1968 United States presidential election in California

The 1968 United States presidential election in California took place on November 5, 1968, as part of the 1968 United States presidential election. State voters chose 40 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1968 United States presidential election in California

← 1964 November 5, 1968 1972 →
Turnout85.75% (of registered voters) Decrease 2.63 pp
62.34% (of eligible voters) Decrease 3.66 pp[1]
 
Nominee Richard Nixon Hubert Humphrey George Wallace
Party Republican Democratic American Independent
Home state New York[a] Minnesota Alabama
Running mate Spiro Agnew Edmund Muskie Curtis LeMay
Electoral vote 40 0 0
Popular vote 3,467,664 3,244,318 487,270
Percentage 47.82% 44.74% 6.72%

County Results

President before election

Lyndon B. Johnson
Democratic

Elected President

Richard Nixon
Republican

California narrowly voted for the Republican nominee, former Vice President Richard Nixon of New York, over the Democratic nominee, Vice President Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota. The American Independent Party candidate, former Alabama governor George Wallace, performed rather well in California despite being thousands of miles away from his base in the Deep South.

Although Nixon was born and raised in California, he had moved to New York, following his failed 1962 gubernatorial bid, and thus identified New York as his home state in this election. After he won the election, Nixon moved his residency back to California. Nixon had previously defeated John F. Kennedy in California in 1960, and would later win the state again against George McGovern in 1972. Had Humphrey come out victorious in California, Nixon would have earned only 261 electoral votes, and thus, the election would have been sent to the United States House of Representatives.

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time that a Democrat had won Kings County.[2]

Nixon also became the first-ever Republican to win the White House without carrying Alameda County, as well as the first to do so without carrying Santa Clara County since Ulysses Grant in 1868, and the first to do so without carrying Napa or San Mateo Counties since Abraham Lincoln in 1860.

Nixon's victory was the first of six consecutive Republican victories in the state, as California would not vote for a Democratic candidate again until Bill Clinton in 1992. Since then it has become a safe Democratic state. This is also the last election where California did not have the highest number of electoral votes.

Results

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1968 United States presidential election in California[3]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Richard Nixon 3,467,664 47.82% 40
Democratic Hubert Humphrey 3,244,318 44.74% 0
American Independent George Wallace 487,270 6.72% 0
Peace and Freedom Eldridge Cleaver 27,707 0.38% 0
No party Eugene McCarthy (write-in) 20,721 0.29% 0
No party Dick Gregory (write-in) 3,230 0.04% 0
No party Henning A. Blomen (write-in) 341 0.00% 0
No party Charlene Mitchell (write-in) 260 0.00% 0
No party E. Harold Munn (write-in) 59 0.00% 0
No party Write-ins 17 0.00% 0
Invalid or blank votes
Totals 7,251,587 100.00% 40
Voter turnout

Results by county

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County Richard Nixon
Republican
Hubert Humphrey
Democratic
George Wallace
American Independent
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # %
Alameda 153,285 37.63% 219,545 53.90% 28,426 6.98% 6,093 1.50% -66,260 -16.27% 407,349
Alpine 150 59.29% 83 32.81% 20 7.91% 0 0.00% 67 26.48% 253
Amador 2,269 42.10% 2,440 45.27% 660 12.24% 21 0.39% -171 -3.17% 5,390
Butte 22,225 56.68% 12,887 32.87% 3,891 9.92% 208 0.53% 9,338 23.81% 39,211
Calaveras 3,042 52.16% 2,134 36.59% 643 11.03% 13 0.22% 908 15.57% 5,832
Colusa 2,361 51.58% 1,858 40.59% 344 7.52% 14 0.31% 503 10.99% 4,577
Contra Costa 97,486 44.53% 101,668 46.44% 18,330 8.37% 1,433 0.65% -4,182 -1.91% 218,917
Del Norte 2,387 46.19% 2,236 43.27% 495 9.58% 50 0.97% 151 2.92% 5,168
El Dorado 7,468 49.00% 6,054 39.72% 1,676 11.00% 43 0.28% 1,414 9.28% 15,241
Fresno 59,901 43.60% 65,153 47.42% 11,292 8.22% 1,050 0.76% -5,252 -3.82% 137,396
Glenn 3,848 53.91% 2,466 34.55% 808 11.32% 16 0.22% 1,382 19.36% 7,138
Humboldt 16,719 46.17% 16,476 45.50% 2,759 7.62% 260 0.72% 243 0.67% 36,214
Imperial 10,818 52.91% 7,481 36.59% 2,100 10.27% 47 0.23% 3,337 16.32% 20,446
Inyo 3,641 54.45% 2,314 34.60% 714 10.68% 18 0.27% 1,327 19.85% 6,687
Kern 53,990 46.61% 49,284 42.55% 12,309 10.63% 249 0.21% 4,706 4.06% 115,832
Kings 7,796 43.07% 8,643 47.75% 1,640 9.06% 22 0.12% -847 -4.68% 18,101
Lake 4,464 49.00% 3,777 41.46% 838 9.20% 32 0.35% 687 7.54% 9,111
Lassen 2,553 41.06% 2,930 47.12% 712 11.45% 23 0.37% -377 -6.06% 6,218
Los Angeles 1,266,480 47.65% 1,223,251 46.02% 151,050 5.68% 17,201 0.65% 43,229 1.63% 2,657,982
Madera 6,229 43.55% 6,932 48.47% 1,120 7.83% 22 0.15% -703 -4.92% 14,303
Marin 41,422 50.05% 36,278 43.84% 3,801 4.59% 1,254 1.52% 5,144 6.21% 82,755
Mariposa 1,496 49.92% 1,187 39.61% 302 10.08% 12 0.40% 309 10.31% 2,997
Mendocino 8,305 46.39% 7,935 44.32% 1,554 8.68% 110 0.61% 370 2.07% 17,904
Merced 11,595 40.90% 14,453 50.98% 2,248 7.93% 53 0.19% -2,858 -10.08% 28,349
Modoc 1,713 52.43% 1,264 38.69% 284 8.69% 6 0.18% 449 13.74% 3,267
Mono 1,130 64.28% 465 26.45% 156 8.87% 7 0.40% 665 37.83% 1,758
Monterey 33,670 50.16% 28,261 42.10% 4,800 7.15% 393 0.59% 5,409 8.06% 67,124
Napa 14,270 43.76% 14,762 45.27% 3,476 10.66% 104 0.32% -492 -1.51% 32,612
Nevada 6,061 51.39% 4,607 39.06% 1,078 9.14% 48 0.41% 1,454 12.33% 11,794
Orange 314,905 63.14% 148,869 29.85% 33,034 6.62% 1,899 0.38% 166,036 33.29% 498,707
Placer 12,427 42.64% 14,050 48.21% 2,574 8.83% 93 0.32% -1,623 -5.57% 29,144
Plumas 2,097 37.37% 2,961 52.77% 529 9.43% 24 0.43% -864 -15.40% 5,611
Riverside 83,414 52.90% 61,146 38.78% 12,432 7.88% 678 0.43% 22,268 14.12% 157,670
Sacramento 97,177 41.66% 118,769 50.92% 16,269 6.98% 1,031 0.44% -21,592 -9.26% 233,246
San Benito 2,961 47.54% 2,809 45.10% 447 7.18% 12 0.19% 152 2.44% 6,229
San Bernardino 111,974 50.07% 89,418 39.99% 21,187 9.47% 1,037 0.46% 22,556 10.08% 223,616
San Diego 261,540 56.26% 167,669 36.07% 33,340 7.17% 2,314 0.50% 93,871 20.19% 464,863
San Francisco 100,970 33.66% 177,509 59.18% 17,332 5.78% 4,136 1.38% -76,539 -25.52% 299,947
San Joaquin 47,293 47.97% 42,073 42.68% 8,923 9.05% 300 0.30% 5,220 5.29% 98,589
San Luis Obispo 19,420 51.27% 15,828 41.78% 2,416 6.38% 217 0.57% 3,592 9.49% 37,881
San Mateo 98,654 43.72% 106,519 47.20% 14,720 6.52% 5,775 2.56% -7,865 -3.48% 225,668
Santa Barbara 50,068 53.59% 37,565 40.21% 5,083 5.44% 704 0.75% 12,503 13.38% 93,420
Santa Clara 163,446 45.61% 173,511 48.42% 18,754 5.23% 2,656 0.74% -10,065 -2.81% 358,367
Santa Cruz 25,365 50.79% 20,492 41.03% 3,465 6.94% 622 1.25% 4,873 9.76% 49,944
Shasta 11,821 40.44% 14,510 49.64% 2,815 9.63% 84 0.29% -2,689 -9.20% 29,230
Sierra 548 45.93% 559 46.86% 85 7.12% 1 0.08% -11 -0.93% 1,193
Siskiyou 6,334 46.13% 6,260 45.59% 1,088 7.92% 50 0.36% 74 0.54% 13,732
Solano 17,683 34.71% 27,271 53.52% 5,810 11.40% 188 0.37% -9,588 -18.81% 50,952
Sonoma 38,088 48.79% 33,587 43.03% 5,875 7.53% 509 0.65% 4,501 5.76% 78,059
Stanislaus 29,573 45.45% 31,316 48.13% 3,973 6.11% 201 0.31% -1,743 -2.68% 65,063
Sutter 8,665 59.57% 4,624 31.79% 1,228 8.44% 28 0.19% 4,041 27.78% 14,545
Tehama 5,198 47.26% 4,565 41.50% 1,216 11.06% 20 0.18% 633 5.76% 10,999
Trinity 1,426 43.12% 1,433 43.33% 432 13.06% 16 0.48% -7 -0.21% 3,307
Tulare 29,314 52.17% 22,180 39.47% 4,580 8.15% 115 0.20% 7,134 12.70% 56,189
Tuolumne 4,330 47.48% 3,913 42.91% 865 9.49% 11 0.12% 417 4.57% 9,119
Ventura 59,705 51.35% 47,794 41.11% 8,234 7.08% 528 0.45% 11,911 10.24% 116,261
Yolo 11,123 38.41% 15,833 54.67% 1,742 6.02% 262 0.90% -4,710 -16.26% 28,960
Yuba 5,371 48.17% 4,461 40.01% 1,296 11.62% 22 0.20% 910 8.16% 11,150
Total 3,467,664 47.82% 3,244,318 44.74% 487,270 6.72% 52,335 0.72% 223,346 3.08% 7,251,587

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

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Notes

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  1. ^ Although he was born in California and he served as a U.S. Senator from California, in 1968 Richard Nixon’s official state of residence was New York, because he moved there to practice law after his defeat in the 1962 California gubernatorial election. During his first term as president, Nixon re-established his residency in California. Consequently, most reliable reference books list Nixon's home state as New York in the 1968 election and his home state as California in the 1972 (and 1960) election.

References

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  1. ^ "Historical Voter Registration and Participation in Statewide General Elections 1910-2018" (PDF). California Secretary of State. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  2. ^ Sullivan, Robert David; "How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century"; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  3. ^ "1968 Presidential General Election Results — California". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved August 25, 2008.