California Assembly District

From Granada Hills to Sylmar, Van Nuys to Glendale, candidates and activists in the San Fernando Valley are preparing for the most thorough changing of the political guard in recent memory. Term limits, advancing age and flowering ambition are conspiring to leave at least six elective seats without an incumbent in next year's state and federal legislative elections.

Some of the fiercest state legislative seat battles in California in Tuesday's election are taking place in suburban Los Angeles County, where Democrats hope to build a legacy in what was recently the Republicans' backyard. Just a few years ago, Republican victories were a foregone conclusion in Assembly and Senate races in parts of the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys, Southeast Los Angeles and the port areas of Long Beach and the South Bay.

Some of the fiercest state legislative seat battles in California in Tuesday's election are taking place in suburban Los Angeles County, where Democrats hope to build a legacy in what was recently the Republicans' backyard. Just a few years ago, Republican victories were a foregone conclusion in Assembly and Senate races in parts of the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys, Southeast Los Angeles and the port areas of Long Beach and the South Bay.

From Granada Hills to Sylmar, Van Nuys to Glendale, candidates and activists in the San Fernando Valley are preparing for the most thorough changing of the political guard in recent memory. Term limits, advancing age and flowering ambition are conspiring to leave at least six elective seats without an incumbent in next year's state and federal legislative elections.

State Sen. Frank Hill (R-Whittier), who said recently that he would not endorse anyone as his successor in the 52nd Assembly District, changed his mind last week and endorsed Diamond Bar Councilman Paul Horcher. Hill said he endorsed Horcher because of Horcher's support during his campaign for the state Senate earlier this year.

Assemblyman Dave Elder (D-San Pedro) is expected to weather recent reports of alleged political improprieties by one of his aides and win a seventh two-year term, according to political organizers. He will be shielded from the political fallout because of his years of attention to people in his district and because his opposition is weak. "Dave Elder has been working hard for his district," said Carmen O.

One of Los Angeles County's costliest Assembly contests was in the San Fernando Valley's 39th District, where incumbent Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda) held off the challenge of Republican Robert F. Thoreson, a Los Angeles police auto theft detective.

A few years back, Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) displayed a poster in her Sacramento office that summed up her pugnacious political style with terse eloquence: "It's Better to Be a Stomper," it proclaimed, "Than a Stompee." In her five terms in the Legislature, the 60-year-old Wright--a car mechanic's daughter from the hard-coal country of eastern Pennsylvania--has earned a reputation as an aggressive, blunt-spoken conservative who rarely retreats from a political street fight.

She may be an underdog, but Republican candidate Diane P. Boggs likes her chances of unseating Assemblyman Bob Epple (D-Norwalk) in the November election. "I realize it's a tough race and it would be considered an upset if I win," the Downey councilwoman said in a recent interview. "But I like to consider myself the stuff that upsets are made of." For his part, Epple is confident of reelection as he approaches the end of his first term.

The Eastside Assembly race to succeed Charles M. Calderon has turned into a high-stakes turf battle marked by an unusual split among local Latino political leaders. Calderon, fresh from an easy win in a special state Senate election in the San Gabriel Valley, is backing a longtime aide to fill his seat in the Assembly. A victory by the aide, Marta Maestas, probably would boost Calderon's prestige and demonstrate his power within the Latino political community.

Thomas J. Mays, the conservative mayor of Huntington Beach, fended off a strong, well-financed challenge by a moderate from Long Beach to win the Republican nomination in the 58th Assembly District. "One of the things that is perfectly clear is that you can't come in and buy an election," Mays said of his primary victory Tuesday over Long Beach surgeon Seymour Alban in the district stretching from Huntington Beach to Long Beach.

Xavier Becerra, a deputy attorney general often called the "unknown candidate" in the campaign for the 59th Assembly District seat, astounded political opponents and confounded political analysts by toppling the two leading contenders. Becerra, 32, won the seat that nearly everyone said would be won by either Diane Martinez, daughter of Rep. Matthew G. Martinez (D-Monterey Park) or by Marta Maestas, district representative of state Sen. Charles M. Calderon.

State Sen. Frank Hill (R-Whittier), who said recently that he would not endorse anyone as his successor in the 52nd Assembly District, changed his mind last week and endorsed Diamond Bar Councilman Paul Horcher. Hill said he endorsed Horcher because of Horcher's support during his campaign for the state Senate earlier this year.

The top candidates for the 59th District Assembly seat, with seemingly guaranteed-to-win platforms such as better education, less crime and an end to malathion spraying, have found themselves spending more time than they would like in defending their chief supporters. Two of the five candidates in the Democratic primary Tuesday have drawn fire for the help they are receiving in bids for the Assembly seat vacated by state Sen. Charles M. Calderon (D-Whittier).

Assemblyman Dave Elder (D-San Pedro) is expected to weather recent reports of alleged political improprieties by one of his aides and win a seventh two-year term, according to political organizers. He will be shielded from the political fallout because of his years of attention to people in his district and because his opposition is weak. "Dave Elder has been working hard for his district," said Carmen O.

With five Republicans pursuing the GOP nomination in the 58th Assembly District, their primary race has evolved into an often-frustrating search for money and a sometimes-scrappy quest for identity. Like the predominantly Republican coastal district they seek to represent, the candidates are split between Los Angeles and Orange counties. Three--City Council members Jan Hall and Jeffrey Kellogg, and physician Seymour (Sy) Alban--are from Long Beach. The Orange County contenders, developer Peter von Elten and Mayor Thomas J. Mays, are from Huntington Beach.

The top candidates for the 59th District Assembly seat, with seemingly guaranteed-to-win platforms such as better education, less crime and an end to malathion spraying, have found themselves spending more time than they would like in defending their chief supporters. Two of the five candidates in the Democratic primary Tuesday have drawn fire for the help they are receiving in bids for the Assembly seat vacated by state Sen. Charles M. Calderon (D-Whittier).

Thomas J. Mays, the conservative mayor of Huntington Beach, fended off a strong, well-financed challenge by a moderate from Long Beach to win the Republican nomination in the 58th Assembly District. "One of the things that is perfectly clear is that you can't come in and buy an election," Mays said of his primary victory Tuesday over Long Beach surgeon Seymour Alban in the district stretching from Huntington Beach to Long Beach.

The election to choose a successor to Frank Hill in the 52nd Assembly District has turned into a wide-open race in which eight Republican candidates are scrambling for a winning strategy. Two candidates call themselves the most conservative. One candidate is running as an environmentalist. Another has seized the ethics issue by refusing campaign contributions. And one is pitching an appeal to Asians and women.

A few years back, Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) displayed a poster in her Sacramento office that summed up her pugnacious political style with terse eloquence: "It's Better to Be a Stomper," it proclaimed, "Than a Stompee." In her five terms in the Legislature, the 60-year-old Wright--a car mechanic's daughter from the hard-coal country of eastern Pennsylvania--has earned a reputation as an aggressive, blunt-spoken conservative who rarely retreats from a political street fight.