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 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.
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 â regardless of party â 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.
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.
Graphical summary<br />
with Kevin Faulconer and Eric Garcetti<br />
<span style="background:#f3a5a5>Red</span> represents counties won by Cox. <span style="background:#a5c4f3>Blue</span> represents counties won by Newsom. <span style="background:#9f9>Green</span> represents counties won by Villaraigosa.
with Newsom and Chiang<br />
with Newsom and Villaraigosa<br />
with Villaraigosa and Garcetti<br />
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 â 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.
<span style=background:#B0CEFF>Blue</span> represents counties won by Newsom. <span style=background:#FFB6B6>Red</span> represents counties won by Cox.
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
Newsom won 42 of 53 congressional districts, with the remaining 11 going to Cox, including four that elected Democrats.
Cities & Unincorporated Areas that flipped from Republican to Democratic
Cities & Unincorporated Areas that flipped from Democratic to Republican
Official campaign websites