1980 United States Senate election in California

none March 2026 September 2023 1980 United States Senate election in California California presidential no 1974 United States Senate election in California 1974 1986 United States Senate election in California 1986 1980 11 03 AlanCranston.jpg Alan Cranston Democratic Party (United States) 4,705,399 56.51% Paul Gann 1955 Edit.jpg Paul Gann Republican Party (United States) 3,093,426 37.15% 1980 United States Senate election in California results map by county.svg 300px County results Cranston: #a5b0ff 40–50% #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% #584cde 70–80% Gann: #ffb2b2 40–50% #e27f7f 50–60% U.S. Senator Alan Cranston Democratic Party (United States) Alan Cranston Democratic Party (United States) The 1980 United States Senate election in California took place on November 4, 1980. Incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Alan Cranston easily won re-election to a third term, even as the state's former Republican governor, Ronald Reagan, won a landslide victory in the concurrent presidential election, and a target of the National Conservative Political Action Committee. Primary elections Primary elections were held on June 3, 1980. Democratic primary Candidates Alan Cranston, incumbent United States Senator Richard Morgan David Rees Frank L. Thomas Results Democratic primary resultshttps://books.google.com/books?id=nqAaAQAAMAAJ Guide to U.S. elections - CQ Press, Congressional Quarterly, inc 2005 CQ Press 9781568029818 2018-11-20 Alan Cranston (incumbent) Democratic Party (United States) 2,608,746 79.91% Richard Morgan Democratic Party (United States) 350,394 10.73% Frank L. Thomas Democratic Party (United States) 195,351 5.98% David Rees Democratic Party (United States) 110,125 3.37% Write-ins Independent politician 26 0.00% 3,264,642 100.00 Republican primary Candidates Paul Gann, political activist Rayburn Hanzlik, former Nixon and Ford staffer Brian Hyndman John G. Schmitz, State Senator and American Independent Party candidate for president in 1972 Philip Schwartz Sam Yorty, former Mayor of Los Angeles, and Democratic nominee in 1954 James A. Ware, nominee for Controller in 1978 Results Republican primary results Paul Gann Republican Party (United States) 934,433 40.00% Sam Yorty Republican Party (United States) 668,583 28.62% John G. Schmitz Republican Party (United States) 442,839 18.96% James A. Ware Republican Party (United States) 95,155 4.07% Rayburn Hanzlik Republican Party (United States) 76,268 3.27% Philip Schwartz Republican Party (United States) 68,790 2.95% Brian Hyndman Republican Party (United States) 50,122 2.15% 2,336,190 100.00 General election Endorsements Alan Cranston (D) Newspapers Monterey Peninsula HeraldRe-elect Alan Cranston https://dr2a.bmiimaging.com/Roll/Roll?datasetName=Monterey%20Public%20Library&rollID=654&frameNumber=684 August 19, 2026 Monterey Peninsula Herald October 29, 1980 Monterey, California 20 Monterey Public Library Paul Gann (R) Newspapers Santa Maria TimesEditorial: Gann for U.S. Senate https://www.newspapers.com/article/santa-maria-times-editorial-gann-for-u/204204002/ August 19, 2026 Santa Maria Times October 20, 2004 Santa Maria, California 4 Newspapers.com Results 1980 United States Senate election, Californiahttp://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=3870 Our Campaigns - CA US Senate Race - Nov 04, 1980 Democratic Party (United States) Alan Cranston (incumbent) 4,705,399 56.51% Republican Party (United States) Paul Gann 3,093,426 37.15% Libertarian Party (United States) David Bergland 202,481 2.43% Peace and Freedom Party (United States) David Wald 196,354 2.36% American Independent Party James C. Griffin 129,648 1.56% Democratic Party (United States) Results by county County Alan CranstonDemocratic Paul GannRepublican Various candidatesOther parties Margin Total votes cast # % # % # % # % Alameda 273,332 66.8% 108,790 26.6% 27,079 6.6% 164,542 40.2% 409,201 Alpine 242 53.3% 169 37.2% 43 9.5% 73 16.1% 454 Amador 4,591 48.4% 4,112 43.4% 775 8.2% 479 5.0% 9,478 Butte 31,359 48.5% 28,014 43.3% 5,284 8.2% 3,345 5.2% 64,657 Calaveras 4,484 46.1% 4,257 43.8% 977 10.0% 227 2.3% 9,718 Colusa 2,579 56.2% 1,562 34.1% 445 9.7% 1,017 22.1% 4,586 Contra Costa 170,685 60.3% 95,943 33.9% 16,371 5.7% 74,742 26.4% 282,999 Del Norte 3,255 50.7% 2,384 37.1% 782 12.2% 871 13.6% 6,421 El Dorado 16,305 45.6% 16,345 45.7% 3,112 8.8% -40 -0.1% 35,762 Fresno 94,164 60.4% 54,073 34.7% 7,739 5.0% 40,091 25.7% 155,976 Glenn 4,079 49.9% 3,618 44.2% 482 5.9% 461 5.7% 8,179 Humboldt 27,698 57.9% 15,610 32.6% 4,540 9.5% 12,088 25.3% 47,848 Imperial 12,946 59.2% 7,355 33.6% 1,568 7.2% 5,591 25.6% 21,869 Inyo 3,179 40.2% 4,172 52.8% 555 7.1% -993 -12.6% 7,906 Kern 66,943 55.6% 44,997 37.4% 8,419 7.0% 21,946 18.2% 120,359 Kings 11,089 59.2% 6,634 35.4% 1,066 5.4% 4,455 23.8% 18,729 Lake 8,723 52.9% 6,543 39.7% 1,213 7.4% 2,180 13.2% 16,479 Lassen 4,220 54.2% 2,872 36.9% 695 8.9% 1,348 17.3% 7,787 Los Angeles 1,348,919 57.0% 894,712 37.8% 123,557 5.2% 454,207 19.2% 2,367,188 Madera 10,562 58.1% 6,505 35.8% 1,103 6.1% 4,057 22.3% 18,170 Marin 68,464 64.3% 30,921 29.1% 7,011 6.6% 37,453 35.2% 106,396 Mariposa 2,879 52.4% 2,171 39.5% 445 8.0% 708 12.9% 5,495 Mendocino 15,744 56.9% 9,013 32.6% 2,920 10.6% 6,731 24.3% 27,677 Merced 20,053 59.5% 10,590 31.4% 3,044 9.0% 9,463 28.1% 33,687 Modoc 1,784 45.7% 1,848 47.3% 273 6.9% -64 -1.6% 3,905 Mono 1,459 43.6% 1,609 48.1% 275 8.2% -150 -4.5% 3,343 Monterey 52,180 62.0% 26,966 32.0% 5,057 6.0% 25,214 30.0% 84,203 Napa 23,503 56.7% 15,369 37.1% 2,588 6.2% 8,134 19.6% 41,460 Nevada 10,252 40.9% 12,080 48.2% 2,722 10.9% -1,828 -7.3% 25,054 Orange 335,720 43.8% 380,762 49.7% 49,470 6.5% -45,042 -5.9% 765,952 Placer 24,373 49.0% 20,950 42.1% 4,429 8.9% 3,423 6.9% 49,752 Plumas 3,654 48.5% 2,972 39.4% 913 12.0% 682 9.1% 7,539 Riverside 121,407 50.7% 103,583 43.2% 14,650 6.1% 17,824 7.5% 239,640 Sacramento 178,243 56.7% 110,579 35.2% 25,467 8.0% 67,664 21.5% 314,289 San Benito 4,612 65.2% 1,930 27.3% 537 7.6% 2,682 37.9% 7,079 San Bernardino 143,992 50.9% 123,024 43.5% 15,964 5.7% 20,968 7.4% 282,980 San Diego 361,742 54.0% 266,877 39.8% 41,335 6.2% 94,865 14.2% 669,954 San Francisco 188,239 75.6% 46,415 18.6% 14,481 5.8% 141,824 57.0% 249,135 San Joaquin 62,183 54.4% 45,208 39.6% 6,899 6.0% 16,975 14.8% 114,290 San Luis Obispo 38,995 57.4% 23,863 35.1% 5,136 7.6% 15,132 22.3% 67,994 San Mateo 145,208 63.6% 61,810 27.1% 21,244 9.3% 83,398 36.5% 228,262 Santa Barbara 73,570 58.6% 44,451 35.4% 7,443 6.0% 29,119 23.2% 125,464 Santa Clara 280,732 60.8% 150,423 32.6% 30,728 6.6% 130,309 28.2% 461,883 Santa Cruz 53,679 64.3% 22,917 27.4% 6,921 8.2% 30,762 36.9% 83,517 Shasta 26,785 57.5% 16,482 35.4% 3,323 7.2% 10,303 22.1% 46,590 Sierra 880 54.7% 582 36.2% 146 9.1% 298 18.5% 1,608 Siskiyou 8,742 54.5% 6,029 37.6% 1,282 8.0% 2,713 16.9% 16,053 Solano 45,910 58.5% 27,072 34.5% 5,441 7.0% 18,838 24.0% 78,423 Sonoma 75,239 61.1% 38,797 31.5% 9,010 7.4% 36,442 29.6% 123,046 Stanislaus 42,669 54.8% 27,422 35.2% 7,736 9.9% 15,277 19.6% 77,857 Sutter 7,459 44.3% 7,617 45.2% 1,758 10.5% -158 -0.9% 16,834 Tehama 8,236 54.2% 5,713 37.6% 1,235 8.2% 2,523 16.6% 15,184 Trinity 2,887 53.2% 1,964 36.2% 571 10.5% 923 17.0% 5,422 Tulare 38,099 55.4% 27,084 39.4% 3,566 5.2% 11,015 16.0% 68,749 Tuolumne 8,177 52.2% 6,358 40.6% 1,135 7.2% 1,819 11.6% 15,670 Ventura 91,104 48.6% 84,379 45.0% 11,975 6.4% 6,725 3.6% 187,458 Yolo 30,617 63.5% 13,218 27.4% 4,391 9.1% 17,399 36.1% 48,226 Yuba 6,544 48.6% 5,711 42.4% 1,217 9.0% 833 6.2% 13,472Total4,705,39956.5%3,093,42637.1%528,6566.3%1,611,97319.4%8,327,481 Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican El Dorado Modoc Mono Nevada Orange Sutter right 300px Shift by county 300px Trend by county Legend #d40000 Republican — >15% #ff0000 Republican — +12.5−15% #ff2a2a Republican — +10−12.5% #ff5555 Republican — +7.5−10% #ff8080 Republican — +5−7.5% #ffaaaa Republican — +2.5−5% #ffd5d5 Republican — +0−2.5% #d5f6ff Democratic — +0−2.5% #aaeeff Democratic — +2.5−5% #77e3ff Democratic — +5−7.5% #4bdbff Democratic — +7.5-10% #09ceff Democratic — +10−12.5% #00bdec Democratic — +12.5−15% #00a1c8 Democratic — >15% 300px County flips Legend Democratic #92c5de Hold Republican #f48882 Hold #ca0120 Flip See also 1980 United States Senate elections References 1980 California Category:1980 California elections