South Carolina gubernatorial election, 1978

The 1978 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1978 to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Richard Riley, the Democratic nominee, defeated Republican Edward Lunn Young and became the 111st governor of South Carolina.

Democratic Primary

The South Carolina Democratic Party held their primary for governor on June 13, featuring three high tier candidates. Richard Riley, a former member of the General Assembly, emerged as the winner of the runoff election over Lieutenant Governor W. Brantley Harvey, Jr. on June 27.

General Election

The general election was held on November 7, 1978 and Richard Riley was elected as the next governor of South Carolina. Turnout was higher than the previous gubernatorial election because of the increasingly competitive nature of the race between the two parties.

Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Richard Riley
votes = 384,898
percentage = 61.3
change = +14.3 Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Edward Lunn Young
votes = 236,946
percentage = 37.7
change = -12.6 Election box candidate
party = Independent
candidate = Judy Reynolds
votes = 5,338
percentage = 0.9
change = -0.7 Election box candidate
party = "No party"
candidate = Write-Ins
votes = 731
percentage = 0.1
change = -1.0Election box majority
votes = 147,952
percentage = 23.6
change = +20.3Election box turnout
votes = 627,913
percentage = 57.2
change = +4.2
colspan=5 |Democratic gain from Republican
-

frame|300px|none|1978 South Carolina gubernatorial election map, by percentile by county.

ee also

*Governor of South Carolina
*List of Governors of South Carolina
*South Carolina gubernatorial elections

External links

* [http://www.sciway.net/hist/governors/riley.html SCIway Biography of Governor Richard Wilson Riley]

sequence
prev=1974
list=South Carolina gubernatorial elections
next=1982