O.C. Expected to Gain One Congressional Seat : Remapping: No one knows how the Democrats might go about carving out the new district.

When the state Legislature finally gets around to parceling out California’s seven new congressional seats next year, most political experts expect at least one of them to wind up in Orange County, home to 460,000 more people today than it was during the 1980 Census.

But how that district might be carved out of the county’s current congressional districts--three of which are wholly contained in Orange County while one crosses into Los Angeles County and the other into San Diego County--is anybody’s guess.

“The permutations are endless,” said Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), whose own district has grown to more than 750,000 people and must be cut back by about 200,000. “It is the Democrats who are drawing the map . . . and they’re not going to begin their process with Orange County--they’re going to end with it.”

Among the possible scenarios being tossed about is one that would break off the Orange County portion of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s 42nd Congressional District, which extends into Los Angeles County, and part or all of Rep. Ron Packard’s 43rd District in South County.

“It would make sense to me that they would try to keep congressional districts somewhat in the same community,” Rohrabacher said. “I have no idea what they’re going to do, and I haven’t spent a considerable amount of time worrying about it, either. I’m just going to wait and see.”

When the Democrat-controlled Legislature redrew the state’s political boundaries to protect most incumbents from both parties in 1981, the plan elicited a flurry of ultimately unsuccessful litigation that was only recently exhausted.

This time, however, the Legislature must work with a Republican governor and Republican-appointed state Supreme Court, and some Democrats expect the redistricting process to be a more cooperative exercise. That could mean that Orange County and other heavily Republican, suburban areas that experienced major growth during the past decade will get their fair share of seats.

“It does not do California any good to have the expense and hostility that results from gerrymandering,” Rep. Don Edwards (D-San Jose) said. The seven new seats “will be more competitive than the seats that were carved out in 1981 because the Democrats had their own way then.”

Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton), however, sees no sign of such a cooperative spirit on the part of Assembly Democrats, who will be led by Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco).

“This is a knockdown war that we are in for,” Dannemeyer said.

Much of the growth in Orange County during the past decade was due to immigration and burgeoning ethnic communities, and leaders of minority groups hope the redistricting plan increases the election chances of Latinos and Asians.

“We are going to be focusing on Sacramento and making sure that gerrymandering does not occur in Orange County,” said Arturo Vargas, director of outreach and policy for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Vargas said it does not matter whether the Legislature creates districts that favor Republicans or Democrats--as long as they do not dilute Latino voting strength.