Archie-Hudson Leads; Incumbents Fare Well : Balloting: Nearly all state and U.S. lawmakers on the ballot are renominated. Maxine Waters wins.

University administrator Marguerite Archie-Hudson held a strong lead over Los Angeles City Councilman Robert C. Farrell Tuesday night in the Democratic primary to choose a new state Assembly member for the 48th District in Central Los Angeles.

The race was one of the most closely watched of six hard-fought Southland contests to nominate candidates to fill open seats in the Assembly.

Elsewhere, incumbents running for reelection to the Legislature and Congress were leading in early returns throughout California.

And in a race for a vacant congressional seat, Assemblywoman Maxine Waters of Los Angeles won the Democratic nomination to replace retiring Rep. Augustus Hawkins, who has represented the 29th District since 1962. Waters will be the heavy favorite to win the seat in November and become the only black woman in California’s congressional delegation.

In Riverside County, Ralph Waite, who portrayed the father of the Walton clan on the popular 1970s television series, was leading in balloting for the Democratic nomination to face U.S. Rep. Al McCandless in the November general election.

“It looks like we got good reviews tonight,” Waite said.

In state legislative races, several Assembly members who were facing unusually tough primary election challenges appeared headed toward renomination. Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) was leading legislative aide Hunt Braly; Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) was ahead of Phyllis Badham, daughter of former Rep. Robert Badham; and Assemblywoman Sunny Mojonnier (R-Encinitas) was leading a pack of three GOP challengers.

And 10-term Assemblyman Pete Chacon (D-San Diego) was leading former San Diego City Councilwoman Celia Ballesteros.

Most of the new faces in the next Legislature will come from districts that include a piece of Los Angeles County.

In the Democratic race to replace Waters in the 48th Assembly District, Farrell may have been hurt by controversy late in the campaign over whether he actually lived within the district.

In the 59th Assembly District’s Democratic primary, Deputy Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra took an early lead. The Assembly seat was vacated by Democrat Charles Calderon, who won a special election to the state Senate earlier this year.

In the 52nd Assembly District, a tight six-person race marked the Republican primary. The seat formerly was held by Republican Frank Hill, who like Calderon won a state Senate seat earlier this year.

In primaries for other vacant seats, Republican businesswoman Paula L. Boland was running about even with GOP legislative aide Robert Wilcox in the 38th Assembly District. In the Republican-leaning 58th Assembly District, Seymour Alban, a Long Beach physician, was in a close race with Tom Mays, the mayor of Huntington Beach, in the race for the GOP nomination. In the 65th Assembly District, former legislative aide Jim Brulte was ahead in the Republican contest.

In San Diego, Republican Jeff Marston was ahead of Democrat Mike Gotch in a special election race to fill the vacant 78th Assembly District seat until November, when Marston and Gotch will meet in a rematch.

Ethics was a major issue in several of the Assembly races, as challengers sought to capitalize on a well-publicized FBI investigation of Capitol corruption.

In San Diego’s 79th Assembly District, Ballesteros chided Assemblyman Chacon for accepting $7,500 in speaking fees from the California Check Cashers Assn. while he was carrying legislation affecting the group.

In the 37th Assembly District, which stretches from northwestern Los Angeles County to Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, Wright faced the toughest challenge of her 10-year career. Braly hammered away at her intervention with law enforcement authorities on behalf of her daughter, Victoria, who was ticketed 28 times--24 times for speeding--over seven years.

The following Times staff members contributed to election coverage: Max Boot, Jack Cheevers, Rich Connell, Aaron Davis, Tara Davis, Cathleen Decker, Paul Feldman, David Ferrell, Andrea Ford, Michele Fuetsch, Jerry Gillam, Mark Gladstone, Tina Griego, Philip Hager, Barry M. Horstman, Shawn Hubler, Carl Ingram, Paul Jacobs, Barbara Koh, Roxana Kopetman, Kim Kowsky, John H. Lee, Dave Lesher, Carol McGraw, Penelope McMillan, Dan Morain, Patt Morrison, Frederick M. Muir, Dean Murphy, Dave Myers, Rick Paddock, Bob Pool, Amy Pyle, Jeffrey L. Rabin, Cecilia Rasmussen, Ron Russell, Louis Sahagun, Douglas Shuit, Hector Tobar, William Trombley, Mike Ward, Jenifer Warren, Jim Herron Zamora and Victor Zonana.