1978 Alaska gubernatorial election

none related races 1978 United States gubernatorial elections January 2025 September 2023 1978 Alaska gubernatorial election Alaska presidential no 1974 Alaska gubernatorial election 1974 1982 Alaska gubernatorial election 1982 November 7, 1978 Jay Hammond Jay Hammond 1975.jpg 0.6 Republican Party (United States) Terry Miller 49,580 39.07% Wally Hickel Write-in candidate E5E4E2 None Hickel.gif 33,555 26.44% Chancy Croft Chancy Croft.jpg Democratic Party (United States) Katie Hurley 25,656 20.22% Tom Kelly No image.svg Independent politician Kathryn Poland 15,656 12.34% 1978 Alaska gubernatorial election by State House District.svg 350px Results by state house districtHammond: #ffc8cd 30–40% #ffb2b2 40–50% #e27f7f 50–60%Hickel: #FFCCA9 30–40%Croft: #bdd3ff 30–40% Governor Jay Hammond Republican Party (United States) Jay Hammond Republican Party (United States) The 1978 Alaska gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 1978, to elect the governor of Alaska. Republican incumbent Jay Hammond defeated four opponents: former Governor of Alaska and write-in candidate Wally Hickel, Alaska Senator and Democratic nominee Chancy Croft, former Commissioner of Natural Resources and Independent candidate Tom Kelly and Alaskan Independence Party nominee Don Wright. After losing to Hammond in the Republican primary, Hickel ran as a write-in candidate and was able to outperform Croft. Republican Tom Fink and Democrat Jay Kerttula also ran in the open primary. This was the first time an incumbent Republican governor was re-elected for a second term, and this would not occur again until 2022. This was also the last time until 1998 that an incumbent governor, regardless of party, would be re-elected, and the last time a Republican was elected governor of Alaska until 2002. Results Open Primary Resulthttps://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=345000 Our Campaigns - AK Governor - Open Primary Race - Aug 22, 1978 Republican Party of Alaska Jay Hammond (inc.) 31,921 30.01% Republican Party of Alaska Wally Hickel 31,823 29.92% Republican Party of Alaska Tom Fink 17,487 16.44% Alaska Democratic Party Chancy Croft 8,910 8.38% Alaska Democratic Party Edward A. Merdes 8,655 8.14% Alaska Democratic Party Jay Kerttula 7,125 6.70% Republican Party of Alaska Jimmie D. Lockhart 451 0.42% 106,372 1978 Alaska gubernatorial election https://www.elections.alaska.gov/results/78GENR/78genr.pdf 1978 Gubernatorial General Election Results – Alaska 2009-08-31 Alaska Division of Elections https://web.archive.org/web/20181203015000/http://www.elections.alaska.gov/results/78GENR/78genr.pdf 2018-12-03 live Republican Party of Alaska Jay Hammond (inc.) 49,580 39.07% -8.60% Write-in candidate Wally Hickel (write-in) 33,555 26.44% Alaska Democratic Party Chancy Croft 25,656 20.22% -27.15% Independent politician Tom Kelly 15,656 12.34% Alaskan Independence Party Don Wright 2,463 1.94% -3.02% 16,025 12.63% 126,910 Republican Party (United States) References Gubernatorial 1978 Alaska Category:November 1978 in the United States