The 1978 Arkansas gubernatorial election, held on November 7, was the first time that future president Bill Clinton was elected Governor of Arkansas.
Democratic primary.
At this time, one gubernatorial term was two years. Incumbent two-term Democratic governor David Pryor decided to not seek re-election in order to run for the United States Senate, as his predecessor and future Senate colleague Dale Bumpers did.
Results.
Clinton, a former assistant to U.S. senator J. William Fulbright and since 1977 the state attorney general, won the nomination easily.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
Republican nomination.
A. Lynn Lowe, a Texarkana farmer, who served as state Republican Party chairman from 1974 to 1980, was unopposed for the 1978 gubernatorial nomination. He had also been the Republican nominee for Arkansas's 4th congressional district seat in 1966.
Election result.
Clinton easily won the general election.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
Clinton also led in fundraising. His campaign budget was a combined $709,234.00 while Lynn's was $171,382.
Clinton, at the age of thirty-two, became the youngest man to be elected Arkansas governor, the youngest governor in the United States since Harold E. Stassen won in Minnesota in 1938 at the age of thirty-one, and the youngest governor in the nation at this time. In 1992 he was elected as the third-youngest U.S. president in history.
Lowe's total was the highest for a Republican nominee in Arkansas since Winthrop Rockefeller's third term bid in 1970. He carried fourteen out of seventy-five counties, including Miller, Columbia, and Union counties in South Arkansas.
References.
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