The 1978 Maine gubernatorial election took place in the US state on November 7, 1978. Incumbent Independent Governor James B. Longley chose not to run for re-election, holding himself to the one-term pledge he made when he was elected in 1974. Attorney General Joseph E. Brennan of the Democratic Party defeated both challenger Republican Linwood E. Palmer Jr. and right-wing independent candidate Herman Frankland. Richard Carey unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination, while Charles Cragin unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination.
Democratic primary
Candidates
- Joseph E. Brennan, Maine Attorney General, of Portland
- Richard Carey, state representative, of Waterville
- Philip L. Merrill, state senator, of Portland
Republican primary
Candidates
- Charles Cragin, attorney, of Falmouth
- Linwood E. Palmer Jr., state representative, of Nobleboro
- Jerrold Speers, state senator, of Winthrop
Results
Brennan won much of the state, including the Greater Portland area, the Lewiston–Auburn area, and Bangor, the largest population centers in the state, and performed particularly well in Aroostook County. Palmer did well in the staunchly Republican coastal counties of Lincoln, Waldo, Knox, and Hancock, as well as the lightly-populated inland rural county of Piscataquis. Frankland carried a handful of municipalities in rural Hancock, Washington, Aroostook, Oxford, and Franklin counties.
Counties that flipped from Independent to Democratic
- Androscoggin (largest city: Lewiston)
- Franklin (largest town: Farmington)
- Kennebec (largest city: Augusta)
- Oxford (largest town: Rumford)
- Penobscot (largest city: Bangor)
- Sagadahoc (largest town: Bath)
- Somerset (largest town: Skowhegan)
- Washington (largest city: Calais)
Counties that flipped from Independent to Republican
- Hancock (largest municipality: Ellsworth)
- Knox (largest municipality: Rockland)
- Lincoln (largest city: Waldoboro)
- Piscataquis (largest municipality: Dover-Foxcroft)
- Waldo (largest city: Belfast)