California's Closest Contests (1898-2024)

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K
1		California's Closest State Legislative Contests (1898-Present)
2		Note 1: This list only includes contests that resulted in a candidate being elected to office (ex. general elections, special election run-offs, and special election primaries in which a candidate was elected outright) since 1898. Note 2: The list is a comprehensive list of election results where the two candidates were within 2%, and a significant (but not comprehensive) list of contests within 3%. Note 3: The source of this information is the election records at JoinCalifornia.com. Note 4: If citing this source, please credit Alex Vassar for researching and compiling the numbers.
3	Rank	Year	Election	District	Candidate1	Votes	Candidate2	Votes	Margin (votes)	Margin (%)	Notes
4	1	1916	General	SD25	J. R. Thompson	7,377	Willis M. Slossen	7,375	2	0.014%	Closest State Senate race since 1898 (as a percentage of vote).
5	2	1900	General	SD05	William B. Lardner	3,094	Ben P. Taylor	3,093	1	0.016%	Closest State Senate race since 1898 (by vote count).
6	3	2022	General	SD16	Melissa Hurtado	68,460	David Shepard	68,438	22	0.016%	Closest State Senate race since 1916 (as a percentage of vote).
7	4	1918	General	SD02	William B. Shearer	5,255	Ernest W. Elfendahl	5,252	3	0.029%
8	5	1980	General	AD26	Patrick Johnston	42,616	Adrian Fondse	42,581	35	0.041%	Closest State Assembly race since 1898.
9	6	2022	General	AD47	Greg Wallis	84,752	Christy Holstege	84,667	85	0.050%	Closest State Assembly race since 1980.
10	7	1873	General	AD21	B. C. Northup	1,896	Atwater	1,894	2	0.053%	Source: Sacramento Daily Union
11	8	1969	Special	AD30	Clare Berryhill	30,062	Ernest LaCoste	30,012	50	0.083%
12	9	1996	General	AD26	Dennis A. Cardoza	46,648	Tom Berryhill	46,562	86	0.092%
13	10	2012	General	AD36	Steve Fox	66,005	Ron Smith	65,860	145	0.110%
14	11	1918	General	AD51	Sidney L. Strother	4,267	F. C. Huebner	4,257	10	0.117%
15	12	1902	General	AD54	A. D. Duffey	1,912	Harry S. Wanzer	1,907	5	0.131%
16	13	1954	General	AD14	Randal F. Dickey	20,479	Robert W. Crown	20,425	54	0.132%
17	14	1936	General	AD13	Thomas F. Keating	8,623	Charles F. Reindollar	8,597	26	0.151%
18	15	1904	General	AD25	Samuel S. Burge	2,850	Fred W. Yokum	2,840	10	0.176%
19	16	1974	General	SD34	Bob Presley	70,849	Craig Biddle	70,597	252	0.178%
20	17	1996	General	AD69	Jim Morrissey	24,545	Lou Correa	24,452	93	0.190%
21	18	1916	General	AD01	Henry B. Ream	3,128	W. W. Barham	3,116	12	0.192%
22	19	1902	General	SD02	Clifford Coggins	4,672	James A. Hubbard	4,654	18	0.193%
23	20	1996	General	AD43	Scott Wildman	49,452	John Geranios	49,260	192	0.195%
24	21	1996	General	SD07	Dick Rainey	161,291	Jeff Smith	160,632	659	0.205%
25	22	2008	General	SD19	Tony Strickland	207,976	Hannah-Beth Jackson	207,119	857	0.206%
26	23	1998	General	AD10	Anthony Pescetti	67,535	Debra Gravert	67,249	286	0.212%
27	24	1988	General	AD63	Bob Epple	48,611	Wayne Grisham	48,391	220	0.227%
28	25	1910	General	AD62	Frank J. Walker	1,224	W. J. Welter	1,218	6	0.246%
29	26	1904	General	AD58	James Slaven	804	George H. Moore	800	4	0.249%
30	27	1966	General	SD08	Lewis F. Sherman	160,769	William Byron Rumford	159,968	801	0.250%
31	28	1968	General	SD08	Lewis F. Sherman	160,769	Byron Rumford	159,968	801	0.250%
32	29	1927	Special	AD77	John E. Wherrell	3,148	Agnes L. McEuen	3,132	16	0.255%
33	30	1944	General	AD33	Fred Emlay	18,833	Lloyd E. Tiernan	18,736	97	0.258%
34	31	1956	General	AD59	Thomas M. Rees	31,459	Robert L. Meyer	31,296	163	0.260%
35	32	2008	General	AD10	Alyson Huber	88,242	Jack A. Sieglock	87,768	474	0.269%
36	33	1994	Special	AD79	Denise Moreno Ducheny	5,150	Tim Nader	5,122	28	0.273%
37	34	1958	General	AD79	Jim Bear	27,725	Jack Shrade	27,887	162	0.291%
38	35	1956	General	AD33	William W. Hansen	27,219	Charles B. Garrigus	27,061	158	0.291%
39	36	2018	General	AD77	Brian Maienschein	99,880	Sunday Gover	99,273	607	0.305%
40	37	1954	General	AD22	Bernard R. Brady	20,980	John A. Busterud	20,850	130	0.311%
41	38	1954	General	SD20	Alan Short	31,399	Verne Hoffman	31,201	198	0.316%
42	39	1930	General	SD24	Andrew R. Schottky	5,954	Elbert G. Adams	5,916	38	0.320%
43	40	2022	General	AD40	Pilar Schiavo	79,852	Suzette Martinez-Valladares	79,330	522	0.328%	Second Closest California State Assembly race of 2022.
44	41	1914	General	AD59	Ira E. Kramer	3,889	Henry C. Bagby	3,863	26	0.335%
45	42	1984	General	AD72	Richard H. Robinson	37,112	Dick Longshore	36,856	256	0.346%
46	43	1958	General	AD39	John Williamson	18,698	Pat Kelly	18,566	132	0.354%
47	44	1980	General	SD17	Henry Mello	117,769	Eric Seastrand	116,931	838	0.357%
48	45	1976	General	SD19	Lou Cusanovich	113,580	Sabrina Schiller	112,773	807	0.357%
49	46	1904	General	AD27	Aubrey M. Lumley	2,373	J. W. Davis	2,356	17	0.359%
50	47	1958	General	AD64	Lou Cusanovich	49,918	Cap Hardy	49,553	365	0.367%
51	48	1958	General	SD04	Jim Busch	11,231	Waverly Jack Slattery	11,314	83	0.368%
52	49	2024	General	AD58	Leticia Castillo	78,292	Clarissa Cervantes	77,696	596	0.382%	The closest 2024 contest.
53	50	1906	General	AD72	Fred E. Pierce	1,789	Frank G. Henderson	1,775	14	0.393%
54	51	1950	Special	SD13	Jack McCarthy	9,636	Fred Bagshaw	9,554	82	0.427%
55	52	1898	General	AD39	Justus Wardell	1,508	Leon E. James	1,495	13	0.433%
56	53	1962	General	AD66	Joe A. Gonsalves	30,861	Robert E. "Bob" Mitchell	30,591	270	0.439%
57	54	1992	General	AD56	Bob Epple	61,330	Phil Hawkins	60,788	542	0.444%
58	55	1906	General	AD66	H. W. McMullin	1,803	T. W. Helm	1,787	16	0.446%
59	56	1994	General	AD28	Peter Frusetta	43,696	Lily Cervantes	43,307	389	0.447%
60	57	1972	General	AD36	Gary K. Hart	66,055	W. Don MacGillivray	66,671	616	0.464%
61	58	2000	General	SD05	Michael J. Machado	142,392	Alan Nakanishi	141,013	1,379	0.487%
62	59	2002	General	AD30	Nicole Parra	26,586	Dean Gardner	26,320	266	0.503%
63	60	1900	General	AD14	S. W. Irving	1,294	William Archibald	1,281	13	0.505%
64	61	1898	General	SD24	R. Porter Ashe	2,425	Leon Dennery	2,400	25	0.518%
65	62	1980	General	AD71	Chet Wray	47,056	Doris Allen	46,559	497	0.531%
66	63	1994	General	AD54	Steven T. Kuykendall	56,225	Betty Karnette	55,628	597	0.534%
67	64	1908	General	AD32	Charles A. Nelson	2,115	Cornelius P. Lyons	2,092	23	0.547%
68	65	1948	General	AD22	George D. Collins Jr.	15,523	William D. Kilduff	15,351	172	0.557%
69	66	1932	General	SD33	Walter H. Duval	8,645	Charles Bruce McDonnell	8,546	99	0.576%
70	67	1916	General	AD16	C. P. Vicini	4,164	Ferdinand G. Stevenot	4,116	48	0.580%
71	68	1904	General	AD16	N. A. Hawkins	1,550	B. B. Tuttle	1,532	18	0.584%
72	69	1976	General	SD17	Robert Nimmo	102,730	Phil Harry	101,505	1,225	0.600%
73	70	1972	General	AD04	Ray Johnson	60,279	George C. Shaw	59,555	724	0.604%
74	71	1908	General	AD64	Samuel Fleisher	2,229	B. F. Thomas	2,202	27	0.609%
75	72	1962	General	AD73	Stew Hinckley	42,948	Ray Conaster	42,400	548	0.642%
76	73	2014	General	AD66	David Hadley	54,401	Al Muratsuchi	53,695	706	0.653%
77	74	1972	General	SD03	Clare Berryhill	95,260	Ernest LaCoste	93,994	1,266	0.669%
78	75	1906	General	AD25	R. K. Whitmore	3,031	Fred W. Yokum	2,990	41	0.681%
79	76	2012	General	AD20	Bill Quirk	67,028	Jennifer Ong	66,111	917	0.689%
80	77	1974	General	AD53	Paul Bannai	25,843	Maurice Mayesh	25,489	354	0.690%
81	78	1992	General	AD80	Julie Bornstein	56,760	Tricia Rae Hunter	55,971	789	0.700%
82	79	1993	Special	SD02	Mike Thompson	48,098	Margie Handley	47,420	678	0.710%
83	80	1948	General	AD11	Charles M. Weber III	11,265	Howard Q. Parker	11,106	159	0.711%
84	81	1940	General	AD73	Frank C. Russell	13,598	Waldo Willhoft	13,401	197	0.730%
85	82	1906	General	AD35	Fred Hugo Hartmann	1,309	Frank J. Cornish	1,290	19	0.731%
86	83	1940	General	AD79	Paul A. Richie	18,362	Harry Warburton	18,093	269	0.738%
87	84	1936	General	AD35	Ellis E. Patterson	12,928	Henry P. Russell	12,738	190	0.740%	Patterson was elected as a write-in after losing his reelection primary.
88	85	1918	General	SD02	W. E. Duncan Jr.	7,073	Dr. W. F. Gates	6,969	104	0.741%
89	86	1936	General	SD37	John R. Phillips	14,862	Marcus W. Meairs	14,642	220	0.746%
90	87	1932	General	AD72	Hobart R. Alter	12,270	Godfrey A. Andreas	12,087	183	0.751%
91	88	1990	General	AD78	Mike Gotch	41,178	Jeff Marston	40,561	617	0.755%
92	89	1912	General	AD54	J. W. Guiberson	1,664	R. A. Moore	1,639	25	0.757%
93	90	1954	General	AD79	Wanda Sankary	28,918	Chester E. Schneider	28,481	437	0.761%
94	91	1952	General	AD05	Samuel R. Geddes	31,212	William H. McPherson	30,739	473	0.764%
95	92	1996	General	AD15	Lynne C. Leach	89,328	Gail Murray	87,957	1,371	0.773%
96	93	2016	General	SD29	Josh Newman	160,230	Ling-Ling Chang	157,732	2,498	0.786%
97	94	2012	General	AD40	Mike Morrell	65,282	Russell H. Warner	64,264	1,018	0.786%
98	95	1964	General	AD36	Winfield A. Shoemaker	60,950	James L. Holmes	59,990	960	0.794%
99	96	1900	General	AD28	Charles R. Franklin	1,071	Eugene F. Lacy	1,054	17	0.800%
100	97	1988	General	AD07	Norm Waters	86,632	David Knowles	85,229	1,403	0.816%