ELECTIONS : Councilwomen to Seek Higher Office : Carson: Vera Robles DeWitt will run for Congress in the 37th District, and Juanita McDonald has taken out papers for the 55th Assembly District.

Carson Councilwoman Vera Robles DeWitt announced Wednesday that she will run for Congress in the newly drawn 37th Congressional District.

She is expected to face at least two other Democrats in the June 2 primary--Compton Mayor Walter R. Tucker III, whose father also served as Compton mayor, and Compton school board member Lynn Dymally, daughter of Rep. Mervyn M. Dymally (D-Compton), who is retiring after long service in the 31st Congressional District.

The filing deadline for the June primary is March 6.

“The decision to run for Congress was not an easy one,” DeWitt said in a written statement announcing her decision. “I have spent more than nine years serving the people of Carson, and I have a special attachment to their needs and concerns.”

DeWitt, whose name will still appear on the ballot for the April city elections, becomes the second Carson official to seek higher office. Councilwoman Juanita McDonald has taken out nominating papers to run for the state Assembly’s newly drawn 55th District, where she is expected to face at least two other Democrats.

But unlike DeWitt, McDonald is not up for reelection in Carson. McDonald was out of town Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

Besides McDonald, the 55th Assembly race is expected to include Assembly incumbents Dave Elder (D-San Pedro) and Richard Floyd (D-Carson), Libertarian Shannon Anderson and Republican Emily Hart-Holifield.

DeWitt, a Latina, said in an interview that she is focusing her attention on the congressional campaign, noting that the demographic makeup of the new heavily Democratic district opened the door for her to seek higher office. The district is 45% Latino and 34% African-American.

“I have been an elected official of a city that is very diverse,” DeWitt said, noting that African-Americans, Anglos, Asians and Latinos each constitute about 25% of Carson’s population.

“When I made the decision to run for the congressional seat, it was because I was approached by a number of citizens representing Lynwood, Compton, Carson and even parts of Long Beach who are dissatisfied with the kind of leadership that’s been available,” she said.

Lynn Dymally, 33, an African-American, called DeWitt a “non-candidate,” contending that DeWitt is unknown to many voters and noting that while the district is 45% Latino, only 9% of of the registered voters are Latino.

“If Ms. DeWitt thinks the strength of her campaign is the Latino base, she’s wrong. No one has been more supportive of Latino issues than I have,” she said, adding that she has been an ardent supporter of bilingual education in Compton schools, among other issues.

Tucker, 34, an African-American, said a candidate in the district “would fare better with an inclusionary agenda.”

“I have spoken to some people in the Latino community and apparently they have their own agenda,” Tucker said. “As I hear that agenda, it appears to be one that is centrally focused on rights for Latinos. I don’t hear about African-Americans, Asians or other races.”

Tucker said DeWitt is also largely unknown to residents outside of Carson and Wilmington and “the jury is still out in her own back yard on how people would rate her performance as a council member.”

DeWitt countered that residents are “tired of the machine politics” in Compton and insisted she could appeal to voters of all ethnic groups in her congressional bid.

“We don’t run by ethnicity, we run by qualifications,” DeWitt said. “Both (Tucker and Dymally) are relying on family name and have very little experience. I’m not running on my dad’s name. I’m running on my qualifications.”

DeWitt, 43, was first elected to the Carson City Council in 1981 when she won a special election for a vacant seat. She subsequently won two full terms, forming part of a council coalition that then shifted political control of the city to Carson’s south end. She served as mayor in 1990.

Carson Mayor Michael I. Mitoma, a longtime rival of DeWitt, said her decision to drop out of the local race throws the municipal election wide open.

Such a prospect, he said, is “something I’m totally in favor of. It gives a chance for new blood to go on the council. Hopefully, it won’t be the same business as usual.”

If elected to Congress, DeWitt said she would work to protect existing jobs, create new jobs and programs to retrain displaced workers, and push for a comprehensive national health care program. On the local level, she said, she would lobby for federal funding to build a flood control channel and provide flood zone insurance.

Besides DeWitt, Dymally and Tucker, others who have filed nomination papers for the 37th Congressional District include John Honigsfeld, a a math teacher, with the Peace and Freedom Party, Libertarian Jack Tyler, a refrigeration technician, and Democrat Joe Mendez Jr., who described himself as a representative trustee.