1970Final resultsIncumbent defeated
1970 election for California Senate District 8
California State Senate · California
John W. Holmdahl (D) won with 50.5% of the vote, defeating Lewis F. Sherman (R) by 2.5 points.
John W. HolmdahlDemocrat · winner
50.5%157,329
Lewis F. ShermanRepublican · incumbent
48.0%149,660
Lynn H. WinslowIndependent
1.6%4,843
311,832 votes
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 1970
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET