1996Final results
1996 election for California Senate District 3
California State Senate · California
John L. Burton (D) won with 70.8% of the vote, defeating Curtis Rau (R) by 47.2 points.
John L. BurtonDemocrat · winner
70.8%215,831
Curtis RauRepublican
23.7%72,097
Donald HarteLibertarian
5.5%16,819
304,747 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