1980Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsIncumbent defeated
1980 election for Minnesota Senate District 27
Minnesota State Senate · Minnesota
Darrel Peterson (R) won with 53.6% of the vote, defeating Howard D. Olson (D) by 7.2 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
Darrel PetersonRepublican · winner
53.6%15,024
Howard D. OlsonDemocrat · incumbent
46.4%12,995
28,019 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