Races to Put a New Face on Capitol

Voters will choose among candidates for all of the Assembly's 80 seats and 20 of the Senate's 40 positions. A raft of lawmakers -- many of them conservative Democrats -- are trying to migrate from the lower house to the Senate.

The suspense in the 100 contests will be largely resolved in the June 6 primary. Most districts are drawn with such a large majority of Republican or Democratic voters that the winner of the general election in November is a foregone conclusion.

The experience gap between the two houses is bound to widen with the arrival of 36 novice Assembly members who must wrestle with issues as varied as a $131-billion state budget, same-sex marriage and size limits for elephant cages. Term limits vacated 29 seats in the Assembly this year, and an additional seven members are leaving early to run for state Senate or Congress.

Politicians can serve no more than three two-year terms in the Assembly and two four-year terms in the Senate under restrictions that voters imposed in 1990.

"You're going to have a whole bunch of people who will have positions of responsibility and no knowledge," said Bruce Cain, a UC Berkeley political scientist who has studied term limits extensively. "At the same time people are going to be figuring out where the bathrooms are, they're going to be deciding very important budgetary matters and legislative matters."

An influx of newcomers could also detract from the collegiality and work of the Assembly, said Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles).

"There is a relationship between the quality of the legislation and the quality of the relationships among lawmakers," he said. "There's less opportunity to learn people's styles, to learn people's issues and to gain their trust."

The Senate could be transformed by the election of several moderate Democrats. Most of its 25 Democrats have a consistently liberal voting record. But the 13 Assembly members now running for Senate include Democrats who frequently cross fellow Democrats on bills opposed by business.