1978Final results
1978 election for Arizona Governor
Governor · Arizona
Bruce Babbitt (D) won with 54.0% of the vote, defeating Evan Mecham (R) by 7.9 points.
Bruce BabbittDemocrat · winner
54.0%282,605
Evan MechamRepublican
46.0%241,093
523,698 votes
Source: Algara, Carlos; Amlani, Sharif (Harvard Dataverse)Updated Oct 5, 2026, 12:23 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 1978
Races before and after
Source: Algara, Carlos; Amlani, Sharif (Harvard Dataverse)Updated Oct 5, 2026, 12:23 AM ET