1980Final resultsSpecial election

1980 special election for Florida Senate District 5

Florida State Senate · Florida

George Kirkpatrick (D) won with 68.0% of the vote, defeating John B. Newsom (R) by 36.0 points.

George KirkpatrickDemocrat · winner
68.0%101,042
John B. NewsomRepublican
32.0%47,511
148,553 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 1980

Races before and after

EvenD+36.01980 specialD+59.71986 specialD+13.22000R+42.72008R+49.52020D+15.02022

Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET