AHC: California Gets Two Democratic Governors in a Row between 1887 and 2019

Today marks the first time since 1887 (!) that California has had two consecutive Democratic governors. (And in 1887 it didn't have them very long; Washington Bartlett died later that year and was succeeded by the Republican Lieutenant Governor... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Bartlett) What are the most likely possibilities of this jinx (if one cares to call it that) being broken before 2019? The most obvious is Tom Bradley winning the 1982 gubernatorial race he narrowly lost in OTL. Are there any others?
 
All you have to do is discredit the GOP there big time. The GOP took over in New York thanks to the Dems fucking up, so if the GOP leaves a bad taste in CA’s mouth for a decade or two. Especially if a competent Dem does the job well.
 
An interesting POD might be to have Feinstein run and win in 1998. She was considering running, and Pres. Clinton asked her to, but she decided against it. The state was already fairly solidly blue by then, so you could certainly imagine her serving two (fairly normal) terms, retiring, and being succeeded by a Dem, rather than the Gray Davis fiasco.

EDIT: A less interesting scenario might be to have Pat Brown resign to serve in the Kennedy or Johnson cabinet.
 

sprite

Donor
Monthly Donor
A Brown resignation (Senior or Junior) or Gray Davis not being recalled then a democratic win are the only ways I can see it happen.

As a non-American this is very interesting to me. California's reputation for liberalism doesn't seem to come through gubernatorially (not a word I know).
 
A Brown resignation (Senior or Junior) or Gray Davis not being recalled then a democratic win are the only ways I can see it happen.

As a non-American this is very interesting to me. California's reputation for liberalism doesn't seem to come through gubernatorially (not a word I know).

It was not until recently a Democratic state but that doesn't mean it was necessarily a conservative one--there were several progressive Republican governors (Hiram Johnson, Earl Warren, Goodwin Knight).
 

SsgtC

Banned
A Brown resignation (Senior or Junior) or Gray Davis not being recalled then a democratic win are the only ways I can see it happen.

As a non-American this is very interesting to me. California's reputation for liberalism doesn't seem to come through gubernatorially (not a word I know).
A lot of states have very different voting patterns when it comes to state elections verses national elections. A lot of that is the fact that, on the state level, a politician can be socially liberal, while still being a member of the GOP and supporting gun rights or fiscal conservatism. Whereas on the national level, that same politician would be expected to toe the Party Line.
 

sprite

Donor
Monthly Donor
It was not until recently a Democratic state but that doesn't mean it was necessarily a conservative one--there were several progressive Republican governors (Hiram Johnson, Earl Warren, Goodwin Knight).

Yes, but also Reagan, Nixon (though he did mellow), Goldwater Jr., Dornan, Knowland & Deukmejian.

Due to it's size, politicians really run the gamut of left to right.
 
Jerry Brown wins the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1976, wins the Presidency, and is succeeded as Governor by Mervyn Dymally.
 
Another one would be 1898 - the incumbent Democrat did not stand, and the succeeding Republican won in OTL by 6.6% (yes, it's a comfortable margin. It's closer than 1942 or 1966). So make 1898 an uglier environment for Republicans, and you might be able to manage it.
 
Top