1990 California gubernatorial election

1990 California gubernatorial election

November 6, 1990

Nominee Pete Wilson Dianne Feinstein Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 3,791,904 3,525,197 Percentage 49.25% 45.78%

County results Wilson:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% Feinstein:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%

Governor before election George Deukmejian Republican Elected Governor Pete Wilson Republican

The 1990 California gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990. The Republican candidate, Senator Pete Wilson, defeated the Democratic candidate, former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein.

Feinstein won the Democratic nomination against opponents including California Attorney General John Van de Kamp. Wilson faced minimal opposition in his bid for the Republican nomination.

In 1992, Feinstein was elected to Wilson's former Senate seat and served in the Senate until her death in September 2023.

Republican primary

Candidates

• Pete Wilson, incumbent U.S. Senator and former mayor of San Diego

Results

1990 Republican gubernatorial primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Pete Wilson	1,856,614	87.51%

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Dianne Feinstein, mayor of San Francisco
• John van de Kamp, California Attorney General

Results

1990 Democratic gubernatorial primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dianne Feinstein	1,361,360	52.26%
	Democratic	John Van de Kamp	1,067,899	41.00%

General election results

Candidates

• Dianne Feinstein, mayor of San Francisco (Democratic)
• Jerome McCready (American Independent)
• Maria Elizabeth Muñoz (Peace and Freedom)
• Dennis Thompson (Libertarian)
• Pete Wilson, U.S. Senator (Republican)

Results

1990 California gubernatorial election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Pete Wilson	3,791,904	49.25%
	Democratic	Dianne Feinstein	3,525,197	45.78%
	Libertarian	Dennis Thompson	145,628	1.89%
	American Independent	Jerome McCready	139,661	1.81%
	Peace and Freedom	Maria Elizabeth Muñoz	96,842	1.26%
Total votes			7,699,467	100.00%
Turnout			{{{votes}}}
	Republican hold

Results by county

County	Wilson	Votes	Feinstein	Votes	Others	Votes
Sutter	65.45%	12,647	30.00%	5,796	4.55%	880
Orange	63.72%	425,025	31.32%	208,886	4.97%	33,119
Inyo	62.97%	4,566	32.67%	2,369	4.36%	316
Tulare	62.76%	41,186	33.02%	21,670	4.23%	2,773
Colusa	62.37%	2,798	32.43%	1,455	5.19%	233
Glenn	61.06%	4,190	31.80%	2,182	7.14%	490
Kern	60.08%	73,065	34.34%	41,763	5.58%	6,785
Yuba	59.22%	7,355	34.96%	4,342	5.82%	723
Shasta	57.85%	28,322	36.35%	17,795	5.81%	2,844
Ventura	57.58%	106,234	36.93%	68,139	5.49%	10,132
Mono	57.46%	1,776	36.36%	1,124	6.18%	191
Modoc	57.35%	2,115	35.79%	1,320	6.86%	253
Riverside	57.26%	157,214	37.46%	102,847	5.28%	14,494
San Diego	57.09%	383,959	36.39%	244,759	6.52%	43,819
Tehama	56.94%	9,415	35.77%	5,915	7.29%	1,206
Placer	56.53%	36,397	38.17%	24,577	5.29%	3,408
Madera	56.50%	11,216	37.44%	7,431	6.06%	1,203
Lassen	56.23%	4,790	37.00%	3,152	6.77%	577
Kings	56.09%	9,771	38.64%	6,731	5.26%	917
San Bernardino	55.99%	169,028	38.02%	114,764	5.99%	18,081
El Dorado	55.81%	26,452	38.80%	18,390	5.39%	2,554
San Joaquin	54.98%	62,249	41.21%	46,653	3.81%	4,311
Butte	54.93%	35,048	39.85%	25,422	5.22%	3,331
Nevada	54.20%	18,458	39.90%	13,588	5.91%	2,012
Amador	53.99%	6,469	40.04%	4,797	5.97%	715
San Luis Obispo	53.54%	38,909	41.47%	30,140	4.99%	3,624
Stanislaus	53.49%	47,275	42.07%	37,182	4.44%	3,925
Del Norte	53.21%	3,615	39.99%	2,717	6.80%	462
Santa Barbara	53.11%	58,677	42.52%	46,977	4.36%	4,820
Calaveras	52.99%	7,071	40.63%	5,422	6.38%	852
Tuolumne	52.91%	10,465	41.93%	8,294	5.16%	1,021
Alpine	52.72%	242	37.91%	174	9.37%	43
Siskiyou	52.61%	8,320	40.13%	6,346	7.25%	1,147
Fresno	52.57%	77,693	42.98%	63,523	4.44%	6,566
Imperial	52.22%	9,422	41.36%	7,463	6.42%	1,159
Mariposa	51.88%	3,336	40.96%	2,634	7.15%	460
Plumas	51.87%	4,243	42.51%	3,477	5.62%	460
Trinity	51.73%	2,908	40.02%	2,250	8.25%	464
Sierra	51.04%	813	42.12%	671	6.84%	109
Merced	50.64%	17,054	44.55%	15,004	4.81%	1,621
Sacramento	50.32%	167,982	44.70%	149,215	4.99%	16,651
Napa	47.24%	18,931	47.45%	19,017	5.31%	2,127
Lake	47.11%	8,344	47.85%	8,475	5.03%	891
Humboldt	46.81%	22,943	46.57%	22,823	6.62%	3,242
Los Angeles	46.61%	867,781	48.95%	911,413	4.44%	82,699
San Benito	45.23%	4,120	48.80%	4,445	5.96%	543
Contra Costa	43.94%	119,901	52.87%	144,268	3.19%	8,714
Yolo	43.53%	19,316	51.59%	22,890	4.88%	2,167
Monterey	42.66%	34,932	51.74%	42,371	5.60%	4,590
Santa Clara	42.57%	178,310	52.24%	218,843	5.19%	21,739
Solano	42.50%	36,755	52.00%	44,969	5.50%	4,758
Mendocino	40.86%	11,723	50.60%	14,515	8.54%	2,450
San Mateo	40.45%	80,253	55.43%	109,963	4.12%	8,180
Sonoma	38.60%	54,706	55.81%	79,093	5.59%	7,924
Marin	36.77%	35,563	59.20%	57,255	4.03%	3,902
Santa Cruz	33.11%	26,797	59.96%	48,530	6.94%	5,614
Alameda	31.64%	117,107	64.12%	237,345	4.25%	15,726
San Francisco	25.00%	56,652	71.32%	161,626	3.68%	8,349

By congressional district

Pete Wilson won 25 of California's 45 congressional districts including 8 districts that were won by Democrats and Dianne Feinstein won 20 of California's 45 congressional districts including 2 districts that were won by Republicans.

District	Wilson	Feinstein	Representative
1st	42.3%	51.6%	Frank Riggs (R)
2nd	56.3%	37.4%	Wally Herger (R)
3rd	49.3%	46.1%	Bob Matsui (D)
4th	48.7%	45.5%	Vic Fazio (D)
5th	26.7%	69.7%	Nancy Pelosi (D)
6th	32.0%	63.7%	Barbara Boxer (D)
7th	41.3%	54.3%	George Miller (D)
8th	29.0%	67.7%	Ron Dellums (D)
9th	37.2%	58.4%	Pete Stark (D)
10th	37.2%	57.2%	Don Edwards (D)
11th	38.2%	57.4%	Tom Lantos (D)
12th	45.2%	50.1%	Tom Campbell (R)
13th	43.7%	50.9%	Norman Mineta (D)
14th	56.6%	38.4%	John Doolittle (R)
15th	53.0%	42.3%	Gary Condit (D)
16th	39.6%	54.6%	Leon Panetta (D)
17th	59.7%	35.9%	Cal Dooley (D)
18th	48.3%	46.8%	Richard Lehman (D)
19th	52.4%	42.5%	Bob Lagomarsino (R)
20th	61.2%	33.3%	Bill Thomas (R)
21st	59.8%	35.6%	Elton Gallegly (R)
22nd	62.9%	32.7%	Carlos Moorhead (R)
23rd	41.0%	55.7%	Anthony Beilenson (D)
24th	33.7%	62.5%	Henry Waxman (D)
25th	34.5%	60.0%	Edward Roybal (D)
26th	42.4%	53.4%	Howard Berman (D)
27th	42.9%	52.8%	Mel Levine (D)
28th	27.4%	69.2%	Julian Dixon (D)
29th	22.2%	74.3%	Maxine Waters (D)
30th	46.7%	48.0%	Matthew Martinez (D)
31st	34.8%	60.6%	Mervyn Dymally (D)
32nd	50.3%	44.4%	Glenn Anderson (D)
33rd	59.4%	35.5%	David Dreier (R)
34th	47.0%	46.8%	Ed Torres (D)
35th	60.5%	33.2%	Jerry Lewis (R)
36th	48.3%	46.1%	George Brown (D)
37th	58.4%	36.5%	Al McCandless (R)
38th	57.4%	36.6%	Bob Dornan (R)
39th	66.6%	28.2%	William Dannemeyer (R)
40th	63.6%	32.0%	Christopher Cox (R)
41st	54.9%	39.5%	Bill Lowery (R)
42nd	62.0%	33.8%	Dana Rohrabacher (R)
43rd	64.0%	30.0%	Ron Packard (R)
44th	46.6%	46.1%	Duke Cunningham (R)
45th	60.5%	32.3%	Duncan Hunter (R)

External links

• Election Results