Conservative Incumbents Retain Stronghold in O.C.

Despite some well-funded and tenacious challenges from moderate Republicans, Orange County’s conservative incumbents retained control of their state and federal seats Tuesday and survived bitter battles that touched every corner of the county.

The county GOP was braced for the possibility of a major shift in its elected leadership since it faced primaries in nearly every legislative and congressional district, including several challenges from moderate GOP women.

But as the returns came in, Republican voters strongly reaffirmed their support for staunchly conservative representation.

Except for the 67th Assembly District, where three incumbent Republicans were facing off in a tight battle, all of Orange County’s sitting members of the Assembly, state Senate and Congress who were on Tuesday’s ballot won their party’s nomination for the November general election.

“The early vote seems to reflect the true sentiments of the voters,” county GOP Chairman Thomas A. Fuentes said at the party’s victory celebration in Costa Mesa. “The heart of the Republican Party in Orange County is conservative.”

Orange County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, who ran unopposed Tuesday in his second bid for county election, added: “The electorate are simply sending a message here. That message is (that) they want to continue the current leadership.”

The most closely watched race in Orange County was the massive effort by some of the nation’s largest women’s groups and abortion rights supporters to unseat Garden Grove Rep. Robert K. Dornan.

Political newcomer Judith M. Ryan, a former Orange County Superior Court judge, came from obscurity just last March to become a national symbol of the women’s political movement. But despite a grass-roots movement that recruited hundreds of volunteers and spent more than $400,000, the result Tuesday was a lopsided victory for Dornan.

“I’ve proved . . . you don’t have to betray your faith; you don’t have to be gutless,” Dornan said in a speech to supporters. “We’ve held back the forces of darkness. We’ve fended off special interests and single-interest money.”

Three Republican Assembly members handily defended their seats against outside challenges--Gil Ferguson of Newport Beach, Ross Johnson of Brea and Mickey Conroy of Santa Ana. Ferguson, in particular, faced a well-funded challenge from the popular mayor of Costa Mesa, Mary Hornbuckle.

In two open Assembly seats with multi-candidate fields, voters opted for the conservative nominee. In the 68th Assembly District, voters even chose a former incumbent conservative lawmaker--Curt Pringle--over two women candidates serving on city councils.

The county’s closest race Tuesday was the Republican primary in the 67th Assembly District, where three incumbent Assembly members fought to represent a district on the county’s northwest coast.

Cypress Assemblywoman Doris Allen and Tom Mays of Huntington Beach battled for the lead in their primary. Allen’s campaign was boosted by an 11th-hour infusion of more than $100,000 from labor and education groups.

Assemblyman Nolan Frizzelle (R-Huntington Beach), the third incumbent in that race, appeared to be headed out of office.

In the statewide races for U.S. Senate, Orange County Republicans also bucked the California trend by overwhelmingly supporting conservative candidate Bruce Herschensohn over his moderate challenger from the north, Tom Campbell.

Herschensohn led Campbell by more than a 2-to-1 margin in Orange County, although they were in a tight race in statewide returns.

Orange County Republicans also had a special interest in the GOP primary for the short-term U.S. Senate seat where appointed Sen. John Seymour, the former state senator and mayor of Anaheim, was facing Fullerton Rep. William E. Dannemeyer.

Seymour held a lead in Orange County, as he did in statewide returns. But the conservative challenge from Dannemeyer was scoring much better in Orange County than he did elsewhere in the state.

However, in the presidential primary, Orange County voters followed the state in favoring Republican President Bush and Democratic Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton for their parties’ nomination.

For more than a decade, Orange County’s Republican Party has been dominated almost exclusively by conservatives who have vocally opposed abortion rights, gays and taxes.

Tuesday’s races contained the seeds of change.

The Republican Party in California and certainly Orange County has been increasingly fractured in the last few years by battles pitting conservatives against moderates. In Orange County, the tremors turned into open revolt in March when more candidates filed against their own party’s incumbents than at any time in the last decade.

It was especially significant since most of Orange County’s state and federal districts are considered safe Republican territories where an incumbent can usually expect a long tenure. And with such a powerful Republican Party apparatus in Orange County, the possible consequences of disloyalty have been well known to aspiring career politicians.

In the 15 races for state and federal offices representing Orange County, there were 31 non-incumbent GOP candidates. By comparison, there was only one in the 1990 primary.

The campaign fever also spread to the Democrats. Since most of Orange County’s districts are prohibitively Republican, Democrats have had difficulty finding any candidates to run for some seats.