Overhaul of State Congressional Delegation Begins : Election: Late returns showed as many as 17 women candidates winning or leading. Reapportionment and newly created seats will send at least 15 political newcomers to Washington.

Given a chance to voice their anti-incumbent sentiment, California voters Tuesday took the first step toward overhauling the state’s congressional delegation by nominating dozens of new faces to run in the fall election.

A total of at least 30 Republican and Democratic newcomers were chosen to represent the two major parties in November and compete for 15 open seats in California. The openings were created by eight vacancies and seven new seats the state gained because of rapid population growth during the 1980s, giving California 12% of the 435-member House.

In all, more than 360 candidates battled for shots at filling a record 52 House seats in Congress.

Reapportionment left several incumbents, who were saddled with drastically altered districts, bracing for potential upsets Tuesday during a primary election in which dozens of women candidates ran as outsiders.

Late returns showed as many as 17 women candidates winning or leading their primary races.

Among the women who appeared to be coasting to victory were three Democrats: Assemblywoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, daughter of retiring Rep. Edward R. Roybal (D-Los Angeles); Patricia Garamendi, wife of state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, and San Diego Port Commissioner Lynn Schenk.

Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) was locked in a neck-and-neck battle with Republican millionaire Michael Huffington in the 22nd District, including 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.”

Several Los Angeles-area incumbents who were unopposed and will be on the November ballot are Republican David Dreier and Democrats Anthony C. Beilenson, Julian C. Dixon, Howard L. Berman and Esteban E. Torres. Those who faced little opposition and were leading comfortably were Republican Carlos Moorhead and Democrats Matthew G. Martinez, Maxine Waters and Henry A. Waxman.

Among the women on the ballot Tuesday were some famous surnames in California politics--Reagan, Unruh and Dymally. By late evening Tuesday, none of these races had been decided.

The redrawn lines are expected to bring Republicans substantial gains in this volatile political year, as well as an opportunity to seize a majority of seats for the first time since 1956. Republicans now trail Democrats 26-19 in the California House delegation.

The minimum 15 new California lawmakers who will be sent to Washington next year will exceed the entire congressional delegations of 42 states.

In a primary race that drew considerable national attention, Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) was leading retired Superior Court Judge Judith Ryan. Dornan said Tuesday in an interview on KNBC-TV that abortion rights will be the litmus test in his race against his pro-choice challenger. Dornan said that “every lesbian spear chucker in this country is hoping I get defeated. Every abortionist doctor in this nation is hoping I get defeated.”

The once-in-a-decade redrawing of district lines, together with the House banking scandal, an assortment of controversial perks, the widely held belief that Congress is deadlocked in partisan politics and the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots have all made this political year highly unpredictable.

Reapportionment brought California seven new seats for a total of 52--the largest state delegation in the history of Congress. Some of the most competitive races were expected in the eight districts vacated by retiring incumbents and the seven districts added by reapportionment.

At least three Southern California incumbents were seen as vulnerable in Tuesday’s primary.

In Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, longtime Republican Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino was embroiled in the toughest fight of his political career against millionaire Michael Huffington.

Huffington billed himself as a new generation Republican who should replace a tired career politician. He spent nearly $2.2 million of his own money to unseat Lagomarsino in the 22nd Congressional District race, making the contest among the most expensive primaries in the nation.

Lagomarsino fought back with sharp accusations that Huffington is a carpetbagger who was trying to buy a seat in Congress.

“Two million dollars can buy a lot,” said Lagomarsino, 65, who was listed as spending about $411,000 on the race. “This district is not for sale.”

Rep. Matthew G. Martinez (D-Monterey Park) has been strongly challenged but never beaten in winning five terms in Congress. This year he faced another tough opponent, but not the slashing personal attacks that have marked past challenges.

In a campaign for the 31st District seat that ended in unwavering restraint, Bonifacio B. Garcia, 35, a San Gabriel attorney, criticized Martinez for 19 overdrafts on the House bank and for missing 19% of the House votes last year. But Garcia studiously avoided repeating past characterizations of Martinez as incompetent.

In the battle for northwest Orange County’s 45th Congressional District, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher waged a tough primary fight with Peter Buffa, a Costa Mesa councilman, and Peter Green, a Huntington Beach councilman.

The challengers battered the two-term incumbent for eight overdrafts on the House bank, suggested that he misused congressional mailing privileges and declared Rohrabacher a carpetbagger because, until recently, he had not been registered to vote in Orange County. His district before reapportionment was based in Long Beach.

For the first time in his 14-year political career, Dornan was challenged for reelection by a fellow Republican. The national tidal wave of support for Ryan caught the veteran conservative incumbent by surprise. With help from some of the nation’s most powerful supporters of women’s issues and abortion rights, Ryan launched a major challenge.

Dornan countered with a series of letters portraying Ryan as a single-issue candidate and a puppet of the political left. He also labeled Ryan a carpetbagger because she declined to move her residence into the 46th Congressional District.

The presence of so many women running for House seats as Republicans and Democrats only served to heighten anxiety among incumbents.

“I think both parties have seen that polls show women at the moment have a bonus of 5% to 10% unaided, regardless of background,” said Rep. Vic Fazio (D-West Sacramento), head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “People tend to see women as incorruptible, more so than men.”

In one of the state’s most closely watched primary races, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores grappled with two political scions--Maureen Reagan and Bill Beverly--for the Republican nomination in the new 36th Congressional District.

Reagan, daughter of former President Ronald Reagan, and Beverly, son of state Sen. Robert Beverly (R-Manhattan Beach), are considered moderates among the 11 GOP candidates in the district, which follows the coast from San Pedro to Venice. Unlike Flores, Beverly and Reagan favor abortion rights.

One candidate on the Democratic side was Ada Unruh, the daughter-in-law of Jesse Unruh, the late state treasurer and Assembly Speaker who ran against Ronald Reagan for governor in 1970.

In a neighboring district, Lynn Dymally was seeking the Democratic nomination to succeed her father, Rep. Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton), a former state senator and lieutenant governor who is retiring.

The 33rd Congressional District seems tailored for a Latino such as Roybal-Allard, 49, who has been in the Assembly for five years. The district, which runs southeast from the Los Angeles Civic Center to blue-collar communities of South Gate, Bell Gardens and Huntington Park, has the highest concentration of Latinos--84%--of any other in the United States. Democrats also hold a 66%-22% edge among registered voters.

Contributing to this story were: Eric Bailey, Lilia Beebe, Malaika Brown, Jack Cheevers, Tina Daunt, Gordon Dillow, Bob Elston, Paul Feldman, George Frank, Tina Griego, Barry Horstman, Roxana Kopetman, Greg Krikorian, Kristina Lindgren, Patrick McDonnell, Helaine Olen, Mary Anne Perez, Jim Quinn, George Ramos, Ron Soble, Mike Ward.