1996Flipped from DemocraticFinal results
1996 election for California Senate District 7
California State Senate · California
Richard K. Rainey (R) won with 49.0% of the vote, defeating Jeff Smith (D) by 0.2 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
Richard K. RaineyRepublican · winner
49.0%161,291
Jeff SmithDemocrat
48.8%160,632
William KnudsonReform
2.2%7,077
329,000 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