The Democratic incumbent, Pat Brown, ran for re-election against former U.S. vice president and 1960 Republican presidential nominee Richard Nixon.

[3] In 1958, the Democratic Party had swept all but a single statewide office, and all of the incumbents were seeking reelection in 1962.

They turned to former Vice President Richard Nixon, the biggest name at the time in the California Republican Party.

[5] Brown, a relatively popular incumbent, faced no serious opposition in the Democratic Party primary.

[3] Public relations consultants played a role in reshaping Brown's image as a forceful and decisive leader.

[3] Nixon announced his candidacy for governor on September 27, 1961, roughly eleven months after losing the 1960 presidential election.

[11] On January 16, 1962, former governor Goodie Knight was forced to withdraw his campaign for the nomination after suffering a serious case of hepatitis.

This left Nixon facing only the conservative California State Assembly minority leader Joseph C. Shell in the primary.

Shell was a wealthy man, having earned his fortune in oil, and was seen as a militant leader of conservative faction of the Republican Party.

[3] In announcing his candidacy, Shell had claimed to be seeking the support of voters that supported, A commitment to individual liberty limited only by those powers clearly enumerated in our constitution without reducing our ability to develop private property and free individual enterprise.

However, a fight emerged between Nixon and Shell backers in gaining organizational power at the county and precinct level organizations of the party.

On February 17, 1962, Nixon declared that he would not, himself, provide backing to any candidate involved with the John Birch Society, remarking that he had, "no commitment to endorse any candidate who seeks or accepts the support of the John Birch Society, even if they were the Republican Party nominees.

Additionally, at the convention, Nixon saw a supporter of his, former Kansas governor Fred Hall, elected as the CRA's president.

A key argument he made in support of his candidacy was that the state's economy was threatened due to assailing spending by the Brown gubernatorial administration.

Nixon's speeches dealt with subjects such as states' rights, reforms to taxes and budgets, addressing crime, and government efficiency.

Brown alleged that Nixon was only interested in holding the governorship in order to utilize it as a steppingstone to the presidency.

[21][22] The speech increased sympathy for Nixon among the public,[21] but was also viewed at the time as the end of his political career.

[24] Nixon later re-entered politics when he ran for president again in 1968; he won that election, and was later re-elected, but he resigned in disgrace in 1974 due to the Watergate scandal.