William Stephens had defeated James Rolph for the Republican nomination and won the general election in a landslide after Rolph was denied the Democratic Party's nomination.

Stephens was the first governor elected with an absolute majority of the vote since Henry Gage in 1898 and won the highest share of the vote since Frederick Low in 1863.

However, because he failed to win his own party's nomination, he was barred from receiving the Democratic nomination thanks to the 1917 Hawson amendment to California electoral law, leaving the Democratic Party without a candidate.

The only other primary candidate to advance to the general election was Socialist Henry H. Roser, running unopposed.

His second-place finish in the general election indicated that Democrats regarded him as their de facto candidate.