1978Final results
1978 election for Massachusetts Governor
Governor · Massachusetts
Edward J. King (D) won with 52.7% of the vote, defeating Francis W. Hatch (R) by 5.3 points.
Edward J. KingDemocrat · winner
52.7%1,030,294
Francis W. HatchRepublican
47.3%926,072
1,956,366 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