CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : Assemblymen Easily Capture 2 Senate Seats

Two San Gabriel Valley Assemblymen ascended to the state Senate on Tuesday with victories in separate special elections for neighboring districts.

Assemblyman Frank Hill (R-Whittier) had an almost 2-to-1 lead with 99% of the precincts reporting in the 31st Senate District. The four-term legislator will replace state Sen. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights), who resigned last December after serving more than 20 years in the Legislature.

Assemblyman Charles M. Calderon (D-Whittier), meanwhile, had an almost 3-to-1 lead with virtually all precincts reporting in the 26th Senate District. Calderon will take the seat formerly held by Joseph B. Montoya (D-Whittier), who quit in February after his conviction on political corruption charges.

In declaring victory late Tuesday night, the 36-year-old Hill said, “I’m going to be the youngest senator in the state of California. . . . I’m very pleased.”

Hill earlier said his campaign had spent more than $90,000 on winning absentee ballots, but he was still surprised at the large margin he racked up among absentee voters. “I think it’s certainly larger than what I thought it was going to be,” he said.

Hill earned more than 15,000 of his votes in absentee ballots as a result of an aggressive strategy that targeted Republicans considered more likely to vote by mail rather than at polling places in a special election. It was more votes than he received when he won the special primary in February.

Calderon, 40, declared victory after just more than half the votes had been counted. “This really surpasses any goal I have ever had,” Calderon said. “I wanted to serve in the state Assembly since I was in high school. When I was elected almost eight years ago, I accomplished a lifelong dream. I never thought I would continue to serve in a higher capacity. It has really exceeded my expectations.”

A third special state election was held Tuesday to fill an Assembly seat in San Diego left vacant when Lucy Killea won election to the Senate in December. With nine candidates in the race, none received more than 50% of the vote, forcing a June runoff election between the top vote-getters from each party.

Former San Diego City Councilman Mike Gotch, a Democrat, and Republican Jeff Marston, a former aide to ex-U.S. Sen. S.I. Hayakawa, will represent their parties in the runoff in the 78th Assembly District. Marston received 35.9% of the vote; Gotch got 29.6%. Joining them in the runoff will be Peace and Freedom candidate Jane Evans.

In the 31st District Senate race, Hill was a target of the same FBI investigation that led to the conviction of Montoya and the recent indictment of State Board of Equalization member Paul Carpenter. Hill, however, has not been charged. He will fill the two years remaining in Campbell’s term.

The 31st Senate District stretches from West Covina in Los Angeles County to Laguna Beach in Orange County. It has a registration edge for the GOP of about 54% to 36%.

Democrat Janice Graham, 53, who opposed Hill in Tuesday’s election, said the Republican voters who dominate the district appeared loyal to Hill and that conservatives may also have been attracted to his opposition to unrestricted abortion.

Graham, who lost to Campbell in 1988, had expected state Democratic leaders and abortion rights groups to join her campaign when Hill narrowly beat Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) in the bitter primary for the GOP Senate nomination in February. But the Democratic and abortion rights leaders passed on helping Graham, saying they considered her race unwinnable.

In the 26th Senate District, Democrats hold a 2-1 advantage in registered voters, which helped make Calderon the heavy favorite to win Montoya’s old seat. The district includes the communities of Alhambra, Monterey Park, Montebello, El Monte, Irwindale and La Puente.

Calderon’s Republican opponent, businessman Joe Aguilar Urquidi of Montebello, said he had all but written off the special election in order to mount a stronger campaign this fall when the office is up for a full four-year term. The special election is for the eight months remaining in Montoya’s term.

Calderon won statewide attention in 1988 as a member of the “Gang of Five”--a group of Assembly Democrats who launched an unprecedented attack on Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco).

ELECTION RESULTS Senate District 26 234 of 234 Precincts Alhambra, San Gabriel, Monterey Park, Rosemead, Montebello, Pico Rivera, El Monte, Irwindale, Baldwin Park and La Puent e One vacancy

Candidate Vote Charles M. Calderon (D) 22,293 Joe Aguilar Urquidi (R) 8,919 Kim Goldsworthy (Lib) 1,564

Senate District 31 429 of 429 Precincts West Covina, Whittier, La Habra Heights, La Habra, El Toro, Mission Viejo and Laguna Niguel One vacancy

Candidate Vote Frank Hill (R) 33,504 Janice Graham (D) 19,874 Robert W. Lewis (Am. Ind.) 1,901

Assembly District 78* 268 of 268 Precincts San Diego One vacancy

Candidate Vote % Jeff Marston (R) 13,073 35.9 Mike Gotch (D) 10,781 29.6 Howard Wayne (D) 5,639 15.5 Helen Rowe (R) 1,814 5.0 Judith Abeles (D) 1,601 4.4 A.L. Bud Brooks (D) 1,511 4.1 Jane Ramshaw (R) 854 2.3 Jane Rocio Evans (P&F;) 809 2.2 Byron Georgiou (D) 378 1.0

*Candidate must get more than 50% of vote to win seat. If no candidate gets more than 50%, top vote-getter in each party will be in June runoff election. Winners will appear in bold