LOCAL ELECTIONS 2ND SUPERVISORIAL DISTRICT : Burke Will Challenge Watson for Hahn’s Seat

Trying a political comeback, former Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said Friday she has decided to challenge state Sen. Diane Watson in the June election for the seat being vacated by retiring Supervisor Kenneth Hahn.

“I’m running,” Burke told The Times. “I really think I can make a difference.”

Burke, 59, the only black and the first woman to serve on the county board, was appointed supervisor in 1979 but lost a 1980 election to Supervisor Deane Dana.

Her decision to challenge Watson (D-Los Angeles) assures a spirited 2nd Supervisorial District race to become the county’s first elected black supervisor.

Hahn’s retirement promises to further shake up the five-member board, a previously all-male, all-white enclave that was joined this year by its first Latino member this century, Gloria Molina.

A Burke-Watson race would pit two tough, pioneering black women against each other. In 1966, Burke became the first black woman elected to the state Assembly, and in 1972 she became the first black woman elected to Congress from California.

Watson, who turns 58 on Tuesday, was the first black woman elected to the Los Angeles school board in 1975 and to the state Senate in 1979.

Although the popular Hahn has made no decision on an endorsement, Burke is a former board colleague who serves as Hahn’s appointee on the county redistricting commission.

Burke, currently a real estate lawyer and member of the UC Board of Regents, said Hahn has told her that he will be “very, very helpful” to her campaign. Hahn could not be reached, but issued a statement: “I have so much confidence in her that I appointed her as my appointee to the (redistricting) committee.”

Filing for the race does not open until February. Others who have said they are running include former Carson Councilman Gil Smith and Compton City Treasurer Wesley Sanders Jr. Also considering running is Inglewood Mayor Edward Vincent.

Asked her reaction to Burke’s candidacy, Watson said Friday: “Does she live in the district? I know she’s been out in Brentwood for years. . . . I’ve been in the district all my life, born there, served there and intend to win that seat.”

Burke, whose Westside home is outside of the 2nd District, had said she planned to change her voter registration Friday to her daughter’s residence in Ladera Heights, which is part of the 2nd District. She also filed papers Friday setting up a campaign fund-raising committee.

Burke said she has lived most of her life in the 2nd District, and represented most of the district during six years in the Assembly and six years in Congress.

During her 18 months on the Board of Supervisors, she represented the 4th Supervisorial District, parts of which are now in the 2nd District, she said.

Burke said that she decided to run after Reps. Maxine Waters and Julian Dixon bowed out as possible candidates.

“I wanted to make sure there was someone (elected) who would be able to produce for the district,” she said.

Burke said she also entered the race because of concern about apathy in the black community. “The impact that the black community has is diminishing rather than increasing,” she said.