CA-Gov 1974 without Watergate

[President Johnson]

In his first election for governor, Jerry Brown barely pulled it off, winning 50-47%. However, the climate overall was pretty favorable for Democrats just a few months past Watergate. Do you think Brown would have managed to win the election without Watergate?

[Agonized-Statism]

Probably, Brown always had the edge: more name recognition, Democrats outnumbered Republicans, and had a lead in most of the early polls. Seniors, educators, students, and unions were pissed by Reagan's second term, and his efforts at capital punishment and Proposition 1 were generally regarded as overreach, hence their failure (and Republicans' disappointment, which probably made them more likely to sit home in 1974). I doubt anyone's vote was changed in California by Watergate, the Watergate Babies were largely a Northeastern and Midwestern phenomenon anyway.

[wnwnwn]

Dems would still ve favored by the midterms, and the Watergate effects were mostly in the federal elections I suppose.

[Fuzzy Bear]

It was a non-ideological election.  Jerry Brown was seen as a neo-liberal, and Houston Flornoy was a moderate to liberal Republican.