Noble

Results

Commonwealth primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Commonwealth Robert Noble 274 100.00%
Total votes 274 100.00%

General election

Candidates

Results

1938 California gubernatorial election[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Culbert L. Olson 1,391,734 52.49% +14.74%
Republican Frank F. Merriam (incumbent) 1,171,019 44.17% −4.71%
Progressive Raymond L. Haight 64,418 2.43% −10.56%
Commonwealth Robert Noble 23,787 0.90% +0.90%
Scattering 505 0.02%
Majority 220,715 8.32%
Total votes 2,651,463 100.00%
Democratic gain from Republican Swing +19.45%

Results by county

County Culbert L. Olson
Democratic 		Frank F. Merriam
Republican 		Raymond L. Haight
Progressive 		Robert Noble
Commonwealth 		Scattering
Write-in 		Margin Total votes cast[2]
# % # % # % # % # % # %
Alameda 109,010 49.48% 106,694 48.43% 3,825 1.74% 753 0.34% 39 0.02% 2,316 1.05% 220,321
Alpine 29 18.95% 110 71.90% 14 9.15% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% -81 -52.94% 153
Amador 1,803 52.47% 1,486 43.25% 132 3.84% 15 0.44% 0 0.00% 317 9.23% 3,436
Butte 8,408 48.45% 8,249 47.53% 542 3.12% 155 0.89% 0 0.00% 159 0.92% 17,354
Calaveras 1,818 46.44% 1,866 47.66% 207 5.29% 24 0.61% 0 0.00% -48 -1.23% 3,915
Colusa 1,768 41.11% 2,339 54.38% 168 3.91% 26 0.60% 0 0.00% -571 -13.28% 4,301
Contra Costa 23,782 56.82% 17,096 40.84% 835 1.99% 139 0.33% 4 0.01% 6,686 15.97% 41,856
Del Norte 1,092 43.58% 1,325 52.87% 73 2.91% 16 0.64% 0 0.00% -233 -9.30% 2,506
El Dorado 3,375 57.23% 2,079 35.26% 402 6.82% 41 0.70% 0 0.00% 1,296 21.98% 5,897
Fresno 32,937 55.52% 22,728 38.31% 3,370 5.68% 294 0.50% 0 0.00% 10,209 17.21% 59,329
Glenn 2,068 39.88% 2,924 56.39% 168 3.24% 25 0.48% 0 0.00% -856 -16.51% 5,185
Humboldt 8,795 46.00% 9,617 50.30% 571 2.99% 137 0.72% 0 0.00% -822 -4.30% 19,120
Imperial 5,495 45.47% 6,259 51.79% 203 1.68% 129 1.07% 0 0.00% -764 -6.32% 12,086
Inyo 1,184 42.44% 1,456 52.19% 135 4.84% 15 0.54% 0 0.00% -272 -9.75% 2,790
Kern 25,392 58.66% 16,116 37.23% 1,332 3.08% 448 1.03% 1 0.00% 9,276 21.43% 43,289
Kings 5,545 53.35% 4,395 42.28% 359 3.45% 92 0.89% 3 0.03% 1,150 11.06% 10,394
Lake 1,571 37.72% 2,438 58.54% 91 2.18% 65 1.56% 0 0.00% -867 -20.82% 4,165
Lassen 2,764 48.53% 2,624 46.08% 258 4.53% 49 0.86% 0 0.00% 140 2.46% 5,695
Los Angeles 612,499 55.76% 446,069 40.61% 24,958 2.27% 14,552 1.32% 339 0.03% 166,430 15.15% 1,098,417
Madera 4,148 57.11% 2,805 38.62% 273 3.76% 37 0.51% 0 0.00% 1,343 18.49% 7,263
Marin 8,340 43.46% 10,445 54.42% 351 1.83% 52 0.27% 4 0.02% -2,105 -10.97% 19,192
Mariposa 1,362 54.50% 1,043 41.74% 59 2.36% 35 1.40% 0 0.00% 319 12.77% 2,499
Mendocino 5,355 45.92% 5,897 50.57% 286 2.45% 123 1.05% 0 0.00% -542 -4.65% 11,661
Merced 8,303 54.05% 6,367 41.45% 547 3.56% 140 0.91% 4 0.03% 1,936 12.60% 15,361
Modoc 1,472 48.26% 1,416 46.43% 132 4.33% 30 0.98% 0 0.00% 56 1.84% 3,050
Mono 445 47.39% 446 47.50% 42 4.47% 6 0.64% 0 0.00% -1 -0.11% 939
Monterey 9,736 44.82% 11,436 52.65% 428 1.97% 122 0.56% 0 0.00% -1,700 -7.83% 21,722
Napa 4,786 42.03% 6,275 55.10% 261 2.29% 65 0.57% 1 0.01% -1,489 -13.08% 11,388
Nevada 3,494 43.84% 4,052 50.84% 379 4.76% 45 0.56% 0 0.00% -558 -7.00% 7,970
Orange 24,257 43.27% 29,774 53.11% 1,166 2.08% 863 1.54% 4 0.01% -5,517 -9.84% 56,064
Placer 6,653 58.92% 3,834 33.96% 747 6.62% 57 0.50% 0 0.00% 2,819 24.97% 11,291
Plumas 2,373 56.25% 1,607 38.09% 198 4.69% 41 0.97% 0 0.00% 766 18.16% 4,219
Riverside 17,026 45.93% 18,895 50.97% 737 1.99% 409 1.10% 2 0.01% -1,869 -5.04% 37,069
Sacramento 32,885 54.07% 25,836 42.48% 1,921 3.16% 174 0.29% 5 0.01% 7,049 11.59% 60,821
San Benito 1,910 42.25% 2,466 54.55% 124 2.74% 21 0.46% 0 0.00% -556 -12.30% 4,521
San Bernardino 30,696 51.47% 27,515 46.14% 1,001 1.68% 409 0.69% 13 0.02% 3,181 5.33% 59,634
San Diego 54,552 52.84% 45,891 44.45% 1,749 1.69% 1,039 1.01% 2 0.00% 8,661 8.39% 103,233
San Francisco 132,346 53.36% 111,046 44.77% 3,843 1.55% 781 0.31% 19 0.01% 21,300 8.59% 248,035
San Joaquin 22,340 50.34% 20,990 47.30% 895 2.02% 147 0.33% 5 0.01% 1,350 3.04% 44,377
San Luis Obispo 6,660 45.91% 7,046 48.57% 608 4.19% 192 1.32% 0 0.00% -386 -2.66% 14,506
San Mateo 20,723 47.85% 21,579 49.82% 801 1.85% 200 0.46% 8 0.02% -856 -1.98% 43,311
Santa Barbara 10,870 41.81% 14,325 55.10% 689 2.65% 107 0.41% 5 0.02% -3,455 -13.29% 25,996
Santa Clara 32,994 46.70% 36,191 51.23% 1,217 1.72% 226 0.32% 20 0.03% -3,197 -4.53% 70,648
Santa Cruz 8,962 45.17% 10,198 51.40% 531 2.68% 150 0.76% 0 0.00% -1,236 -6.23% 19,841
Shasta 4,994 56.26% 3,445 38.81% 344 3.88% 94 1.06% 0 0.00% 1,549 17.45% 8,877
Sierra 719 49.72% 565 39.07% 149 10.30% 13 0.90% 0 0.00% 154 10.65% 1,446
Siskiyou 5,882 48.97% 5,146 42.84% 794 6.61% 190 1.58% 0 0.00% 736 6.13% 12,012
Solano 9,037 50.92% 8,051 45.36% 586 3.30% 74 0.42% 0 0.00% 986 5.56% 17,748
Sonoma 12,207 42.25% 15,582 53.93% 957 3.31% 140 0.48% 9 0.03% -3,375 -11.68% 28,895
Stanislaus 12,730 47.34% 12,333 45.86% 1,598 5.94% 226 0.84% 6 0.02% 397 1.48% 26,893
Sutter 3,093 43.97% 3,691 52.47% 224 3.18% 27 0.38% 0 0.00% -598 -8.50% 7,035
Tehama 2,740 44.99% 2,882 47.32% 427 7.01% 41 0.67% 0 0.00% -142 -2.33% 6,090
Trinity 1,081 53.36% 808 39.88% 107 5.28% 30 1.48% 0 0.00% 273 13.47% 2,026
Tulare 16,162 50.29% 14,571 45.34% 1,113 3.46% 283 0.88% 8 0.02% 1,591 4.95% 32,137
Tuolumne 2,672 53.80% 2,091 42.10% 168 3.38% 36 0.72% 0 0.00% 581 11.70% 4,967
Ventura 11,264 49.31% 10,647 46.61% 789 3.45% 139 0.61% 2 0.01% 617 2.70% 22,841
Yolo 3,997 43.28% 4,865 52.67% 352 3.81% 22 0.24% 0 0.00% -868 -9.40% 9,236
Yuba 3,133 48.65% 3,097 48.09% 182 2.83% 26 0.40% 2 0.03% 36 0.56% 6,440
Total 1,391,734 52.49% 1,171,019 44.17% 64,418 2.43% 23,787 0.90% 505 0.02% 220,715 8.32% 2,651,463

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Counties that flipped from Progressive to Democratic

Notes

  1. ^ Was not listed under Townsend in the general election

References

  1. ^ a b c d e California Secretary of State. Statement of Vote at Primary Election Held on August 30, 1938 in the State of California. Sacramento, California: State Printing Office. pp. 5–7. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  2. ^ a b California Secretary of State. Statement of Vote at General Election Held on November 8, 1938 in the State of California. Sacramento, California: State Printing Office. p. 4. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
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