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.
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Wilson: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% Feinstein: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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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
editCandidates
edit- Donald L. Bullock
- Jeffrey T. Greene
- David M. Williams
- Pete Wilson, incumbent U.S. Senator and former mayor of San Diego
Results
editParty | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Pete Wilson | 1,856,614 | 87.50% | |
Republican | David M. Williams | 107,397 | 5.06% | |
Republican | Jeffrey T. Greene | 79,083 | 3.73% | |
Republican | Donald L. Bullock | 54,577 | 2.57% | |
Republican | William B. Allen (write-in) | 24,058 | 1.13% | |
Total votes | 2,121,729 | 100.00% |
Democratic primary
editCandidates
edit- John Hancock Abbott
- Eileen Anderson
- Lydon Byrne
- Mark Calney
- Dianne Feinstein, mayor of San Francisco
- Franklin Geraty
- Charles A. Mahon III
- Charles Pineda Jr.
- Frank L. Thomas
- John van de Kamp, California Attorney General
- F. Frank Wong
Results
editParty | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Dianne Feinstein | 1,361,360 | 52.26% | |
Democratic | John Van de Kamp | 1,067,899 | 41.00% | |
Democratic | Frank L. Thomas | 35,900 | 1.38% | |
Democratic | Charles Pineda Jr. | 25,396 | 0.97% | |
Democratic | Franklin R. Geraty | 24,251 | 0.93% | |
Democratic | John Hancock Abbott | 19,697 | 0.76% | |
Democratic | Charles A. Mahon III | 17,987 | 0.69% | |
Democratic | F. Frank Wong | 16,280 | 0.62% | |
Democratic | Eileen Anderson | 16,116 | 0.62% | |
Democratic | Lydon Byrne | 11,975 | 0.46% | |
Democratic | Mark Calney | 7,923 | 0.30% | |
Democratic | Sue Lockard Digre (write-in) | 68 | 0.00% | |
Total votes | 2,604,852 | 100.00% |
Minor party primaries
editAmerican Independent Party
editParty | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
American Independent | Jerome McCready | 8,921 | 54.12% | |
American Independent | Chuck Morsa | 7,563 | 45.88% | |
Total votes | 16,484 | 100.00% |
Libertarian Party
editParty | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Libertarian | Dennis Thompson | 11,857 | 100.00% | |
Total votes | 11,857 | 100.00% |
Peace and Freedom Party
editParty | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Peace and Freedom | Maria Elizabeth Muñoz | 3,461 | 56.66% | |
Peace and Freedom | Merle Woo | 2,647 | 43.34% | |
Total votes | 6,108 | 100.00% |
General election results
editCandidates
edit- 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
editParty | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Pete Wilson | 3,791,904 | 49.25% | −11.29% | |
Democratic | Dianne Feinstein | 3,525,197 | 45.78% | +8.41% | |
Libertarian | Dennis Thompson | 145,628 | 1.89% | +1.18% | |
American Independent | Jerome McCready | 139,661 | 1.81% | +1.13% | |
Peace and Freedom | Maria Elizabeth Muñoz | 96,842 | 1.26% | +0.56% | |
Independent | Joel Britton (write-in) | 98 | 0.00% | ||
Independent | Charles A. Mahon III (write-in) | 91 | 0.00% | ||
Independent | Franklin R. Geraty (write-in) | 34 | 0.00% | ||
Independent | Jerry Irwin Solomon (write-in) | 12 | 0.00% | ||
Majority | 266,707 | 3.46% | |||
Total votes | 7,699,467 | 100.00% | |||
Republican hold | Swing | -19.71% |
Results by county
editCounty | Pete Wilson Republican |
Dianne Feinstein Democratic |
Dennis Thompson Libertarian |
Jerome McCready American Independent |
Maria Elizabeth Muñoz Peace & Freedom |
All Others Write-in |
Margin | Total votes cast[2] | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
Alameda | 117,107 | 31.64% | 237,345 | 64.12% | 6,261 | 1.69% | 4,049 | 1.09% | 5,405 | 1.46% | 11[a] | 0.00% | -120,238 | -32.48% | 370,178 |
Alpine | 242 | 52.72% | 174 | 37.91% | 14 | 3.05% | 16 | 3.49% | 13 | 2.83% | 0 | 0.00% | 68 | 14.81% | 459 |
Amador | 6,469 | 53.99% | 4,797 | 40.04% | 261 | 2.18% | 336 | 2.80% | 118 | 0.98% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,672 | 13.96% | 11,981 |
Butte | 35,048 | 54.93% | 25,422 | 39.85% | 1,458 | 2.29% | 1,264 | 1.98% | 607 | 0.95% | 2[b] | 0.00% | 9,626 | 15.09% | 63,801 |
Calaveras | 7,071 | 52.99% | 5,422 | 40.63% | 391 | 2.93% | 322 | 2.41% | 139 | 1.04% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,649 | 12.36% | 13,345 |
Colusa | 2,798 | 62.37% | 1,455 | 32.43% | 93 | 2.07% | 103 | 2.30% | 37 | 0.82% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,343 | 29.94% | 4,486 |
Contra Costa | 119,901 | 43.94% | 144,268 | 52.87% | 3,703 | 1.36% | 2,759 | 1.01% | 2,235 | 0.82% | 17[c] | 0.01% | -24,367 | -8.93% | 272,883 |
Del Norte | 3,615 | 53.21% | 2,717 | 39.99% | 140 | 2.06% | 219 | 3.22% | 103 | 1.52% | 0 | 0.00% | 898 | 13.22% | 6,794 |
El Dorado | 26,452 | 55.81% | 18,390 | 38.80% | 780 | 1.65% | 1,339 | 2.83% | 432 | 0.91% | 3[d] | 0.01% | 8,062 | 17.01% | 47,396 |
Fresno | 77,693 | 52.57% | 63,523 | 42.98% | 2,176 | 1.47% | 2,772 | 1.88% | 1,618 | 1.09% | 0 | 0.00% | 14,170 | 9.59% | 147,782 |
Glenn | 4,190 | 61.06% | 2,182 | 31.80% | 185 | 2.70% | 257 | 3.75% | 48 | 0.70% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,008 | 29.26% | 6,862 |
Humboldt | 22,943 | 46.81% | 22,823 | 46.57% | 951 | 1.94% | 1,042 | 2.13% | 1,249 | 2.55% | 0 | 0.00% | 120 | 0.24% | 49,008 |
Imperial | 9,422 | 52.22% | 7,463 | 41.36% | 249 | 1.38% | 297 | 1.65% | 613 | 3.40% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,959 | 10.86% | 18,044 |
Inyo | 4,566 | 62.97% | 2,369 | 32.67% | 114 | 1.57% | 119 | 1.64% | 83 | 1.14% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,197 | 30.30% | 7,251 |
Kern | 73,065 | 60.08% | 41,763 | 34.34% | 2,359 | 1.94% | 2,857 | 2.35% | 1,568 | 1.29% | 1[e] | 0.00% | 31,302 | 25.74% | 121,613 |
Kings | 9,771 | 56.09% | 6,731 | 38.64% | 225 | 1.29% | 393 | 2.26% | 299 | 1.72% | 0 | 0.00% | 3,040 | 17.45% | 17,419 |
Lake | 8,344 | 47.11% | 8,475 | 47.85% | 436 | 2.46% | 277 | 1.56% | 178 | 1.01% | 0 | 0.00% | -131 | -0.74% | 17,710 |
Lassen | 4,790 | 56.23% | 3,152 | 37.00% | 180 | 2.11% | 311 | 3.65% | 86 | 1.01% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,638 | 19.23% | 8,519 |
Los Angeles | 867,781 | 46.61% | 911,413 | 48.95% | 30,157 | 1.62% | 27,931 | 1.50% | 24,560 | 1.32% | 51[f] | 0.00% | -43,632 | -2.34% | 1,861,893 |
Madera | 11,216 | 56.50% | 7,431 | 37.44% | 323 | 1.63% | 651 | 3.28% | 229 | 1.15% | 0 | 0.00% | 3,785 | 19.07% | 19,850 |
Marin | 35,563 | 36.77% | 57,255 | 59.20% | 1,750 | 1.81% | 875 | 0.90% | 1,277 | 1.32% | 0 | 0.00% | -21,692 | -22.43% | 96,720 |
Mariposa | 3,336 | 51.88% | 2,634 | 40.96% | 146 | 2.27% | 250 | 3.89% | 64 | 1.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 702 | 10.92% | 6,430 |
Mendocino | 11,723 | 40.86% | 14,515 | 50.60% | 700 | 2.44% | 696 | 2.43% | 1,054 | 3.67% | 0 | 0.00% | -2,792 | -9.73% | 28,688 |
Merced | 17,054 | 50.64% | 15,004 | 44.55% | 514 | 1.53% | 688 | 2.04% | 419 | 1.24% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,050 | 6.09% | 33,679 |
Modoc | 2,115 | 57.35% | 1,320 | 35.79% | 83 | 2.25% | 123 | 3.34% | 47 | 1.27% | 0 | 0.00% | 795 | 21.56% | 3,688 |
Mono | 1,776 | 57.46% | 1,124 | 36.36% | 78 | 2.52% | 64 | 2.07% | 49 | 1.59% | 0 | 0.00% | 652 | 21.09% | 3,091 |
Monterey | 34,932 | 42.66% | 42,371 | 51.74% | 1,554 | 1.90% | 1,810 | 2.21% | 1,222 | 1.49% | 4[g] | 0.00% | -7,439 | -9.08% | 81,893 |
Napa | 18,931 | 47.24% | 19,017 | 47.45% | 935 | 2.33% | 717 | 1.79% | 473 | 1.18% | 2[h] | 0.00% | -86 | -0.21% | 40,075 |
Nevada | 18,458 | 54.20% | 13,588 | 39.90% | 845 | 2.48% | 818 | 2.40% | 349 | 1.02% | 0 | 0.00% | 4,870 | 14.30% | 34,058 |
Orange | 425,025 | 63.72% | 208,886 | 31.32% | 13,589 | 2.04% | 13,156 | 1.97% | 6,367 | 0.95% | 7[i] | 0.00% | 216,139 | 32.40% | 667,030 |
Placer | 36,397 | 56.53% | 24,577 | 38.17% | 1,171 | 1.82% | 1,593 | 2.47% | 641 | 1.00% | 3[j] | 0.00% | 11,820 | 18.36% | 64,382 |
Plumas | 4,243 | 51.87% | 3,477 | 42.51% | 176 | 2.15% | 205 | 2.51% | 78 | 0.95% | 1[k] | 0.01% | 766 | 9.36% | 8,180 |
Riverside | 157,214 | 57.26% | 102,847 | 37.46% | 5,064 | 1.84% | 6,809 | 2.48% | 2,620 | 0.95% | 1[l] | 0.00% | 54,367 | 19.80% | 274,555 |
Sacramento | 167,982 | 50.32% | 149,215 | 44.70% | 5,381 | 1.61% | 7,248 | 2.17% | 3,997 | 1.20% | 25[m] | 0.01% | 18,767 | 5.62% | 333,848 |
San Benito | 4,120 | 45.23% | 4,445 | 48.80% | 185 | 2.03% | 171 | 1.88% | 187 | 2.05% | 0 | 0.00% | -325 | -3.57% | 9,108 |
San Bernardino | 169,028 | 55.99% | 114,764 | 38.02% | 6,612 | 2.19% | 7,536 | 2.50% | 3,894 | 1.29% | 39[n] | 0.01% | 54,264 | 17.98% | 301,873 |
San Diego | 383,959 | 57.09% | 244,759 | 36.39% | 18,217 | 2.71% | 16,963 | 2.52% | 8,624 | 1.28% | 15[o] | 0.00% | 139,200 | 20.70% | 672,537 |
San Francisco | 56,652 | 25.00% | 161,626 | 71.32% | 2,938 | 1.30% | 1,456 | 0.64% | 3,952 | 1.74% | 3[p] | 0.00% | -104,974 | -46.32% | 226,627 |
San Joaquin | 62,249 | 54.98% | 46,653 | 41.21% | 1,488 | 1.31% | 1,916 | 1.69% | 904 | 0.80% | 3[q] | 0.00% | 15,596 | 13.78% | 113,213 |
San Luis Obispo | 38,909 | 53.54% | 30,140 | 41.47% | 1,513 | 2.08% | 1,208 | 1.66% | 900 | 1.24% | 3[r] | 0.00% | 8,769 | 12.07% | 72,673 |
San Mateo | 80,253 | 40.45% | 109,963 | 55.43% | 3,347 | 1.69% | 2,537 | 1.28% | 2,290 | 1.15% | 6[s] | 0.00% | -29,710 | -14.98% | 198,396 |
Santa Barbara | 58,677 | 53.11% | 46,977 | 42.52% | 1,667 | 1.51% | 1,403 | 1.27% | 1,746 | 1.58% | 4[t] | 0.00% | 11,700 | 10.59% | 110,474 |
Santa Clara | 178,310 | 42.57% | 218,843 | 52.24% | 9,987 | 2.38% | 6,544 | 1.56% | 5,195 | 1.24% | 13[u] | 0.00% | -40,533 | -9.68% | 418,892 |
Santa Cruz | 26,797 | 33.11% | 48,530 | 59.96% | 2,180 | 2.69% | 1,694 | 2.09% | 1,739 | 2.15% | 1[v] | 0.00% | -21,733 | -26.85% | 80,941 |
Shasta | 28,322 | 57.85% | 17,795 | 36.35% | 1,195 | 2.44% | 1,344 | 2.75% | 305 | 0.62% | 0 | 0.00% | 10,527 | 21.50% | 48,961 |
Sierra | 813 | 51.04% | 671 | 42.12% | 34 | 2.13% | 54 | 3.39% | 21 | 1.32% | 0 | 0.00% | 142 | 8.91% | 1,593 |
Siskiyou | 8,320 | 52.61% | 6,346 | 40.13% | 446 | 2.82% | 559 | 3.54% | 142 | 0.90% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,974 | 12.48% | 15,813 |
Solano | 36,755 | 42.50% | 44,969 | 52.00% | 1,753 | 2.03% | 2,020 | 2.34% | 970 | 1.12% | 15[w] | 0.02% | -8,214 | -9.50% | 86,482 |
Sonoma | 54,706 | 38.60% | 79,093 | 55.81% | 2,982 | 2.10% | 2,436 | 1.72% | 2,505 | 1.77% | 1[x] | 0.00% | -24,387 | -17.21% | 141,723 |
Stanislaus | 47,275 | 53.49% | 37,182 | 42.07% | 1,187 | 1.34% | 1,980 | 2.24% | 757 | 0.86% | 1[y] | 0.00% | 10,093 | 11.42% | 88,382 |
Sutter | 12,647 | 65.45% | 5,796 | 30.00% | 318 | 1.65% | 399 | 2.06% | 163 | 0.84% | 0 | 0.00% | 6,851 | 35.46% | 19,323 |
Tehama | 9,415 | 56.94% | 5,915 | 35.77% | 621 | 3.76% | 498 | 3.01% | 87 | 0.53% | 0 | 0.00% | 3,500 | 21.17% | 16,536 |
Trinity | 2,908 | 51.73% | 2,250 | 40.02% | 208 | 3.70% | 176 | 3.13% | 80 | 1.42% | 0 | 0.00% | 658 | 11.70% | 5,622 |
Tulare | 41,186 | 62.76% | 21,670 | 33.02% | 940 | 1.43% | 1,058 | 1.61% | 775 | 1.18% | 0 | 0.00% | 19,516 | 29.74% | 65,629 |
Tuolumne | 10,465 | 52.91% | 8,294 | 41.93% | 390 | 1.97% | 464 | 2.35% | 167 | 0.84% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,171 | 10.98% | 19,780 |
Ventura | 106,234 | 57.58% | 68,139 | 36.93% | 3,962 | 2.15% | 3,770 | 2.04% | 2,398 | 1.30% | 2[z] | 0.00% | 38,095 | 20.65% | 184,505 |
Yolo | 19,316 | 43.53% | 22,890 | 51.59% | 756 | 1.70% | 772 | 1.74% | 638 | 1.44% | 1[aa] | 0.00% | -3,574 | -8.05% | 44,373 |
Yuba | 7,355 | 59.22% | 4,342 | 34.96% | 260 | 2.09% | 337 | 2.71% | 126 | 1.01% | 0 | 0.00% | 3,013 | 24.26% | 12,420 |
Total | 3,791,904 | 49.25% | 3,525,197 | 45.78% | 145,628 | 1.89% | 139,661 | 1.81% | 96,842 | 1.26% | 235 | 0.00% | 266,707 | 3.46% | 7,699,467 |
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
edit- Contra Costa
- Lake
- Los Angeles
- Marin
- Mendocino
- Monterey
- Napa
- San Benito
- San Mateo
- Santa Clara
- Santa Cruz
- Solano
- Sonoma
- Yolo
By congressional district
editPete 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.[3]
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) |
Notes
edit- ^ 9 for Britton, 1 for Mahon, 1 for Geraty
- ^ 2 for Mahon
- ^ 4 for Britton, 11 for Mahon, 2 for Geraty
- ^ 3 for Mahon
- ^ 1 for Mahon
- ^ 41 for Britton, 4 for Mahon, 2 for Geraty, 4 for Solomon
- ^ 1 for Britton, 3 for Mahon
- ^ 1 for Mahon, 1 for Geraty
- ^ 3 for Britton, 3 for Mahon, 1 for Solomon
- ^ 1 for Britton, 2 for Geraty
- ^ 1 for Mahon
- ^ 1 for Mahon
- ^ 1 for Britton, 12 for Mahon, 10 for Geraty, 2 for Solomon
- ^ 10 for Britton, 15 for Mahon, 9 for Geraty, 5 for Solomon
- ^ 13 for Britton, 2 for Mahon
- ^ 2 for Britton, 1 for Geraty
- ^ 3 for Mahon
- ^ 2 for Britton, 1 for Mahon
- ^ 3 for Britton, 2 for Mahon, 1 for Geraty
- ^ 2 for Britton, 2 for Geraty
- ^ 3 for Britton, 7 for Mahon, 3 for Geraty
- ^ 1 for Britton
- ^ 15 for Mahon
- ^ 1 for Britton
- ^ 1 for Mahon
- ^ 1 for Britton, 1 for Mahon
- ^ 1 for Mahon
References
edit- ^ a b c d e California Secretary of State. Statement of Vote June 5, 1990 Primary Election (PDF). Sacramento, California. pp. 9–11. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
- ^ a b California Secretary of State. Statement of Vote General Election, November 6, 1990 (PDF). Sacramento, California. p. 11. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
- ^ California Secretary of State. Supplement to Statement of Vote November 1990. Sacramento, California. pp. 48–51. Retrieved July 22, 2024.