in 1850, together with a list of the results of the Gubernatorial elections.
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According to the California Elections Code, elections are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November (§1001). According to the Article 2, §5 of the
for 2.5 terms). The term of office of a governor begins on the first Monday of January after the election and lasts until the first Monday of January after the next election. In the gubernatorial elections, there is a
s.
| Year | First | Second | Third (if notable) | Fourth (if notable) | | 1849 | Peter H. Burnett Nonpartisan 6,783 | Winfield S. Sherwood Unkown 3,220 |
| 1851 | John Bigler Democrat 22,613 | Pierson B. Reading Whig 21,531 |
| 1853 | John Bigler Democrat 38,940 | William Waldo Whig 37,454 |
| 1855 | John Neeley Johnson American 51,157 | John Bigler Democrat 46,225 |
| 1857 | John B. Weller Democrat 57,661 | Edward Stanly Republican | George W. Bowie American |
| 1859 | Milton Slocum Latham Democrat 62,255 | John Currey A.L. Democrat 20,847 | Leland Stanford Republican 10,110 |
| 1861 | Leland Stanford Republican 56,056 46.4% | John R. McConnell Democrat 33,750 28% | John Conness Union Democrat 30,944 25.6% |
| 1863 | Frederick F. Low Unionist Republican 64,447 | John Gately Downey Lecompton Democrat 44,843 |
| 1867 | Henry Huntly Haight Democrat 49,895 | George Congdon Gorham Republican 40,359 | Caleb T. Fay Indep. Republican 2,088 |
1871 Sept. 6th | Newton Booth Republican 62,581 | Henry Huntly Haight Democrat 57,520 |
| 1875 | William Irwin Democrat 61,509 | Timothy G. Phelps Republican 31,322 | John Bidwell Independent 29,752 | William E. Lovett Prohibitionist 356 |
| 1879† | George Clement Perkins Republican 67,965 | Hugh J. Glenn Democrat 47,667 |
| 1882 | George Stoneman Democrat 90,694 | Morris M. Estee Republican 67,175 |
| 1886 | Washington Montgomery Bartlett Democrat 84,965 | John F. Swift Republican 84,316 |
| 1890 | Henry Markham Republican 125,129 | Edward B. Pond Democrat 117,184 |
| 1894 | James H. Budd Democrat 111,944 | Morris M. Estee Republican 110,738 |
| 1898 | Henry T. Gage Republican 148,354 | James G. McGuire Democrat 129,261 |
| 1902 | George Pardee Republican 146,332 | Franklin K. Lane Democrat 143,783 |
| 1906 | James Gillett Republican 125,887 | Theodore A. Bell Democrat 117,645 |
| 1910 | Hiram Johnson Republican 177,191 | Theodore A. Bell Democrat 154,835 |
| 1914 | Hiram Johnson Republican 460,495 | John B. Curtin Democrat 271,990 |
| 1918 | William D. Stephens Republican 387,547 | Theodore A. Bell Democrat 251,189 |
| 1922 | Friend Richardson Republican 576,445 | Thomas L. Woolwine Democrat 347,530 |
| 1926 | C. C. Young Republican 814,815 | Justus S. Wardwell Democrat 282,451 |
| 1930 | James Rolph, Jr. Republican 999,393 | Milton M. Young Democrat 333,973 |
| 1934 | Frank F. Merriam Republican 1,138,629 | Upton Sinclair Democrat 879,537 |
| 1938 | Culbert L. Olson Democrat 1,391,734 52.5% | Frank F. Merriam Republican 1,171,019 44% |
| 1942 | Earl Warren Republican 1,275,237 57% | Culbert L. Olson Democrat 932,995 42% | Fred Dyster Prohibition 10,640 |
| 1946 | Earl Warren Republican Democrat Progressive 91.6% 2,344,542 | Henry R. Schmidt Prohibition 180,579 7.1% |
| 1950 | Earl Warren Republican 2,461,754 64.8% | James Roosevelt Democrat 1,333,856 35.1% |
| 1954 | Goodwin J. Knight Republican 2,290,519 56.8% | Richard P. Graves Democrat 1,739,368 43.2% |
| 1958 | Pat Brown Democrat 3,140,076 59.8% | William F. Knowland Republican 2,110,911 40.2% |
| 1962 | Pat Brown Democrat 3,037,109 51.9% | Richard Nixon Republican 2,740,351 46.8% |
| 1966 | Ronald Reagan Republican 3,742,913 57.6% | Pat Brown Democrat 2,749,174 42.3% |
| 1970 | Ronald Reagan Republican 3,439,174 52.8% | Jesse M. Unruh Democrat 2,938,607 45.1% |
| 1974 | Jerry Brown Democrat 1,609,298 50.1% | Houston I. Flournoy Republican 2,055,586 47.3% |
| 1978 | Jerry Brown Democrat 3,435,034 56% | Evelle J. Younger Republican 2,274,772 37% | Ed Clark Independent ~368,039 6% |
| 1982 | George Deukmejian Republican 3,881,014 | Tom Bradley Democrat 3,787,669 |
| 1986 | George Deukmejian Republican 4,395,972 61% | Tom Bradley Democrat 2,721,674 37% |
| 1990 | Pete Wilson Republican 3,791,904 48.7% | Dianne Feinstein Democrat 3,525,197 46.3% |
| 1994 | Pete Wilson Republican 4,777,674 55.3% | Kathleen Brown Democrat 3,517,777 40.4% |
| 1998 | Gray Davis Democrat 4,860,702 58.0% | Dan Lungren Republican 3,218,030 38.3% |
| 2002 | Gray Davis Democrat 3,533,490 47.3% | Bill Simon Jr. Republican 3,169,801 42.4% | Peter Miguel Camejo Green 393,036 5.3% |
| 2003 | Recall Gray Davis |
Yes 4,976,274 55.4% | No 4,007,783 44.6% |
Arnold Schwarzenegger Republican 4,206,284 48.6% | Cruz Bustamante Democrat 2,724,874 31.5% | Tom McClintock Republican 1,161,287 13.5% | Peter Miguel Camejo Green 242,247 2.8% |