1986 California State Senate election

1986 California State Senate election

← 1984 November 4, 1986 1988  →
20 out of 40 seats in the California State Senate 21 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader David Roberti Jim Nielsen Party Democratic Republican Leader's seat 23rd District–Los Angeles 4th District-Woodland Last election 25 15 Seats before 26 [a] 14 Seats after 25 14 Seat change 1
President pro tempore before election David Roberti Democratic Elected President pro tempore David Roberti Democratic

The 1986 California State election was held on November 4, 1986, to determine which party would control the California State Senate for the following two years. All even-numbered seats were up for election, which consisted of half of the 40 senate seats. The primary was held on June 3, 1986. Prior to the election 26 seats were held by Democrats and 14 were held by Republicans. The general election saw Democrats losing a single seat, but retained control over the California State Senate. ^[1]

Retirements

1. 8th District: John Francis Foran (D) retired.
2. 16th District: Walter W. Stiern (D) retired.

Closest races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. District 8, 1.40% (gain)
2. District 16, 4.00% (gain)

Results

2nd District

2nd District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Barry Keene (incumbent)		56.20%
	Republican	Richard Brann		41.10%
	Peace and Freedom	Pamela Elizondo		2.70%
Total votes				100.0%
	Democratic hold

4th District

4th District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jim Nielsen (incumbent)		64.50%
	Democratic	Franklin S. Cibula		35.50%
Total votes				100.0%
	Republican hold

6th District

6th District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Leroy F. Greene (incumbent)		60.40%
	Republican	Sandy Smoley		39.60%
Total votes				100.0%
	Democratic hold

8th District

8th District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Quentin L. Kopp		46.90%
	Democratic	Lou Papan		45.50%
	Republican	Russell Gray		7.60%
Total votes				100.0%
	Independent gain from Democratic

10th District

10th District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bill Lockyer (incumbent)		71.20%
	Republican	Bruce W. Bergondy		28.80%
Total votes				100.0%
	Democratic hold

12th District

12th District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dan McCorquodale (incumbent)		56.00%
	Republican	Tom Legan		44.00%
Total votes				100.0%
	Democratic hold

14th District

14th District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kenneth L. Maddy (incumbent)		68.90%
	Democratic	Michael T. LeSage		31.10%
Total votes				100.0%
	Republican hold

16th District

16th District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Don Rogers		52.00%
	Democratic	Jim Young		48.00%
Total votes				100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

18th District

18th District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Gary K. Hart (incumbent)		65.00%
	Republican	DeWayne Holmdahl		33.50%
	Libertarian	Jay C. Wood		1.50%
Total votes				100.0%
	Democratic hold

20th District

20th District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Alan Robbins (incumbent)		65.30%
	Republican	Lynn Robert Davis		34.70%
Total votes				100.0%
	Democratic hold

22nd District

22nd District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Herschel Rosenthal (incumbent)		67.90%
	Republican	Daniel Ward Sias		29.10%
	Libertarian	Joseph A. Russell		1.70%
	Peace and Freedom	Abby Kirk		1.30%
Total votes				100.0%
	Democratic hold

24th District

24th District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Art Torres (incumbent)		72.10%
	Republican	Lee David Prentiss		24.40%
	Libertarian	Laura G. Brown		3.50%
Total votes				100.0%
	Democratic hold

26th District

26th District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joseph B. Montoya (incumbent)		100.0%
Total votes				100.0%
	Democratic hold

28th District

28th District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Diane Watson (incumbent)		78.60%
	Republican	Armand M. Vaquer		21.40%
Total votes				100.0%
	Democratic hold

30th District

30th District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ralph C. Dills (incumbent)		72.00%
	Republican	Anthony Jay Gray		25.20%
	Peace and Freedom	Lee H. Chauser		2.80%
Total votes				100.0%
	Democratic hold

32nd District

32nd District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ed Royce (incumbent)		65.80%
	Democratic	Francis X. Hoffman		34.20%
Total votes				100.0%
	Republican hold

34th District

34th District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ruben Ayala (incumbent)		65.90%
	Republican	Steve Turner		34.10%
Total votes				100.0%
	Democratic hold

36th District

36th District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Robert B. Presley (incumbent)		61.40%
	Republican	Anne Richardson		38.60%
Total votes				100.0%
	Democratic hold

38th District

38th District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	William A. Craven (incumbent)		85.10%
	Libertarian	Betsy A. Mill		14.90%
Total votes				100.0%
	Republican hold

40th District

40th District election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Wadie P. Deddeh (incumbent)		69.40%
	Republican	William M. Hoover		28.60%
	Peace and Freedom	William R. Beard		2.00%
Total votes				100.0%
	Democratic hold

Notes

1. Republican senator Milton Marks (3rd District) switched over to the Democrats on January 8, 1986.

References

1. "November 4, 1986". joincalifornia.com. Retrieved 2025-11-26.