1986Flipped from DemocraticFinal results
1986 election for California Senate District 8
California State Senate · California
Quentin L. Kopp (Ind) won with 46.9% of the vote, defeating Louis J. Papan (D) by 1.4 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
Quentin L. KoppIndependent · winner
46.9%81,501
Louis J. PapanDemocrat
45.5%79,117
Russell GrayRepublican
7.6%13,189
173,807 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 1986
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET