1978Final results
1978 election for Hawaii Governor
Governor · Hawaii
George Ariyoshi (D) won with 55.2% of the vote, defeating John Leopold (R) by 10.4 points.
George AriyoshiDemocrat · winner
55.2%153,394
John LeopoldRepublican
44.8%124,610
278,004 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