1980Final results
1980 election for Illinois Legislative District 42
Illinois State Senate · Illinois
George Sangmeister (D) won with 52.7% of the vote, defeating Helen Harshbarger (R) by 5.4 points.
George SangmeisterDemocrat · winner · incumbent
52.7%47,762
Helen HarshbargerRepublican
47.3%42,884
90,646 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