1978Final results
1978 election for California Senate District 36
California State Senate · California
John G. Schmitz (R) won with 49.5% of the vote, defeating Ronald Cordova (D) by 4.9 points.
John G. SchmitzRepublican · winner
49.5%125,192
Ronald CordovaDemocrat
44.7%112,860
David BerglandLibertarian
5.8%14,608
252,660 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 1978
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET