1914 California gubernatorial election

1914 California gubernatorial election

November 3, 1914

Nominee Hiram Johnson John D. Fredericks Party Progressive Republican Popular vote 460,495 271,990 Percentage 49.69% 29.35%   Nominee John B. Curtin Noble A. Richardson Party Democratic Socialist Popular vote 116,121 50,716 Percentage 12.53% 5.47%

County results Johnson:      30–40%      40–50%      50–60% Fredericks:      30–40%      40–50%

Governor before election Hiram Johnson Progressive Elected Governor Hiram Johnson Progressive

The 1914 California gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1914. Hiram Johnson was elected in 1910 as a member of the Republican Party. Dissatisfaction with the conservatism of the William Howard Taft administration led many Republicans to join former President Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party, with Johnson running as the vice-presidential nominee in the 1912 presidential election. Despite losing the election, and winning California by fewer than 200 votes, Johnson was supremely popular in California. He was re-elected in 1914 as governor on the Progressive Party ticket, nearly tripling his vote from 1910 as a Republican, and was elected and reelected as U.S. senator many times until his death in 1945.

Hiram Johnson became the first governor of California to be reelected since John Bigler in 1853, although he would not serve out his second term, resigning in 1917 to assume the United States Senate seat he had won in 1916. This was the first gubernatorial election in which Kern County, Glenn County, Lake County, and Madera County did not back the Democratic candidate. It was also the first gubernatorial election since 1855 in which Colusa County, Mariposa County, and Merced County were not carried by a Democrat. This election ushered in a four decade period of Republican dominance in the state's gubernatorial races that was only interrupted once in 1938.

General election results

1914 gubernatorial election, California

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive	Hiram W. Johnson (incumbent)	460,495	49.69%	+3.75%
	Republican	John D. Fredericks	271,990	29.35%	−16.59%
	Democratic	John B. Curtin	116,121	12.53%	−27.61%
	Socialist	Noble A. Richardson	50,716	5.47%	−6.92%
	Prohibition	Clinton P. Moore	27,345	2.95%	+1.45%
		Scattering	22	0.00%
Majority			188,505	20.34%
Total votes			926,689	100.00%
	Progressive hold		Swing	+14.55%

Results by county

County	Hiram W. Johnson Progressive		John D. Fredericks Republican		John B. Curtin Democratic		Noble A. Richardson Socialist		Clinton P. Moore Prohibition		Scattering Write-in		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Alameda	47,320	53.73%	25,612	29.08%	7,968	9.05%	5,800	6.59%	1,378	1.56%	0	0.00%	21,708	24.65%	88,078
Alpine	31	32.63%	42	44.21%	17	17.89%	4	4.21%	1	1.05%	0	0.00%	-11	-11.58%	95
Amador	1,311	37.88%	1,041	30.08%	929	26.84%	105	3.03%	75	2.17%	0	0.00%	270	7.80%	3,461
Butte	6,209	48.82%	3,357	26.39%	1,898	14.92%	729	5.73%	525	4.13%	1	0.01%	2,852	22.42%	12,719
Calaveras	1,291	36.85%	990	28.26%	935	26.69%	208	5.94%	79	2.26%	0	0.00%	301	8.59%	3,503
Colusa	1,229	34.34%	866	24.20%	1,208	33.75%	140	3.91%	136	3.80%	0	0.00%	21	0.59%	3,579
Contra Costa	6,966	54.86%	3,050	24.02%	1,657	13.05%	865	6.81%	160	1.26%	0	0.00%	3,916	30.84%	12,698
Del Norte	493	43.44%	355	31.28%	168	14.80%	81	7.14%	38	3.35%	0	0.00%	138	12.16%	1,135
El Dorado	1.155	36.74%	992	31.55%	743	23.63%	187	5.95%	66	2.10%	1	0.03%	163	5.18%	3,144
Fresno	14,095	50.81%	4,964	17.90%	5,566	20.07%	2,085	7.52%	1,029	3.71%	0	0.00%	8,529	30.75%	27,739
Glenn	1,529	43.31%	1,080	30.59%	633	17.93%	137	3.88%	147	4.16%	4	0.11%	449	12.72%	3,530
Humboldt	6,202	52.87%	3,696	31.51%	830	7.08%	869	7.41%	133	1.13%	0	0.00%	2,506	21.36%	11,730
Imperial	3,461	55.13%	1,255	19.99%	873	13.91%	437	6.96%	252	4.01%	0	0.00%	2,206	35.14%	6,278
Inyo	876	40.07%	601	27.49%	258	11.80%	378	17.29%	73	3.34%	0	0.00%	275	12.58%	2,186
Kern	7,590	48.84%	3,807	24.49%	3,178	20.45%	771	4.96%	196	1.26%	0	0.00%	3,783	24.34%	15,542
Kings	1,862	32.38%	2,092	36.38%	1,133	19.70%	353	6.14%	311	5.41%	0	0.00%	-230	-4.00%	5,751
Lake	612	24.33%	900	35.79%	587	23.34%	283	11.25%	133	5.29%	0	0.00%	-288	-11.45%	2,515
Lassen	1,133	45.93%	602	24.40%	400	16.21%	217	8.80%	115	4.66%	0	0.00%	531	21.52%	2,467
Los Angeles	119,824	53.58%	65,484	29.28%	18,331	8.20%	11,129	4.98%	8,879	3.97%	5	0.00%	54,340	24.30%	223,652
Madera	1,358	38.83%	712	20.36%	1,093	31.26%	203	5.80%	131	3.75%	0	0.00%	265	7.58%	3,497
Marin	4,065	48.04%	3,071	36.29%	871	10.29%	412	4.87%	43	0.51%	0	0.00%	994	11.75%	8,462
Mariposa	638	41.70%	229	14.97%	557	36.41%	59	3.86%	47	3.07%	0	0.00%	81	5.29%	1,530
Mendocino	3,087	38.45%	2,681	33.39%	1,585	19.74%	504	6.28%	172	2.14%	0	0.00%	406	5.06%	8,029
Merced	2,297	39.45%	1,402	24.08%	1,470	25.25%	406	6.97%	247	4.24%	0	0.00%	827	14.20%	5,822
Modoc	930	40.75%	532	23.31%	609	26.69%	137	6.00%	74	3.24%	0	0.00%	321	14.07%	2,282
Mono	187	41.74%	123	27.46%	71	15.85%	54	12.05%	13	2.90%	0	0.00%	64	14.29%	448
Monterey	3,531	43.67%	2,697	33.36%	1,313	16.24%	273	3.38%	271	3.35%	0	0.00%	834	10.32%	8,085
Napa	3,234	41.13%	3,077	39.13%	1,098	13.96%	316	4.02%	138	1.76%	0	0.00%	157	2.00%	7,863
Nevada	2,830	53.70%	949	18.01%	1,101	20.89%	295	5.60%	95	1.80%	0	0.00%	1,729	32.81%	5,270
Orange	7,304	41.72%	6,096	34.82%	2.184	12.47%	815	4.66%	1,109	6.33%	0	0.00%	1,208	6.90%	17,508
Placer	3,846	59.03%	1,416	21.73%	705	10.82%	375	5.76%	173	2.66%	0	0.00%	2,430	37.30%	6,515
Plumas	1,042	52.36%	527	26.48%	232	11.66%	156	7.84%	33	1.66%	0	0.00%	515	25.88%	1,990
Riverside	6,337	48.87%	4,026	31.05%	1,146	8.84%	754	5.81%	705	5.44%	0	0.00%	2,311	17.82%	12,968
Sacramento	16,954	58.00%	8,661	29.63%	2,284	7.81%	965	3.30%	367	1.26%	0	0.00%	8,293	28.37%	29,231
San Benito	1,234	40.77%	1,184	39.11%	454	15.00%	101	3.34%	54	1.78%	0	0.00%	50	1.65%	3,027
San Bernardino	8,787	41.07%	7,634	35.68%	2,096	9.80%	1,367	6.39%	1,510	7.06%	0	0.00%	1,153	5.39%	21,394
San Diego	14,152	40.49%	14,365	41.10%	2,864	8.19%	1,879	5.38%	1,694	4.85%	1	0.00%	-213	-0.61%	34,955
San Francisco	72,257	54.70%	36,606	27.71%	16,167	12.24%	6,346	4.80%	723	0.55%	4	0.00%	35,651	26.99%	132,103
San Joaquin	8,898	44.48%	5,759	28.79%	3,848	19.24%	805	4.02%	694	3.47%	0	0.00%	3,139	15.69%	20,004
San Luis Obispo	3,303	48.48%	1,890	27.74%	982	14.41%	457	6.71%	181	2.66%	0	0.00%	1,413	20.74%	6,813
San Mateo	5,208	54.76%	2,839	29.85%	1,002	10.54%	392	4.12%	69	0.73%	0	0.00%	2,369	24.91%	9,510
Santa Barbara	3,952	42.42%	2,760	29.63%	1,675	17.98%	547	5.87%	382	4.10%	0	0.00%	1,192	12.80%	9,316
Santa Clara	14,267	47.05%	10,792	35.59%	3,337	11.01%	1,108	3.65%	813	2.68%	4	0.01%	3,475	11.46%	30,321
Santa Cruz	4,232	45.23%	2,814	30.07%	1,417	15.14%	540	5.77%	354	3.78%	0	0.00%	1,418	15.15%	9,357
Shasta	2,711	45.68%	1,567	26.40%	811	13.66%	640	10.78%	206	3.47%	0	0.00%	1,144	19.28%	5,935
Sierra	568	46.33%	410	33.44%	149	12.15%	72	5.87%	27	2.20%	0	0.00%	158	12.89%	1,226
Siskiyou	2,663	41.66%	1,747	27.33%	1,342	20.99%	483	7.56%	157	2.46%	0	0.00%	916	14.33%	6,392
Solano	5,467	51.05%	2,837	26.49%	1,679	15.68%	544	5.08%	183	1.71%	0	0.00%	2,630	24.56%	10,710
Sonoma	7,693	40.36%	6,945	36.44%	2,967	15.57%	1,030	5.40%	426	2.23%	0	0.00%	748	3.92%	19,061
Stanislaus	5,245	43.74%	2,201	18.36%	2,530	21.10%	876	7.31%	1,138	9.49%	0	0.00%	2,715	22.64%	11,990
Sutter	1,083	34.33%	1,463	46.37%	397	12.58%	97	3.07%	114	3.61%	1	0.03%	-380	-12.04%	3,155
Tehama	2,108	41.29%	1,229	24.07%	1,084	21.23%	394	7.72%	290	5.68%	0	0.00%	879	17.22%	5,105
Trinity	650	41.94%	399	25.74%	267	17.23%	211	13.61%	23	1.48%	0	0.00%	251	16.19%	1,550
Tulare	6,480	42.56%	3,479	22.85%	3,349	22.00%	1,369	8.99%	547	3.59%	0	0.00%	3,001	19.71%	15,224
Tuolumne	1,385	39.25%	490	13.88%	1,309	37.09%	301	8.53%	44	1.25%	0	0.00%	76	2.15%	3,529
Ventura	2,787	41.58%	2,649	39.53%	824	12.29%	295	4.40%	146	2.18%	1	0.01%	138	2.06%	6,702
Yolo	2,383	39.51%	1,913	31.71%	1,353	22.43%	231	3.83%	152	2.52%	0	0.00%	470	7.79%	6,032
Yuba	2,153	54.15%	1,033	25.98%	587	14.76%	129	3.24%	74	1.86%	0	0.00%	1,120	28.17%	3,976
Total	460,495	49.69%	271,990	29.35%	116,121	12.53%	50,716	5.47%	27,345	2.95%	22	0.00%	188,505	20.34%	926,689

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Progressive

• Amador
• Calaveras
• Colusa
• El Dorado
• Glenn
• Inyo
• Kern
• Madera
• Mariposa
• Mendocino
• Merced
• Napa
• Placer
• Sacramento
• Siskiyou
• Solano
• Sonoma
• Tehama
• Tuolumne
• Yolo
• Yuba

Counties that flipped from Progressive to Republican

• Alpine
• Kings
• San Diego
• Sutter

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Lake