Elections ’92 : 25TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT : GOP Candidate Sells House, Counting on Move to Capital

Howard P. (Buck) McKeon, who narrowly won the Republican primary for a new congressional seat in northern Los Angeles County, is so confident that he will win the fall election that he has already sold his Canyon Country house in preparation for the move to Washington.

“It’s just meant to be,” said McKeon, a wealthy clothing retailer and chairman of a Santa Clarita Valley bank. “Aside from working very hard, we’ve prayed hard and we’re pretty confident we’ll win.”

McKeon, a former Santa Clarita councilman, defeated Assemblyman Phillip Wyman (R-Tehachapi) by 699 votes. McKeon won 22,256 votes, or 39.5%, contrasted with Wyman’s 21,557 votes, or 38.26%.

In November, McKeon, 53, will face Democrat James Gilmartin, 59, a Saugus attorney who ran unopposed for the party’s nomination in the 25th Congressional District. The district is one of seven new congressional seats created by the state Supreme Court to reflect population increases as measured by the U.S. Census Bureau.

McKeon, a conservative Republican, is expected to win because Republicans outnumber Democrats 53% to 37% in the district, which encompasses the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys and portions of the northern San Fernando Valley, including Chatsworth, Northridge and Granada Hills.

However, Gilmartin has poured $100,000 of his own money into the race and may emerge as a serious contender.

McKeon, who loaned his primary campaign $170,000, said he is so certain of defeating Gilmartin that he sold his five-bedroom house in Placerita Canyon for $850,000.

“We’ll buy another, smaller place, but we’ll be in Washington nine months of the year, and it would have been too expensive to keep up,” said McKeon, adding that he is looking forward to getting on the Small Business Committee in Congress and fighting for a cut in the capital gains tax.

In the hard-fought race against ultraconservative Wyman (R-Tehachapi) and four other Republican candidates, McKeon said he spent about $310,000, about $85,000 more than Wyman. McKeon captured the absentee ballots--589 more than Wyman--a key factor in a race won by only 699 votes.

McKeon also took the all-important San Fernando Valley, where none of the candidates had a base of support, winning 84 of 93 precincts. Although Wyman won the most votes in the Antelope Valley, parts of which he has represented for years in the Assembly, McKeon did well in the Santa Clarita Valley, where he served as the city of Santa Clarita’s first mayor.

“People wanted a change,” McKeon said Wednesday. “It’s hard to overcome incumbency.”

Wyman said his chances were also hurt by former Rep. John H. Rousselot, another archconservative. Rousselot, who entered the race late and spent only about $80,000, came in fourth with 4,078 votes, or about 7%, that might have otherwise gone to Wyman.

Rousselot is a former member of the John Birch Society, and Wyman has backed right-wing causes such as a failed Assembly resolution claiming that the World War II internment of Japanese-Americans was justified.

“There’s no doubt that Rousselot fed from the same wing of the party that I do,” Wyman said.

History teacher Larry Logsdon of Palmdale was third with 4,213 votes, or 7.47%. Former Los Angeles County Assessor John Lynch came in fifth with 3,101 votes or 5.5%. Tom McVarish of Granada Hills won 1,126 votes, or about 2%.

Gilmartin received 26,131 votes, or 100% of the Democratic vote.

About 33% cast ballots, compared with about 45% countywide.