1986Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsIncumbent defeated
1986 election for Oklahoma Senate District 16
Oklahoma State Senate · Oklahoma
Gary Gardenhire (R) won with 52.9% of the vote, defeating Lee Cate (D) by 5.8 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
Gary GardenhireRepublican · winner
52.9%10,056
Lee CateDemocrat · incumbent
47.1%8,960
19,016 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