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United States · Election results history · 1988 Senate · California
Election 1988 Results

Each election opens in its own mode: the forecast before the votes are counted, the live count while races are still too close to call, and the results once every race is decided.

1988 US Senate election in California

Pete Wilson (Republican) beat Leo McCarthy (Democrat) in California in 1988, 52.8% to 44.0%, a margin of 8.8 points and 856,156 votes.

The Republican hold continued from 1982, when Pete Wilson also won.

Republicans led in 46 of the 58 counties as they stood then and Democrats in 12. The largest, Los Angeles, cast 2,603,311 votes and went to the Republican by 0.2 points. The closest was Alpine, where 117 votes separated the two parties.

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Early projection, based on early and incomplete polling: the likely matchups, each weighted by the betting markets' odds of both nominations, not a result. Each county is its 2024 presidential margin moved by its state's projected swing; set a national vote and every state, district and county moves by the same amount from our projection. Colours run in 100 steps from a safe Republican to a safe Democratic margin. Boundaries: US Census Bureau.

Senate

CandidatePartyVotesShare
Pete Wilson won Republican 5,143,409 52.8%
Leo McCarthy Democratic 4,287,253 44.0%
All other candidates 312,936 3.2%
Total9,743,598

Every county

CountyDemocratRepublicanOthersTotalMargin
Los Angeles 1,261,449 48.5% 1,265,582 48.6% 76,280 2,603,311 R+0.2
Orange 251,264 28.9% 593,614 68.2% 25,121 869,999 R+39.4
San Diego 283,554 33.1% 549,367 64.1% 24,644 857,565 R+31.0
Santa Clara 257,463 48.4% 253,865 47.7% 21,037 532,365 D+0.7
Alameda 283,560 60.2% 173,313 36.8% 14,000 470,873 D+23.4
Sacramento 173,110 44.5% 201,827 51.8% 14,341 389,278 R+7.4
San Bernardino 143,465 37.0% 230,772 59.4% 14,019 388,256 R+22.5
Riverside 128,422 38.4% 195,956 58.6% 10,026 334,404 R+20.2
Contra Costa 152,714 46.2% 168,760 51.1% 8,785 330,259 R+4.9
San Mateo 125,724 51.1% 111,187 45.2% 9,007 245,918 D+5.9
San Francisco 167,613 68.8% 70,102 28.8% 5,812 243,527 D+40.0
Ventura 81,831 34.1% 149,958 62.6% 7,938 239,727 R+28.4
Fresno 81,733 43.6% 99,315 53.0% 6,323 187,371 R+9.4
Sonoma 81,747 51.2% 71,775 44.9% 6,166 159,688 D+6.2
Kern 53,415 35.5% 91,303 60.8% 5,536 150,254 R+25.2
Santa Barbara 56,916 39.8% 81,282 56.8% 4,787 142,985 R+17.0
San Joaquin 56,330 41.1% 75,753 55.3% 4,906 136,989 R+14.2
Marin 63,101 54.4% 49,942 43.0% 3,056 116,099 D+11.3
Santa Cruz 58,715 57.3% 39,104 38.2% 4,642 102,461 D+19.1
Monterey 46,401 46.1% 50,136 49.8% 4,084 100,621 R+3.7
Solano 47,420 48.4% 47,288 48.2% 3,351 98,059 D+0.1
Stanislaus 42,440 44.0% 51,423 53.3% 2,653 96,516 R+9.3
San Luis Obispo 32,452 38.1% 49,564 58.2% 3,085 85,101 R+20.1
Tulare 26,980 35.3% 46,958 61.4% 2,516 76,454 R+26.1
Butte 28,886 40.1% 40,056 55.6% 3,114 72,056 R+15.5
Placer 25,243 35.8% 42,643 60.4% 2,701 70,587 R+24.7
Yolo 27,291 51.8% 23,459 44.5% 1,959 52,709 D+7.3
Humboldt 30,472 59.3% 19,384 37.7% 1,555 51,411 D+21.6
Shasta 18,384 36.0% 30,821 60.4% 1,837 51,042 R+24.4
El Dorado 17,986 35.5% 30,738 60.6% 1,985 50,709 R+25.1
Napa 20,619 44.4% 24,071 51.8% 1,754 46,444 R+7.4
Merced 17,247 43.8% 20,513 52.0% 1,656 39,416 R+8.3
Nevada 13,598 36.8% 21,815 59.1% 1,498 36,911 R+22.3
Mendocino 15,835 52.0% 13,318 43.7% 1,317 30,470 D+8.3
Imperial 10,099 42.7% 12,391 52.4% 1,177 23,667 R+9.7
Madera 9,117 38.9% 13,324 56.9% 996 23,437 R+18.0
Kings 8,732 40.2% 12,238 56.3% 757 21,727 R+16.1
Sutter 6,466 32.3% 12,724 63.6% 812 20,002 R+31.3
Lake 9,210 47.3% 9,516 48.9% 752 19,478 R+1.6
Tuolumne 7,892 40.8% 10,781 55.8% 648 19,321 R+15.0
Tehama 6,916 38.6% 10,338 57.6% 680 17,934 R+19.1
Siskiyou 7,577 42.4% 9,448 52.8% 855 17,880 R+10.5
Yuba 5,980 39.0% 8,828 57.5% 537 15,345 R+18.6
Calaveras 5,310 39.7% 7,584 56.6% 494 13,388 R+17.0
Amador 4,912 40.0% 6,896 56.2% 457 12,265 R+16.2
San Benito 4,499 43.7% 5,331 51.8% 458 10,288 R+8.1
Plumas 3,877 43.6% 4,635 52.1% 380 8,892 R+8.5
Lassen 3,541 40.7% 4,780 55.0% 377 8,698 R+14.2
Glenn 2,767 34.4% 5,006 62.2% 270 8,043 R+27.8
Inyo 2,425 31.8% 4,986 65.4% 216 7,627 R+33.6
Del Norte 3,863 50.9% 3,418 45.1% 301 7,582 D+5.9
Mariposa 2,742 39.7% 3,895 56.3% 278 6,915 R+16.7
Trinity 2,459 39.8% 3,337 54.0% 382 6,178 R+14.2
Colusa 1,942 38.4% 2,960 58.6% 150 5,052 R+20.2
Modoc 1,414 35.2% 2,441 60.7% 165 4,020 R+25.5
Mono 1,180 31.5% 2,397 64.0% 170 3,747 R+32.5
Sierra 759 44.1% 880 51.1% 84 1,723 R+7.0
Alpine 194 35.0% 311 56.1% 49 554 R+21.1

Counties as they stood in 1988; some have since been split, merged or renamed. Margin: the Democrat's share of all votes minus the Republican's. Sources and how the results were checked.

California Senate elections we hold

YearWinnerMargin
2024 Adam B. Schiff (D) D+17.7
2022 Alex Padilla (D) D+22.1
2018 Dianne Feinstein (D) D+54.2
2016 Kamala Harris (D) D+61.6
2012 Dianne Feinstein (D) D+25.0
2010 Barbara Boxer (D) D+10.0
2006 Dianne Feinstein (D) D+24.4
2004 Barbara Boxer (D) D+19.9
2000 Dianne Feinstein (D) D+19.3
1998 Barbara Boxer (D) D+10.0
1994 Dianne Feinstein (D) D+1.9
1992 Barbara Boxer (D) D+4.9
1988 Pete Wilson (R) R+8.8
1986 Alan Cranston (D) D+1.4
1982 Pete Wilson (R) R+6.8
1980 Alan Cranston (D) D+19.4
1976 S. I. Hayakawa (R) R+3.3
1974 Alan Cranston (D) D+24.3
1970 John V. Tunney (D) D+9.5
1968 Alan Cranston (D) D+4.9
1964 George Murphy (R) R+3.1
1962 Thomas Kuchel (R) R+12.9
1958 Clair Engle (D) D+14.1
1956 Thomas Kuchel (R) R+8.3
1952 William Knowland (R) R+87.8
1950 Richard M. Nixon (R) R+18.5
1946 William F. Knowland (R) R+9.9
1944 Sheridan Downey (D) D+4.6
1940 Hiram W. Johnson (R) R+82.5
1938 Sheridan Downey (D) D+9.8
1934 Hiram Johnson (R) R+94.5
1932 William Gibbs McAdoo (D) D+12.6
1928 Hiram W. Johnson (R) R+55.9
1926 Samuel M. Shortridge (R) R+26.2
1922 Hiram W. Johnson (R) R+38.4
1920 Samuel M. Shortridge (R) R+8.3
1916 Hiram W. Johnson (R) R+31.6
1914 James D. Phelan (D) D+2.9