Pro-Choice Assembly Hopeful Leads in Primary

In an Assembly race widely viewed as a referendum on the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent abortion ruling, voters in a heavily Republican Southern California district apparently gave the edge Tuesday to a nurse who strongly supports abortion rights.

The unofficial tally in the 76th Assembly District showed Tricia Hunter, a pro-choice Republican from Bonita, defeating five other Republicans with 30.9% of the vote. She was closely followed by Dick Lyles, an anti-abortion businessman from Poway, who had 30.5% of the vote.

But San Diego officials said late Tuesday that 500 absentee ballots had not been counted. With just 212 votes separating Hunter and Lyles, and with Lyles leading Hunter in other absentee votes counted earlier, the lead could change today. In addition, because of the closeness of the race, a recount is all but certain.

The Republican winner will go into a runoff Oct. 3 against Democrat Jeannine Correia of Escondido, who supports the pro-choice position. Correia, an instructor for the developmentally disabled, defeated Steven Thorne of Poway.

Because of the unusual procedures governing special elections, candidates of both parties appeared on a single ballot. With the 54%-33% edge that Republicans have in the district that covers parts of San Diego and Riverside counties, Democrats are given little chance of winning the Assembly seat.

Pro-choice groups had put their energy and their money behind Hunter, who assiduously courted the Democratic crossover vote. That prompted some of her opponents to question her GOP credentials in the race’s increasingly acrimonious closing days.

Lyles had adhered to the anti-abortion position, but three other Republicans also sought that vote. They were state Senate legislative aide Dennis Koolhaas, San Diego Police Lt. Bill Hoover and Ray Foster, a retired Spring Valley businessman. Koolhaas received 10.3% of the vote; Hoover, 6.3%, and Foster, 1.9%.

Poway City Councilwoman Linda Brannon, hoping to carve out a middle ground, described herself as a “pro-responsibility” candidate who is personally opposed to abortion but willing to support abortions under limited circumstances. She received 8.8% of the vote.

At the outset of the eight-week campaign, Lyles, a 42-year-old management consultant and longtime Republican activist, was viewed as the candidate to beat, a tribute to nearly four years of on-and-off planning that began in 1985, when Assemblyman Bill Bradley (R-Escondido) discovered that he had cancer. Bradley died in June.

Though Lyles insisted that his campaign-in-waiting had Bradley’s blessing, Bradley’s inner circle disputed that contention, creating an issue that dogged Lyles throughout the race. When, late in the campaign, Lyles was accused of overstating his educational and military background, some opponents used the controversy to further question Lyles’ integrity.

Hunter began the race as one of the several credible but unknown candidates mired in the middle of the pack. But with her pro-choice position drawing nearly $100,000 from the California Nurses Assn. and support from other groups that traditionally back Democrats, the 37-year-old Hunter experienced a meteoric rise in name recognition.