2003 governor elections · California history
California governor election 2003 (special)
Arnold Schwarzenegger REP +15.7 gain · held 10/7/03
- Votes counted
- 9,413,490
- Margin
- 15.7 pts
- Seat held by
- Democraticchanged party
Recall election 10/7/03
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Share | Bar |
|---|
| Arnold Schwarzenegger Won | REP | 4,206,284 | 48.58% | |
|---|
| Cruz M. Bustamante | DEM | 2,724,874 | 31.47% | |
|---|
| Tom McClintock | REP | 1,161,287 | 13.41% | |
|---|
| Blank | — | 755,575 | 8.73% | |
|---|
| Peter Camejo | GRE | 242,247 | 2.80% | |
|---|
| Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington | IND | 47,505 | 0.55% | |
|---|
| Peter V. Ueberroth | REP | 25,134 | 0.29% | |
|---|
| Larry Claxton Flynt | DEM | 17,458 | 0.20% | |
|---|
| Gary Coleman | IND | 14,242 | 0.16% | |
|---|
| George B. Schwartzman | IND | 12,382 | 0.14% | |
|---|
| Mary Cook | IND | 11,179 | 0.13% | |
|---|
| Bruce M. Margolin | DEM | 9,188 | 0.11% | |
|---|
| Bill Simon | REP | 8,913 | 0.10% | |
|---|
| Van Vo | REP | 7,226 | 0.08% | |
|---|
| John Christopher Burton | IND | 6,748 | 0.08% | |
|---|
| David Laughing Horse Robinson | DEM | 6,496 | 0.08% | |
|---|
| Leo Gallagher | IND | 5,466 | 0.06% | |
|---|
| Cheryl Bly-Chester | REP | 5,297 | 0.06% | |
|---|
| Lawrence Steven Strauss | DEM | 5,245 | 0.06% | |
|---|
| Ronald Jason Palmieri | DEM | 4,221 | 0.05% | |
|---|
| Calvin Y. Louie | DEM | 3,906 | 0.05% | |
|---|
| Badi Badiozamani | IND | 3,404 | 0.04% | |
|---|
| Audie E. Bock | DEM | 3,358 | 0.04% | |
|---|
| Ralph A. Hernandez | DEM | 3,199 | 0.04% | |
|---|
| Edward Kennedy | DEM | 3,007 | 0.04% | |
|---|
| Dan M. Feinstein | DEM | 2,927 | 0.03% | |
|---|
| Bob McClain | IND | 2,857 | 0.03% | |
|---|
| James H. Green | DEM | 2,848 | 0.03% | |
|---|
| Garrett Gruener | DEM | 2,562 | 0.03% | |
|---|
| Angelyne | IND | 2,536 | 0.03% | |
|---|
| Paul Mariano | DEM | 2,455 | 0.03% | |
|---|
| Ivan Alexander Hall | GRE | 2,346 | 0.03% | |
|---|
| Jim P. Weir | DEM | 2,328 | 0.03% | |
|---|
| Jerry A. Kunzman | IND | 2,317 | 0.03% | |
|---|
| Ned Fenton Roscoe | LIB | 2,250 | 0.03% | |
|---|
| Georgy Russell | DEM | 2,216 | 0.03% | |
|---|
| Jonathan Miller | DEM | 2,214 | 0.03% | |
|---|
| Jack Loyd Grisham | IND | 2,200 | 0.03% | |
|---|
| Christopher A. Sproul | DEM | 2,039 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Daniel Watts | GRE | 2,021 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Ken Hamidi | LIB | 1,948 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Marc P. Valdez | DEM | 1,840 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Frank A. Macaluso | DEM | 1,801 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Daniel C. Ramirez | DEM | 1,778 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Randall D. Sprague | REP | 1,771 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Brooke Adams | IND | 1,713 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Mohammad Arif | IND | 1,709 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Nathan Whitecloud Walton | IND | 1,697 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| John J. Hickey | LIB | 1,689 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Mike Schmier | DEM | 1,652 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| C.T. Weber | PAF | 1,626 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Diana Foss | DEM | 1,577 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Michael J. Wozniak | DEM | 1,562 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| B.E. Smith | IND | 1,545 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Lingel H. Winters | DEM | 1,466 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Richard J. Simmons | IND | 1,422 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Joe Guzzardi | DEM | 1,419 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Mike P. McCarthy | IND | 1,351 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Art Brown | DEM | 1,344 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Leonard Padilla | IND | 1,343 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Iris Adam | NLP | 1,297 | 0.02% | |
|---|
| Maurice Jerome Walker | GRE | 1,236 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Trek Thunder Kelly | IND | 1,210 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Vik S. Bajwa | DEM | 1,168 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| David Ronald Sams | REP | 1,166 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Darin Price | NLP | 1,152 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Charles Pineda | AIP | 1,104 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| John Mortensen | DEM | 1,078 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Sara Ann Hanlon | IND | 1,077 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Diane Beall Templin | AIP | 1,067 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Dick Lane | DEM | 1,065 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| James Vernon Hoffmann | REP | 1,046 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Bill Vaughn | DEM | 1,028 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| C. Stephen Henderson | IND | 989 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Robert C. Newman II | REP | 987 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Jamie Rosemary Safford | REP | 943 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Robert C. Mannheim | DEM | 914 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Dorene Musilli | REP | 907 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Scott A. Mednick | DEM | 903 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| A. Lavar Taylor | DEM | 851 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Brian Tracy | IND | 842 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Kurt E. Rightmyer | IND | 837 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Christopher Ranken | DEM | 823 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Sharon L. Rushford | IND | 821 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Darrin H. Scheidle | DEM | 814 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Patricia G. Tilley | IND | 792 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Darryl L. Mobley | IND | 778 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Alex-St. James | REP | 771 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Bob Lynn Edwards | DEM | 758 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Douglas Anderson | REP | 754 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Joel Britton | IND | 751 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Michael A. Jackson | REP | 746 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Ed Beyer | REP | 727 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Paul Mailander | DEM | 715 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| John W. Beard | REP | 699 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Paul Nave | DEM | 679 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Robert S. Cullenbine | DEM | 632 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Warren T. Farrell | DEM | 626 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Chuck R. Walker | REP | 623 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| William S. Chambers | REP | 610 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Vip Bhola | REP | 607 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Gerold Lee Gorman | DEM | 598 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Dennis Duggan McMahon | REP | 591 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| James M. Vandeventer | REP | 588 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Eric J. Korevaar | DEM | 586 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Kelly P. Kimball | DEM | 582 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Mike McNeilly | REP | 581 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| S. Issa | REP | 554 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Gino L. Martorana | REP | 532 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Richard Gosse | REP | 497 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Tim Sylvester | DEM | 489 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Bryan Quinn | REP | 474 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Bill Prady | DEM | 474 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Jeffrey L. Mock | REP | 455 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Paul W. Vann | REP | 452 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Michael Cheli | IND | 451 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Heather Peters | REP | 444 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Jeff Rainforth | IND | 425 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Ronald J. Friedman | IND | 419 | 0.01% | |
|---|
| Todd Carson | REP | 386 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Scott Davis | IND | 384 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Daniel W. Richards | REP | 383 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Carl A. Mehr | REP | 376 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Lorraine Fontanes | DEM | 365 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Gary Leonard | DEM | 359 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Gregory J. Pawlik | REP | 349 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Jon W. Zellhoefer | REP | 346 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Reva Renee Renz | REP | 333 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Kevin Richter | REP | 305 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Stephen L. Knapp | REP | 298 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| William Tsangares | REP | 281 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| D. Clements | REP | 274 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Robert A. Dole | REP | 273 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Dave E. Kessinger | DEM | 261 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Gene E. Forte | REP | 235 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Todd Richard Lewis | IND | 192 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Mathilda Karel Spak | W | 16 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Monty Manibog | W | 11 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Jason Alan Gastrich | W | 11 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| R. Charlie Chadwick | W | 7 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Thomas Benigno | W | 7 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Jane H. Dawson | W | 5 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Shirley Coly | W | 5 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Pauline Cooper | W | 4 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Paul Walton | W | 4 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Wignes K. Warren | W | 3 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Jim Trenton | W | 3 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Lincoln Pickard | W | 2 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Lynda L. Toth | W | 2 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Vincent Pallaver | W | 2 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Donald P. Wang | W | 2 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Christian F. Meister | W | 2 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Jacques Andre Istel | W | 2 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Christy Cassel | W | 2 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Joel Wirth | W | 1 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Jurlene Jeanne Kokoa White | W | 1 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Bill Thill | W | 1 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Ronald W. Spangler | W | 1 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Robert D. Gibb | W | 1 | 0.00% | |
|---|
| Total | 9,413,490 | |
|---|
Official source: sov-complete.pdf
Other California governor races
| Year | Winner | Margin |
|---|
| 2022 | Gavin Newsom | 18.4 |
|---|
| 2018 | Gavin Newsom | 23.9 |
|---|
| 2014 | Jerry Brown | 19.9 |
|---|
| 2010 | Jerry Brown | 12.9 |
|---|
| 2006 | Arnold Schwarzenegger | 17.0 |
|---|
| 2003 special | Arnold Schwarzenegger | 15.7 |
|---|
| 2002 | Gray Davis | 4.7 |
|---|
| 1998 | Gray Davis | 19.1 |
|---|
Full California governor history →
Questions and answers
Who won the 2003 California governor race (special election)?
Arnold Schwarzenegger (REP) won with 48.6% of the vote, ahead of Cruz M. Bustamante (31.5%), a margin of 15.7 points.
Did the California governor seat change party in 2003?
Yes. It moved from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.
How many votes were cast in the 2003 California governor race?
9,413,490 votes were counted for the candidates in the recall election.
Compiled by FiveThirtyEight from the official source linked above.