1980Flipped from DemocraticFinal results
1980 election for Texas Senate District 16
Texas State Senate · Texas
John Leedom (R) won with 50.9% of the vote, defeating Ron Kessler (D) by 4.4 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
John LeedomRepublican · winner
50.9%60,191
Ron KesslerDemocrat
46.5%54,979
Mike StephensLibertarian
2.5%2,974
118,144 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