CALIFORNIA
     Nov. 4, 2014 Governor

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+Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown (D) i
4,388,368 59.97%
Neel Kashkari (R)
2,929,213 40.03%

7,317,581

Registered Voters: 17,803,823.  Total Voters: 7,513,972.
Plurality: 1,459,155 votes (19.94 percentage points)

 CA Secretary of State




Notes:
Gov. Jerry Brown (D), who was first elected to statewide office, Secretary of State, in 1970, comfortably defeated former Treasury official Neel Kashkari (R), a first-time candidate, to win his fourth term as governor. 

In the June 3 blanket primary, Brown obtained 54.3%, Kashkari 19.4% and Assemblyman Tim Donnelly (R) 14.8%; no other candidate achieved double digits.  As Assistant Secretary of the Treasury from 2008-09, Kashkari led the Office of Financial Stability.  Previously he was a senior advisor to the Treasury Secretary, and worked for four years as a vice president at Goldman Sachs in San Francisco.

Brown, 76, never appeared threatened by Kashkari, 41, and ran what was described as a "non-campaign."  Brown focused much attention on passing Props. 1 and 2, a water bond measure and a constitutional amendment on the budget stabilization ("rainy day") fund.  A Brown staffer later observed that "campaigns with Jerry Brown are very un-traditional.  The 2014 race was very low-key… [There were] a few campaign staffers and we were part-time.  A lot of the focus was on the propositions he was sponsoring as the re-election was not really in question, and we relied on the state Democratic party for a lot of the ground work." 

Expectations for Kashkari were low.  A Sept. 2014 article in The Economist stated, "Neel Kashkari will not unseat California's Democratic governor"
while suggesting he could help with rebranding California Republicans.  At one point in July 2014 Kashkari posed for a week as a homeless man in Fresno looking for a job, documented in the video "Is California back?" (>)
 
There was just one debate, presented by the California Channel from their studios in Sacramento on Sept. 4 (>).

Spending by the two candidates totaled $13.3 million, which KQED's John Myers pointed out was the least spent on a governor's race in California since 1978.
 

Campaign Managers:
Jerry Brown: 
a few part-time staff
used SCN Strategies led by Ace Smith

Neel Kashkari:  Pat Melton
(reported by Politico on Dec. 21, 2013) Experience includes campaign manager on Andy Barr (KY) campaign for Congress in 2012.  B.A. in political science from The Ohio State University, 2004.


See also:
--.  "Rebranding Republicans in California."  The Economist, Sept. 13, 2014.

Carla Marinucci.  "Jerry Brown surges ahead with the 'non-campaign' campaign."  SFGate.com, Sept. 16, 2014.


Reid Wilson.  "Jerry Brown is spending more on ballot measures than on his own campaign."  Washington Post, Oct. 24, 2014.

John Myers.  "The Cheap Date That Was California's 2014 Race for Governor."  KQED, Jan. 31, 2015.







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