1980Flipped from DemocraticFinal results
1980 election for California Senate District 39
California State Senate · California
Jim Ellis (R) won with 63.3% of the vote, defeating Daniel W. Finnigan (D) by 26.7 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
Jim EllisRepublican · winner
63.3%150,263
Daniel W. FinniganDemocrat
36.7%86,957
237,220 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
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET