Longtime rivals Gloria Molina and Art Torres on Wednesday began courting the losers from this week's historic election, hoping to build support in the suburban San Gabriel Valley for a runoff that will place a Latino on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

Molina and Torres, both Eastside Democrats, have four weeks to woo voters in the 1st District before the Feb. 19 runoff that will establish a liberal 3-2 majority on the board.

Molina, a Los Angeles city councilwoman, was exuberant over her primary election showing Tuesday against her onetime boss, state Sen. Torres. She won 35% of the vote to his 26%, though she fell short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff. She carried her own council district and captured the 14th District of City Councilman Richard Alatorre, Torres' closest local ally.

Molina and Torres are trying to win the support of Sarah Flores, a Republican who won 20% of the vote and carried a number of conservative-voting communities of the San Gabriel Valley, and of state Sen. Charles Calderon, a moderate Democrat who finished fourth with 16%, drawing much of his support from the suburbs.

Flores and Calderon said they have not decided whom to back.

Strategists for both campaigns said Molina and Torres will target the San Gabriel Valley for those voters who supported Calderon and Flores in the primary and who may be the key to victory in the runoff.

David Townsend, a Sacramento political consultant to Torres, said, "Art represents more of the mainstream of the district and will do well in terms of picking up Flores and Calderon votes."

Molina adviser Pat Bond said the councilwoman focused heavily on her East Los Angeles base in the primary election, but now will intensify her campaigning among San Gabriel Valley residents and "anyone interested in clean government."

The special election was ordered by a federal judge who found that the county had discriminated against Latinos in drawing district lines. The judge redrew the boundaries, creating a new, heavily Latino 1st District designed to help elect the first Latino supervisor this century.

In the first indication that gender may play a role in the race, Molina praised Flores as "tough and strong and somebody whose support I would love to have," and appealed to women's groups for support.

"I would hope that women would come out of the woodwork on this one," Molina said, "and I hope they say, 'Let's do it, let's have the first woman ever elected to the county Board of Supervisors.' "