Redistricting Means Genuine Competition for Many Offices : Politics: Veteran officeholders find themselves vying for the same seat, or having to move to retain power bases. Fewer districts will be skewed in favor of one party.

The old saw, “Ain’t room for the two of us in this town,” rings painfully true for South Bay Assemblymen Dave Elder and Richard E. Floyd, now that the state Supreme Court has approved California’s new legislative boundaries.

The court’s reapportionment plan, adopted Monday, joins pieces of each man’s political turf in a single Assembly district embracing Carson and parts of Compton, Long Beach and the harbor area of Los Angeles.

That is pushing the two Democratic incumbents toward a primary showdown June 2. Said Floyd last week: “It’s going to be the most difficult race either of us has ever had.”

Reapportionment, the once-a-decade redrawing of legislative districts, will present South Bay voters this year with something unusual: serious competition in state and federal legislative races.

In addition to the clash between Elder (D-San Pedro) and Floyd (D-Carson), it has also left the South Bay with highly competitive races in another Assembly district, a congressional district and possibly a state Senate district.

Taken together with the Proposition 140 term limits, which will begin forcing current state legislators from office in 1996, reapportionment will usher in an era of unprecedented political competition, some analysts say.

“With Prop. 140, this amounts to a near revolution,” said Alan Heslop, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and a reapportionment expert. “You will see more interesting politics than you have seen in the past.”

Heslop says that will prompt a surge in voter turnout, but not everyone agrees. Some believe that term limits will discourage potentially good candidates from entering Assembly and state Senate races because state legislative service will no longer be viewed as a viable career.

“Pretty soon you’ll only have people running who dabble in politics as a hobby, just to spruce up their resume,” said Assemblyman Curtis Tucker Jr. (D-Inglewood). “Instead of entering the Pepperdine MBA program, they’ll say, ‘Hey, I’ll run for Assembly.’ ”

Few dispute that the South Bay will see intense political competition this year as a result of reapportionment, a process undertaken each decade to account for population shifts.

To be sure, some incumbents are not expected to draw serious competition, despite the boundary shifts.

State Sen. Robert G. Beverly (R-Manhattan Beach), for instance, is being forced by reapportionment to change his residence because his hometown has been included in the Democratic-leaning 28th Senate District. But he is expected to win in his new district--the 27th--because he already represents much of the district, which stretches from the Palos Verdes Peninsula to Downey.

Another example is Rep. Mervyn M. Dymally (D-Compton). Dymally is expected to have little trouble winning the new 37th Congressional District, a heavily Democratic area centered in Compton and extending from the harbor area to Lynwood.

But several South Bay races, like numerous contests elsewhere in the state, will be hot, analysts agree.

“Statewide, this election is going to be more competitive than any election in the last two decades,” said LeRoy Hardy, a political science professor at Cal State Long Beach. “The new lines have created a competitive situation.”

Two such fights will be waged along the South Bay coast, where reapportionment has helped to produce a pair of open seats.

One is the new 53rd Assembly District, which includes Torrance, the beach cities, Lomita, and parts of Palos Verdes Estates and the Westside. The district was left without an incumbent when Assemblyman Gerald N. Felando (R-San Pedro), who currently represents much of that territory, decided to run in a new district that includes his hometown of San Pedro.

The 53rd has drawn the interest of three South Bay city officials. Redondo Beach City Councilwoman Barbara Doerr and Mayor Brad Parton and Torrance City Councilman Dan Walker, all Republicans, have announced that they will run in the GOP-leaning district.

Changes in California’s congressional map have also prompted an open race in the new 36th District, which runs from Venice to the South Bay, where it embraces the Palos Verdes Peninsula, Lomita, Torrance, the beach cities, Lawndale, Avalon and most of San Pedro.

The incumbent best positioned to win in that Republican-leaning district, Dana Rohrabacher (R-Long Beach), decided to run instead in a newly drawn district in Orange County.

A gaggle of announced and as-yet unannounced GOP candidates are hoping to fill the void. They include San Pedro consultant John Barbieri, Torrance attorney William Beverly (the state senator’s son), former Assistant U.S. Atty. William Fahey, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores and Maureen Reagan (daughter of former President Reagan).

“You can’t have much more change than in Torrance and the beach cities,” said Tom Martin, an aide to Sen. Beverly. “After the election, they’ll be represented by freshmen in both the Assembly and the Congress.”

And besides the face-off between Elder and Floyd--in the newly created 55th Assembly District--there is potentially another clash of South Bay Assembly incumbents. Tucker, the Inglewood Democrat, is so far sticking to his plan to run this year in the new 25th Senate District despite pressure from Democratic power brokers to back off.

The district, which in the South Bay includes Gardena, Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale and Lennox, is also claimed by Assemblywoman Teresa Hughes (D-Los Angeles). Hughes has the backing of Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, the Legislature’s black caucus, and the West Los Angeles political organization of Democratic Reps. Howard L. Berman and Henry A. Waxman.

Tucker says Hughes’ supporters are urging him to run for reelection to the Assembly so Democratic resources aren’t squandered in a primary fight. But so far, he says, he plans to compete.

“This is all under negotiation,” Tucker last week. “But I have not been convinced yet that I should defer.”

Whether this year will mark the beginning of a new age of interesting legislative races is open to debate.

Some analysts, such as Heslop, believe that it will. One reason is that the state’s new districts appear less skewed toward one party or the other, leaving more opportunity for competition in general elections, he says.

And Proposition 140 will ensure plenty of chances for new candidates to come forward for Assembly or state Senate, he says.

The measure requires current Assembly members to surrender their seats in 1996 and current state senators to bow out in 1996 or 1998, depending on when they last faced election. Assembly members are limited to three two-year terms, and state senators and statewide elected officials to two four-year terms.

“The political system has been in trouble because people stay away from a game when they think it is rigged,” Heslop said. “Increased competition will improve the sense of integrity in the system.”

Others do not see enough change in party registration gaps to ensure closer general elections. In the South Bay, as elsewhere, the majority of races will be won or lost in the primaries, they say.

And as does Tucker, some argue that the turnover prompted by Proposition 140 could erode the quality of candidates, giving voters less reason than ever to go to the polls.

“I can’t imagine someone with a viable business trying to go to Sacramento to serve in the Assembly if they know it’s probably only going to be for six years,” Torrance Mayor Katy Geissert said. “With term limits, you’d be required to get a six-year furlough.”