1978 Alaska gubernatorial election

The 1978 Alaska gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 1978, to elect the governor of Alaska. Republican incumbent Jay Hammond defeated four opponents: former Governor of Alaska and write-in candidate Wally Hickel, Alaska Senator and Democratic nominee Chancy Croft, former Commissioner of Natural Resources and Independent candidate Tom Kelly and Alaskan Independence Party nominee Don Wright. After losing to Hammond in the Republican primary, Hickel ran as a write-in candidate and was able to outperform Croft. Republican Tom Fink and Democrat Jay Kerttula also ran in the open primary.

This was the first time an incumbent Republican governor was re-elected for a second term, and this would not occur again until 2022. This was also the last time until 1998 that an incumbent governor, regardless of party, would be re-elected, and the last time a Republican was elected governor of Alaska until 2002.