The Senate Candidates

California voters will elect two U.S. senators in 1992 for the first time in the state’s history and neither contest will have an elected incumbent in the race.

One campaign is for a regular six-year term in the seat now held by Democrat Alan Cranston, first elected in 1968 and now retiring. The other race is for the final two years of the six-year term won in 1988 by Republican Pete Wilson. Wilson resigned from the Senate in January, 1991, to be inaugurated as governor and appointed John Seymour to fill the vacancy until the next general election.

Friday was the deadline for filing to be on the June 2 primary ballot. Here are the major Republican and Democratic candidates: DEMOCRATS Two-year seat GRAY DAVIS: State Controller Davis, 50, of Los Angeles, has been angling for the two-year Senate seat since early 1991. He announced late, but is expected to field a strong campaign. Davis was gubernatorial chief of staff, served in the state Assembly and then won two consecutive terms as controller. DIANNE FEINSTEIN: After winning a sharply contested primary for governor in 1990, and seeing it hurt her in her fall campaign, Feinstein, 58, announced early for the two-year seat in hopes of waltzing through the primary unopposed. Those hopes were shattered by Davis’ entry in the race. Feinstein, the former mayor of San Francisco, is counting on strong support from women’s groups. REPUBLICANS Two-year seat BILL ALLEN: Allen, 47, was born within a few miles of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and the two up-by-the-bootstrap blacks from the Deep South have gravitated toward similarly conservative views. While Thomas went into law, Allen became a professor of government at the Claremont Graduate School. The underfinanced Allen says he is the only Republican who can beat Dianne Feinstein. WILLIAM E. DANNEMEYER: Dannemeyer, 62, from Fullerton, has represented portions of Orange County in the U.S. House since 1978. One of the most conservative members of Congress, he is dismissed by many critics as being too far to the right to have much chance of winning a statewide race. But Dannemeyer, a former state legislator as both a Democrat and a Republican, has moderated his tone, though he is unlikely to have enough money to match Seymour. JOHN SEYMOUR: Seymour, 54, was the Anaheim mayor who helped lure the Los Angeles Rams to Orange County and went on to serve in the state Senate from 1981 until he was picked by Gov. Pete Wilson to fill the vacancy created when Wilson resigned to become governor. Hard-core California conservatives dislike Seymour, in part for switching sides on the abortion issue. Seymour will be well-financed and coached with the help of the Wilson political organization. Six-year seat BARBARA BOXER: Boxer, 51, representing Marin County in the U.S. House since 1983, began running for the Senate seat even before Cranston announced he would retire. Skeptics doubted her chances because of her limited political base in Northern California, but Boxer has shown an ability to raise funds and get attention throughout California. A tried-and-true liberal, she is making a strong pitch for the women’s vote. MEL LEVINE: Levine, 48, of Santa Monica went to Congress in the same 1982 election class as Boxer. With strong roots in the liberal Establishment of Westside Los Angeles, Levine surprised many by supporting George Bush’s war in Kuwait and Iraq. Amassing the biggest bankroll of all Senate candidates while languishing in single digits in the opinion polls, Levine is expected to rely on TV advertising late in the campaign. LEO T. McCARTHY: McCarthy, 61, is one of California’s best-known and best-liked politicians, serving in the Legislature from San Francisco from 1968 to 1982, including half a dozen years as speaker of the Assembly. Going for the Senate again after losing to Wilson in 1988, McCarthy should be well financed and has a familiar and tested campaign team. Six-year seat SONNY BONO: Bono, 57, the former husband and singing partner of Cher, is serving his first term as mayor of Palm Springs after working as a successful restaurant owner. Originally considered a long shot or spoiler in his first try for statewide office, Bono hired a veteran campaign team and has scored respectably in the polls. But his fund raising has been anemic. TOM CAMPBELL: Campbell, 39, was a Stanford Law School economics professor before winning election to the U.S. House from the Stanford area in 1988 in the seat formerly held by Ed Zschau, the 1986 GOP nominee for senator. Campbell, a formidable fund-raiser, calls himself a conservative on fiscal issues and is moderate to liberal on social and environmental matters. BRUCE HERSCHENSOHN: Herschensohn, 59, is a former film producer who became a popular conservative commentator on KABC radio and television in Los Angeles more than a dozen years ago. Herschensohn, who calls Campbell too liberal for the Republican Party, finished a strong second to Zschau in 1988. Now he is better organized and better financed.