Latino Leaders Consider Candidacy : Politics: 1st District hopefuls must make a quick decision on whether to enter race. Redistricting issue could be a factor.

County Supervisor Pete Schabarum’s decision not to seek reelection set off a shiver of anticipation late Friday in the Latino political community, which has long coveted his 1st District seat. Prospective candidates were expected to gather this weekend to try to thrash out their differences and unify behind one standard-bearer.

Rep. Esteban Torres (D-La Puente), who has been considering a supervisorial bid, said he would try to meet today or Sunday with other Latino politicians interested in the seat, prominent community leaders and financiers.

Asked whether he would seek the office, Torres declared: “This weekend will tell the tale.”

Along with Torres, the list of those believed to be considering running--and due to be invited to the session--are Los Angeles City Council members Richard Alatorre and Gloria Molina, and Assemblywoman Lucille Roybal-Allard.

A spokesman for Alatorre said the councilman was considering a bid.

“Obviously, he’s very interested in the seat and going to take the next five days or so to make a decision,” said Alatorre deputy Al Avila.

Other potential candidates could not be reached for comment.

Despite the delight that ran through the Latino community at word of Schabarum’s decision, the road for prospective Latino candidates remains rough.

Only 44% of the district, which spreads across the eastern side of Los Angeles County, is Latino, and many of the residents are either too young to vote or are not citizens.

Richard Fajardo, of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which is suing the county to get district lines redrawn to increase Latino representation, cautioned Friday that even without Schabarum in the race, success for a Latino is not certain.

“The main problem,” he said, referring to the district’s Latino minority, “is still there.

“Whether Esteban, Richard and other Latinos run, they’re still skittish in terms of the manner in which the lines are drawn.”

Alan Clayton, civil rights representative for the state League of United Latin American Citizens, said Schabarum’s move “will open up opportunities for Hispanic candidates, but it is still a seat that has been gerrymandered. The (district) lines still need to be redrawn.”

The difficulties facing any Latino candidate have prompted a Latino call for unity, lest the Latino vote be split, allowing election of an Anglo.

“We’ve got to get together and sit down and think this through logically and politically and reach a consensus,” Torres said.

He added: “This is a test of political maturity and people will look at it--all of us will look at it--as such.”

Schabarum’s timing left all potential candidates scrambling to come to a decision by Wednesday, the filing deadline. And not only Latino candidates are interested in the race.

Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, a longtime observer of county politics, predicted that “every mayor, councilman and school board member” in the sprawling district would be figuring out their chances.

“Being a supervisor is one of the choicest political jobs in the nation,” Hahn said. “This plum won’t go unpicked.”

But hanging over the race will be the redistricting trial, and the possibility that--especially now, with no incumbent fighting to protect it--the district could be redrawn at any time.

“Quite frankly, I’m not sure what’s going to happen,” Fajardo said. “I don’t know how many want to run in a district where the lines may change next month.”

Times staff writer Frederick M. Muir contributed to this story.