Elections ’92 : Gallegly, Perez Ferguson Win Primaries : Congress: Tom McClintock takes lead in 24th District. Robert J. Lagomarsino is in a tight match in the new 22nd.

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) won a resounding Republican primary victory Tuesday night in Ventura County’s 23rd Congressional District, while Anita Perez Ferguson emerged as his Democratic opponent in the fall by easily defeating challenger Kevin Sweeney.

Gallegly’s victory came as longtime Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) found himself locked in the toughest fight of his political career with multimillionaire challenger Michael R. Huffington in the newly created 22rd Congressional District.

Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) was on his way to victory in the 24th Congressional District’s Republican primary over his closest challenger, Sang Korman.

“I’m prepared to declare victory,” Gallegly told cheering campaign workers at his campaign office in Ventura.

Gallegly’s strongest challenger, Daphne Becker, said she “would wish him well, but I wouldn’t support him” in the general election in November. “He’s going to be a better candidate because of this primary race.”

In a primary election that saw a 45% percent turnout as expected, Perez Ferguson sensed victory a few hours after the polls closed and looked ahead to a tough race against Gallegly.

“I knew it was going to be a win,” she said. “I could tell from the personal voter contact we were getting. You begin to see a pattern.”

Sweeney conceded late in the night. “I would rather lose with people like you than win with anybody else,” he told campaign workers at his Ventura headquarters. “If Anita’s the nominee, I’ll do everything to help her.”

“I’m ecstatic,” Huffington said of the early returns as he seesawed back and forth with Lagomarsino in returns from Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

Lagomarsino called the race “by far the toughest primary election I’ve ever had, no question about that. We are cautiously optimistic; I think we are going to win.”

Both Perez Ferguson, 43, of Oxnard, an education consultant, and Sweeney, 33, of Ventura, an environmentalist, conducted a lively campaign in a district that includes Carpinteria and all of Ventura County except Thousand Oaks.

Perez Ferguson underscored that she was brought up as a second-generation Mexican-American in East Los Angeles, raising herself by her own bootstraps to earn two graduate degrees.

Perez Ferguson drew widespread support from women’s groups, including the National Women’s Political Caucus of Washington, of which she is a senior official. She ran unsuccessfully for the House two years ago.

Sweeney’s campaign focused on heavy targeting of the county’s absentee voters, who this year cast ballots in record numbers.

Before the campaign, Sweeney, former press secretary for ex-U.S. Sen. Gary Hart, had served as chief spokesman for the politically active outdoor clothing firm Patagonia Inc., which played a pivotal role in several recent local elections.

Sweeney’s pervasive theme in his own campaign was that no matter the political cost, he would always be candid with the electorate. “We may not always agree, but I’ll always speak the truth as I see it,” he said in a mailer, a message he repeated often at debates.

Both candidates supported a woman’s choice to have an abortion, in contrast to the position of Gallegly, who opposes abortion except in instances of rape or when a woman’s life is threatened.

To the dismay of many Democrats, Perez Ferguson and Sweeney turned on each other. She branded Sweeney a slick political consultant and opportunist. Sweeney filed charges against her with national election officials alleging she failed to repay a questionable contribution from her 1990 campaign.

In the 23rd Congressional District, Gallegly, 48, former Simi Valley mayor, emphasized more than two decades of residency in Ventura County and solid support by law enforcement officials.

Surprising Gallegly was the aggressive campaign mounted by political newcomer Becker, 50, of Ojai, who used $100,000 of her own money to wage a multimedia blitz. The feisty businesswoman portrayed Gallegly in a television ad as a hog feeding at the public trough. She emphasized her pro-abortion rights position in mailers.

The newly created 24th Congressional District had no incumbents, but it did have a widely known lawmaker running for the new seat--eight-termer Beilenson, 59, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Nine Republicans were vying to oppose Beilenson for the district seat, which represents a district extending from Sherman Oaks through the south and west San Fernando Valley to Malibu, and which also includes Thousand Oaks in Ventura County.

McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), 35, a conservative, had the name-recognition advantage of being a longtime officeholder. But he was concerned about the spending of his wealthy opponent, businessman Korman, 54, of Calabasas.

Few races in the country saw as much campaign spending as in the new 22nd Congressional District.

Huffington, 44, a wealthy newcomer from Texas, spent more than $2 million of his personal fortune in an effort to win a House seat. He put together a team that projected his image as a new generation Republican ready to replace a tired veteran.

His opponent, Lagomarsino, 65, has been a member of the House since 1974 and was considered an institution among constituents in his old district, which covered much of Ventura County. Lagomarsino, a lifelong resident of Ventura County, decided to avoid a primary battle with his protege, Gallegly, after being urged by Gov. Pete Wilson and White House strategists to run in the new district. The decision led to the veteran congressman’s toughest campaign fight.

Lagomarsino’s campaign centered on charges that Huffington was a carpetbagger who was attempting to buy a House seat.