The 1994 California gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1994, in the midst of that year's "

Republican Revolution The "Republican Revolution", "Revolution of '94", or "Gingrich Revolution" are political slogans that refer to the Republican Party's (GOP) success in the 1994 U.S. midterm elections, which resulted in a net gain of 54 seats in the House o ...

". Incumbent Republican

Pete Wilson Peter Barton Wilson (born August 23, 1933) is an American attorney and politician who served as governor of California from 1991 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Wilson previously served as a United S ...

easily won re-election over his main challenger, Democratic State Treasurer

Kathleen Brown Kathleen Lynn Brown (born September 25, 1945) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 29th treasurer of California from 1991 to 1995. Brown unsuccessfully ran for governor of California in the 1994 election. Early life and e ...

, the daughter of

Pat Brown Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967. His first elected office was as district attorney for San Francisco, and he ...

and younger sister of

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...

, both of whom had previously served as governor. Primaries were held on June 3, 1994. Although Wilson initially trailed Brown in the polls as a result of the state's faltering economy, his signature opposition to

affirmative action Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...

and state services for illegal immigrants (with the associated Proposition 187) eventually led to his win. Wilson won 25% of the

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

vote, a fairly strong performance for a Republican; however, he won only 25% of the

Latino vote The Latino vote refers to the voting trends during elections in the United States by eligible voters of Latino background. This phrase is usually mentioned by the media as a way to label voters of this ethnicity, and to opine that this demographic ...

, a weak performance which was widely attributed to his support of Proposition 187. This was the first California gubernatorial election since

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

in which the winner was of a different party from the incumbent president.

Republican primary

Candidates

* Louis Darrigo, Aptos farmer and contractor * Jim Hart, San Diego resident *

Ron Unz Ronald Keeva Unz (; born September 20, 1961) is an American technology entrepreneur, conservative political activist, writer, and publisher. A former businessman, Unz became a financial software multi-millionaire before entering politics. He un ...

Palo Alto Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

businessman *

, incumbent Governor

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

, California Treasurer * Mark Calney, Los Angeles resident *

John Garamendi John Raymond Garamendi ( ; born January 24, 1945) is an American businessman, politician and member of the Democratic Party who has represented areas of Northern California between San Francisco and Sacramento, including the cities of Fairfiel ...

, California Insurance Commissioner and candidate for Governor in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

Tom Hayden Thomas Emmet Hayden (December 11, 1939October 23, 2016) was an American social and political activist, author, and politician. Hayden was best known for his role as an anti-war, civil rights, and intellectual activist in the 1960s, becoming an i ...

, State Senator from

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

* Charles Pineda Jr., Sacramento criminal justice administrator * Jonathan Trip, Burbank business consultant

Results

Minor party primaries

American Independent Party

Green Party

Libertarian Party

Peace and Freedom Party

General election

Candidates

, California Treasurer (Democratic) * Gloria Estela LaRiva, San Francisco political organizer and printer (Peace and Freedom) *Jerome McCready, Castroville businessman (American Independent) *Richard Rider, San Diego stockbroker and financial planner (Libertarian) *

, incumbent Governor and former U.S. Senator (Republican)

Polling

Results

Results by county

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

* Contra Costa *

Lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

* Mendocino *

Monterey Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a population of 30,218 in the 2020 census. The city was fou ...

* Napa * San Benito * Santa Clara * Solano

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:California Gubernatorial Election, 1994

Gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

1994 United States gubernatorial elections