Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, 1974

Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, 1974

November 5, 1974 (1974-11-05)

Candidate Milton Shapp Drew Lewis Party Democratic Republican Running mate Ernie Kline Ken Lee Popular vote 1,878,252 1,578,917 Percentage 53.7% 45.1%

200px County results

Governor before election Milton Shapp Democratic Elected Governor Milton Shapp Democratic

The Pennsylvania gubernational election of 1974 was held on November 5. Incumbent Democratic Governor Milton Shapp defeated Republican Drew Lewis. Under the state's 1968 constitution, Shapp was the first governor who was eligible to run for consecutive terms.

Primary elections

Incumbent Governor Shapp easily dispelled a spirited challenge from Martin Mullen, a state representative from Philadelphia who was well known as a firebrand conservative opponent of abortion and pornography. With a short Republican bench, wealthy staffing executive Drew Lewis was the only serious contender in the race.

Pennsylvania gubernatorial Democratic primary election, 1974
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Milton Shapp (Incumbent)	729,201	70.41
	Democratic	Martin Mullen	199,613	19.27
	Democratic	Harvey Johnston	106,474	10.28

Pennsylvania gubernatorial Republican primary election, 1974
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Drew Lewis	534,637	76.67
	Republican	Alvin Jacoboson	97,072	13.91
	Republican	Leonard Strunk	63,868	9.15

Major Party Candidates

Democratic

• Milton Shapp, incumbent Governor
  • runningmate: Ernie Kline, incumbent Lieutenant Governor

Republican

• Drew Lewis, CEO of the staffing company Snelling & Snelling
  • runningmate: Ken Lee, Speaker of the State House of Representatives

Campaign

Shapp's popularity had waned somewhat since his coasted to victory in 1970; although he could claim to have saved the state from bankruptcy, he did so at the expense of large tax increases. Furthermore, Shapp, an unabashed liberal, had difficulty rekindling support from the state's rural, socially conservative regions. However, Shapp and Democrats as a whole got a huge boost from the Watergate scandal; with President Nixon's popularity in a tailspin, many of the top tier Republicans declined to run. Instead, the party turned to the wealthy businessman Lewis, who was able to project an "outsider" image. Lewis focused on local issues and greatly undercut Shapp in rural areas; despite lagging at the polls in traditional Democratic strongholds such as Pittsburgh and Scranton, Shapp preserved a moderate victory by winning the combined vote of suburban Philadelphia, an almost unthinkable accomplishment at the time.

Results

Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, 1974
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage
	Democratic	Milton Shapp (Incumbent)	Ernie Kline (Incumbent)	1,878,252	53.66%
	Republican	Drew Lewis	Ken Lee	1,578,917	45.11%
	Constitutional	Stephen Depue	Ellis Werft	33,691	0.96%
	Socialist Workers	Roberta Scherr	Fred Stanton	8,980	0.26%
	Write-ins	Write-in		374	0.01%
Totals				3,500,214	100.00%
Voter turnout (Voting age population)					63.31%

Notes

a. ^{^} Scherr, at the time, was only 21 years old and, therefore, ineligible to be governor.