1934 California gubernatorial election

The 1934 California gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1934. Held in the midst of the Great Depression, the 1934 election was amongst the most controversial in the state's political history, pitting conservative Republican Frank Merriam against former Socialist Party member turned Democrat Upton Sinclair, author of The Jungle. A strong third party challenge came from Progressive Raymond L. Haight, a Los Angeles lawyer campaigning for the political center. Much of the campaign's emphasis was directed at Sinclair's EPIC movement, proposing interventionist reforms to cure the state's ailing economy. Merriam, who had recently assumed the governorship following the death of James Rolph, characterized Sinclair's proposal as a step towards communism.

1934 California gubernatorial election

November 6, 1934

Nominee Frank Merriam Upton Sinclair Raymond L. Haight Party Republican Democratic Progressive Popular vote 1,138,629 879,537 302,519 Percentage 48.87% 37.75% 12.99%

Results by county

Governor before election Frank Merriam Republican Elected Governor Frank Merriam Republican

Unethical negative campaigning funded by the film industry was used against Sinclair to favor the Merriam campaign, as briefly depicted in the 2020 American biographical drama film Mank.[1]

Democratic primary

California Democratic Primary, 1934[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Upton Sinclair	436,220	51.68%
	Democratic	George Creel	288,106	34.13%
	Democratic	Justus S. Wardell	48,965	5.80%
	Democratic	Milton K. Young	41,609	4.93%
	Democratic	James E. Waddell	12,515	1.48%
	Democratic	Z. T. Malaby	4,476	0.53%
	Democratic	Forest Dowey	4,260	0.51%
	Democratic	W. J. McNichols	3,616	0.43%
	Democratic	William H. Evans	2,433	0.29%
	Republican	Frank F. Merriam (incumbent) (write-in)	1,035	0.12%
	Republican	Raymond L. Haight (write-in)	882	0.10%
Total votes			844,117	100%

Republican primary

California Republican Primary, 1934[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Frank F. Merriam (incumbent)	346,329	41.94%
	Republican	Clement C. Young	231,431	28.03%
	Republican	John Quinn	153,412	18.58%
	Republican	Raymond L. Haight	84,977	10.29%
	Democratic	Upton Sinclair (write-in)	9,651	1.17%
Total votes			825,800	100%

General election results

1934 gubernatorial election, California

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Frank Merriam (incumbent)	1,138,629	48.87
	Democratic	Upton Sinclair	879,537	37.75
	Progressive	Raymond L. Haight	302,519	12.99
	Communist	Samuel Adams Darcy	5,826	0.25
	Socialist	Milen Dempster	2,947	0.13
Total votes			2,329,458	100.0
	Republican hold		Swing

Results by county

County	Merriam	Votes	Sinclair	Votes	Haight	Votes	Others	Votes
Kings	41.18%	3,633	26.37%	2,326	32.28%	2,848	0.17%	17
Alpine	87.29%	158	7.18%	13	5.52%	10	0.00%	0
Mono	63.11%	520	28.40%	234	7.77%	64	0.00%	0
Orange	53.72%	27,099	27.94%	14,092	18.13%	9,142	0.21%	105
Inyo	57.39%	1,514	33.24%	877	8.79%	232	0.57%	15
Lake	56.54%	2,317	32.65%	1,338	10.57%	433	0.24%	10
Del Norte	49.39%	1,221	44.74%	1,106	5.22%	129	0.65%	16
San Benito	65.25%	2,931	27.85%	1,251	6.59%	296	0.31%	14
Sonoma	57.41%	15,329	30.58%	8,164	11.50%	3,070	0.51%	136
San Diego	50.76%	44,422	36.65%	32,073	18.13%	9,142	0.29%	254
Santa Cruz	63.17%	10,905	29.86%	5,155	6.48%	1,119	0.50%	85
Marin	54.50%	9,756	36.28%	6,494	8.69%	1,555	0.54%	97
Santa Clara	60.06%	37,156	31.17%	19,281	8.43%	5,215	0.33%	209
Humboldt	50.95%	9,179	35.79%	6,448	12.61%	2,271	0.65%	117
Riverside	62.33%	19,892	31.01%	9,896	6.49%	2,072	0.18%	55
San Mateo	52.29%	18,448	36.91%	13,022	10.40%	3,669	0.39%	138
Santa Barbara	60.29%	14,429	32.32%	7,735	11.80%	1,702	0.28%	66
Mariposa	46.80%	1,089	37.17%	865	15.21%	354	0.55%	19
Napa	58.96%	5,750	28.77%	2,806	12.05%	1,175	0.22%	22
Mendocino	62.87%	6,178	28.12%	2,763	8.08%	794	0.93%	92
Monterey	61.53%	11,083	31.01%	5,585	7.13%	1,285	0.33%	60
Tehama	44.34%	2,865	28.10%	1,816	27.28%	1,763	0.28%	28
Butte	47.82%	8,041	35.28%	5,932	16.62%	2,795	0.28%	47
San Bernardino	56.76%	30,285	35.90%	19,157	7.07%	3,774	0.27%	143
San Luis Obispo	47.11%	6,422	37.36%	5,093	15.13%	2,063	0.39%	53
Imperial	52.01%	7,253	40.42%	5,637	7.18%	1,001	0.39%	55
Sutter	47.01%	2,872	32.41%	1,980	20.36%	1,244	0.21%	13
Colusa	55.70%	2,584	42.24%	1,709	18.56%	861	0.32%	15
Glenn	46.00%	2,342	28.60%	1,456	25.26%	1,286	0.14%	7
Los Angeles	47.45%	457,755	42.02%	405,331	10.20%	98,348	0.33%	3,202
Nevada	45.33%	3,163	31.03%	2,165	22.96%	1,602	0.67%	47
San Joaquin	46.64%	17,612	36.33%	13,720	16.56%	6,255	0.47%	174
San Francisco	50.91%	115,047	38.88%	87,850	9.51%	21,499	0.69%	1,581
El Dorado	33.37%	1,744	32.17%	1,681	33.79%	1,766	0.67%	35
Modoc	49.39%	1,452	28.44%	836	21.67%	637	0.51%	15
Tulare	37.46%	9,850	26.12%	6,867	36.18%	9,512	0.24%	65
Calaveras	45.83%	1,524	37.05%	1,232	16.63%	553	0.48%	16
Ventura	54.07%	11,015	32.20%	6,560	13.45%	2,740	0.27%	55
Siskiyou	39.19%	4,202	32.77%	3,514	27.54%	2,953	0.50%	53
Kern	48.59%	14,798	37.26%	11,348	13.78%	4,197	0.37%	111
Contra Costa	45.52%	15,540	45.67%	15,591	8.48%	2,894	0.33%	115
Stanislaus	34.46%	7,853	27.47%	6,260	37.70%	8,592	0.36%	83
Alameda	52.69%	102,328	37.70%	73,233	9.14%	17,758	0.47%	913
Yolo	46.44%	4,087	18.70%	1,646	34.56%	3,041	0.30%	26
Sacramento	35.75%	19,360	33.81%	18,310	30.09%	16,291	0.35%	187
Yuba	49.81%	2,603	30.64%	1,601	19.19%	1,003	0.37%	19
Trinity	40.21%	889	44.91%	993	13.93%	308	0.95%	21
Sierra	45.19%	676	31.48%	471	22.66%	339	0.67%	10
Fresno	30.46%	15,338	30.80%	15,509	38.33%	19,296	0.40%	204
Solano	44.57%	6,728	33.87%	5,112	21.24%	3,206	0.32%	48
Merced	35.21%	4,123	31.83%	3,727	31.83%	3,727	1.13%	132
Tuolumne	36.63%	1,580	44.96%	1,940	18.19%	785	0.23%	10
Placer	34.23%	3,337	31.93%	3,113	33.55%	3,271	0.29%	29
Madera	32.11%	2,204	35.56%	2,441	29.76%	2,043	2.57%	176
Amador	52.00%	1,946	26.22%	981	21.43%	802	0.35%	13
Lassen	33.09%	1,697	39.44%	2,023	26.94%	1,382	0.53%	27
Shasta	42.75%	3,283	36.71%	2,819	20.09%	1,543	0.45%	35
Plumas	36.63%	1,213	37.03%	1,226	25.91%	858	0.42%	14

References

1. Mitchell, Greg. ‘Mank’ and Politics: What Really Happened in 1934 California. New York Times, Dec. 7, 2020.
2. "California Democratic Primary, 1934".
3. "California Republican Primary, 1934".

Further reading

• Antognini, Richard. "The Role of A.P. Giannini in the 1934 California Gubernatorial Election." Southern California Quarterly 57.1 (1975): 53–86. online
• Barger, Bob. "Raymond L. Haight and the Commonwealth Progressive Campaign of 1934" California Historical Society Quarterly 43 (September, 1964), pp 219–30. online
• Hill, Patricia Lucy. "Upton Sinclair and the 1934 California gubernatorial election." (MS thesis, Portland State University, 1978) online.
• Larsen, Charles E. "The Epic Campaign of 1934." Pacific Historical Review 27.2 (1958): 127–147. online
• Mitchell, Greg. The campaign of the century: Upton Sinclair's race for governor of California and the birth of media politics (Random House, 1992).
• Rising, George G. "An EPIC Endeavor: Upton Sinclair's 1934 California Gubernatorial Campaign." Southern California Quarterly 79.1 (1997): 101–124. online
• Singer, Donald L. "Upton Sinclair and the California Gubernatorial Campaign of 1934." Southern California Quarterly 56.4 (1974): 375–406. online