1996Flipped from DemocraticFinal results
1996 election for California Senate District 15
California State Senate · California
Bruce McPherson (R) won with 48.4% of the vote, defeating Rusty Areias (D) by 1.4 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
Bruce McPhersonRepublican · winner
48.4%124,448
Rusty AreiasDemocrat
47.0%120,846
E. CoffinGreen
4.7%12,089
257,383 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 1996
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET