STATE ASSEMBLY : Fall Race in 72nd Expected to Be Hard-Fought, Close : Incumbent Pringle is thought to be vulnerable, and a major effort will be mounted against him. But challenger Umberg needs to unify Democrats after a divisive primary.

Sprayed by malathion, plagued with crime, Garden Grove and its neighbors are once again about to become one of California’s biggest battlefields for a seat in the state Legislature this November.

Following the near landslide victory of Democrat Tom Umberg in Tuesday’s primary election, state Democratic leaders and national abortion-rights activists said Wednesday that they are preparing a massive campaign to unseat freshman Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) in the 72nd District.

Pringle won the seat by a whisker in 1988 after a similar showdown in which nearly $2 million was spent on the district race by the state parties, both desperate for one more vote in their partisan battles in the Capitol.

The same appears to be taking shape again.

“This will be one of the most hotly contested races in California in the general election,” Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), who helped the Democratic cause in 1988, said Wednesday. “I think it’s going to be a very close race.”

Pringle said he considers Umberg to be “a very, very serious challenger.”

He added: “It’s not a very well kept secret that the Speaker (Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) ) plans to make this his No. 1 attack of the year. I have been assured by the Republican Party . . . they will respond with the same emphasis.”

Umberg’s race against Jerry Yudelson in the primary had been expected to be close, but the former federal prosecutor won by a convincing 64% to 35%.

In Orange County’s other competitive Assembly races, Huntington Beach Mayor Thomas J. Mays won by 33% to 25% over Long Beach physician Dr. Seymour Alban in the Republican primary in the 58th Assembly District, which extends from Huntington Beach to Long Beach. There were three other GOP candidates vying for the nomination.

In the 70th District, Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) easily held off a Republican primary challenge from Phyllis Badham, defeating her 63% to 36%.

Mays and Ferguson, both winning in heavily Republican districts, will go into the November general election as strong favorites. The Umberg-Pringle contest, however, is expected to be Orange County’s closest race for state office in the fall.

The district, however, is confounding for strategists trying to apply convention political wisdom. It is Orange County’s only predominantly Democratic legislative district, and yet its voters have helped elect a Republican to the Assembly, the state Senate (Edward R. Royce (R-Anaheim) ) and one of the country’s most conservative members of Congress, Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove). The district includes Stanton and portions of Garden Grove, Anaheim and Westminster.

Umberg said that when he was walking precincts door-to-door before Tuesday’s election, some of the voters he knew to be registered as Democrats thought they were registered Republicans.

Umberg will begin his campaign with the burden of having to repair the damage done by a primary that grew increasingly hostile.

Umberg said the size of his victory should indicate that the rift was not as significant as believed. But it was clear Wednesday that there is some leftover animosity from the race.

Both Yudelson and county Democratic Party Chairman Michael Balmages, who backed Yudelson, said they expected Umberg to apologize for some of his attacks.

“If Umberg wants the party to unite behind him, he and his campaign have a lot of fences to mend,” Balmages said.

Pringle is considered vulnerable, however, because of a scandal in 1988 in which his campaign was involved in a decision to place uniformed security guards at polling places in predominantly Latino neighborhoods.

Pringle has also been named as one of the top targets in the country for the National Abortion Rights Action League. Robin Schneider, executive director of the California Abortion Rights Action League, said the organizations will be working to defeat Pringle.