ELECTIONS: CONGRESS, ASSEMBLY : Incumbents McClintock, Lagomarsino Reelected

Apparently undaunted by any anti-incumbent sentiment, state and federal lawmakers representing Ventura County were sweeping to victory in Tuesday’s election, incomplete results showed.

Despite fear of a backlash from angry voters, the incumbents’ superior fund-raising abilities and name identification seemed to outweigh any political disadvantage of being associated with budget troubles and political scandals in Washington or Sacramento. And, with one exception, area incumbents represent districts crafted to favor their own political party.

Democrats considered Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) vulnerable this year because he narrowly escaped defeat in 1988 in a district that has 23,000 more Democratic voters than Republican.

Yet, with voter turnout slightly higher than expected, Lagomarsino led Democrat Anita Perez Ferguson by a substantial margin in the 19th Congressional District that includes western Ventura County and all of Santa Barbara County.

Lagomarsino criticized his opponent for running a “far too negative” campaign. “She shouldn’t have attacked my integrity and claimed that I have a bad environmental record when I don’t,” the congressman said.

Lagomarsino, a political survivor of 34 years in public office, successfully blunted Ferguson’s attacks on his environmental record with radio and television advertisements that trumpeted his role in passing a newly strengthened Clean Air Act.

Mindy Lorenz of Ventura, from the fledgling Green Party, a new peace and ecology party, ran a distant third as a write-in candidate. Lorenz was the Green Party’s first congressional candidate in the nation.

Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), facing the toughest opponent in his eight years in office, appeared headed for victory in the 36th Assembly district that includes Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Moorpark, Port Hueneme and Ventura.

Nearly 51% of voters in McClintock’s district are Republican, helping build his lead over Democrat Ginny Connell, chairwoman of the county’s Democratic Party.

“I would like to see a little more balance in the way districts are drawn so it is possible to upset an incumbent,” Connell said. She said she was pleased with her campaign’s progress and vowed to run again or help someone else challenge McClintock. “It’s been a good beginning,” she said.

Originally dismissed as a lost cause by Democratic officials, Connell impressed members of her own party with a spirited campaign that attacked McClintock for not supporting abortion rights, the environment or Democratic efforts to improve education.

McClintock ran a low-key campaign, emphasizing his efforts to protect taxpayers from additional taxes and curb spending of the Democratic majority in the Legislature.

State Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara) and Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria) appeared on the verge of lopsided victories over their under-financed Republican challengers, Carey Rogers and Connie O’Shaughnessy.

Both incumbent legislators represent districts that have at least 20,000 more voters registered Democratic than Republican. But they differed greatly in their approach to reelection.

O’Connell campaigned aggressively in the 35th Assembly District that includes Oxnard, even though O’Shaughnessy has been distracted from a forceful challenge since the Santa Barbara fire devastated the grounds of her 4 1/2-acre Santa Barbara estate.

Meanwhile, Hart spent little time on campaign matters, he said, after recognizing that his Republican opponent failed to raise enough money to send a policy mailer to even a fraction of the 326,000 voters in his district that stretches across Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

Incomplete results showed the same strong margins of victory for Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) and Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley). Both lawmakers had tough battles in the Republican primary in June.

Once past that hurdle, both had an easier time in their districts, where more than 52% of the voters are registered Republicans.

“This has been the shortest campaign of my life,” said Gallegly, who was challenged by Democrat Richard Freiman, an attorney from Agoura Hills. Tied up in Washington on budget matters until last week, Gallegly spent only the past six days campaigning in the district that includes Eastern Ventura County and a portion of the San Fernando Valley.

Cathie Wright said she was so confident of defeating Democrat Dennis Petrie that she spent 60% of the last three months helping other Republicans get elected.

Times staff writers Joanna M. Miller, Mack Reed and Tina Daunt contributed to this story. Christopher Pummer also reported.