Women Show Strength in Congressional Races : House: Primary victories launch 16 new candidates toward a makeover of California’s delegation.

Following the trail blazed by Democratic Senate nominees Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, 16 new women candidates running for the House took a quantum leap in their quest to shake up Congress by capturing victories in the California primaries.

The state’s congressional delegation will undergo a major overhaul in the November election with eight members retiring and contests for seven new seats. Women did so well in Tuesday’s primary that female candidates will be pitted against one another in the fall in two Southern California races.

Although only one incumbent--Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura)--was knocked off in Tuesday’s primary, several longtime House members expect to face serious challenges from women and other “outsiders” seeking to tap the electorate’s growing anti-Washington mood.

All but two of the 16 new women candidates nominated by major parties are Democrats looking to upset Republicans, a factor that may put a dent in the GOP’s plans to seize a majority of the California delegation for the first time since 1956. Republicans trail Democrats 26 to 19 in the House.

“These are women who have credibility, have done well and have continued their ascent up the political ladder,” said Rep. Vic Fazio (D-West Sacramento), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “These people are not accidents and have not been coat-tailed in by anyone else. They deserve to be there. I think women generally have been reassuring to voters who are unhappy with incumbency and the dominance of insiders.”

USC political science professor H. Eric Schockman said: “We’ve seen the breaking of the glass ceiling in elections for women in California.”

The state’s congressional delegation includes three women--Boxer, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles). Pelosi and Waters won their primaries convincingly. With as many as eight of the new women candidates seen as having good chances at winning in the fall, the number of California women in the House could triple.

Women are guaranteed at least two new faces in the House next year with Democratic attorney Jane Harman running against Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores in the 36th District, and San Diego Port Commissioner Lynn Schenk opposing businesswoman Judy Jarvis in the 49th District.

Milke Flores narrowly edged Maureen Reagan, the daughter of the former President, and Harman dealt a decisive defeat to Ada Unruh, the daughter of the late Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh. The tough general election fight for the GOP-leaning district’s open seat matches Flores, a conservative Republican who opposes abortion rights, and the well-financed Harman, whose motto is “Pro-Choice, Pro-Change.”

Also, Assemblywoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, daughter of retiring Rep. Edward R. Roybal (D-Los Angeles), is a clear favorite to win the 33rd District, the most heavily Latino district in the nation, against Republican Robert Guzman.

Other drastic changes are looming as well.

Once-in-a-decade reapportionment brought California seven new seats for a total of 52, giving the state the largest delegation in the history of Congress. In addition, eight vacancies were created by retirement, resulting in 15 districts being open to newcomers. The defeat of Lagomarsino creates a 16th seat without an incumbent.

The rising anti-incumbent mood, the product of the House bank scandal, abuses of controversial perks and a stalemated Congress, poses serious threats to a number of veteran lawmakers.

As an example, former Assemblyman Charles Bader of Pomona, who once represented much of the 41st Congressional District as a state legislator, was considered a strong favorite over six other rivals for the Republican nomination. But in losing to Diamond Bar Mayor Jay Kim, Bader acknowledged that his years in political office hurt him.

“The voters were looking for a change and my opponents were able to tag me with incumbency,” he said. “The overriding issue was incumbency.”

The first California House member ousted this year was longtime Republican Lagomarsino, a Ventura County institution who lost to millionaire Michael R. Huffington in the 22nd District, which covers Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

“It’s time for a change and time for to heal the Republican Party,” said millionaire Huffington, who spent about $2 million of his own money to win the primary.

Another veteran House member who faces a battle is Rep. George E. Brown Jr. (D-Colton), who was unopposed in Tuesday’s primary but must face surprise challenger Dick Rutan, an inventor and former Air Force pilot.

Rutan, 53, best known for flying an aircraft called Voyager around the world without refueling in 1986, has never held elective office. He handily defeated his chief opponent, San Bernardino County Supervisor Bob Hammock, who had been considered the front-runner because of his name recognition as a longtime county lawmaker. Again, the prevailing sentiment against officeholders appeared to hurt Hammock.

“When I went door to door, I found a very strong anti-incumbent feeling, almost without exception,” Rutan said. The political neophyte will now endeavor to put that sentiment to work anew in the race against Brown, the liberal standard-bearer who was first elected to represent the district almost three decades ago. Brown’s woes are compounded by legislative remapping that produced a less friendly district for Democrats.

Other incumbents survived scares in Tuesday’s primary.

In Orange County, women’s organizations and abortion rights groups poured big money into retired Superior Court Judge Judith M. Ryan’s long-shot bid to upset Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove). But Dornan prevailed by a healthy margin, capturing 60% of the vote.

Besides Ryan, women who ran strong campaigns but suffered primary defeats were Los Angeles Unified School District board member Leticia Quezada and Lynn Dymally, daughter of retiring Rep. Mervyn M. Dymally (D-Compton).

The fact that Rep. Matthew G. Martinez (D-Monterey Park) had 19 overdrafts on the House bank, missed 19% of the votes in Congress last year and had a reputation as a political lightweight did not prevent him from gaining an easy victory over Harvard-trained lawyer Bonifacio Garcia.

Martinez is one of several incumbents who are heavily favored in the fall. A number of House members, however, face upstart women candidates and are anticipating tough challenges.

With strong endorsement from their party’s voters, Republican incumbent Elton Gallegly of Simi Valley and Democratic challenger Anita Perez Ferguson of Oxnard are prepared for a tough general election campaign in the 23rd District, which covers most of Ventura County.

Three-term incumbent Gallegly, 48, received more than 63% of the Republican vote in the district, which includes Carpinteria and all of Ventura County except Thousand Oaks. Perez Ferguson, 43, an education consultant, soundly defeated challenger Kevin Sweeney, 33, of Ventura, an environmentalist, receiving more than 62% of the Democratic vote.

Perez Ferguson sees herself gaining momentum from the public’s anti-incumbent fervor and the big victories recorded by women candidates such as Feinstein and Boxer. In addition, she strongly supports abortion rights, whereas Gallegly opposes abortion except when a woman’s life is threatened or in instances of rape.

Women ran strongly in several Northern California congressional primaries, capturing Democratic nominations in districts that take in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, Sonoma and Marin counties, San Joaquin and Sacramento counties, and Mother Lode counties.

“Together, we are going to make a great difference,” said Petaluma City Councilwoman Lynn Woolsey, who captured the Democratic nomination in the 6th District in Sonoma and Marin counties for the seat vacated by Boxer.

But Woolsey, like many of the other women nominees, is headed for a tough fight: her opponent is well-heeled veteran Assemblyman Robert Filante (R-Greenbrae).

In the 11th Congressional District, in Sacramento and San Joaquin counties, Patti Garamendi, who operates a ranching business with her husband, state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, easily won the Democratic nomination with 64% of the vote.

Garamendi portrayed her opponent, first-term Tracy City Councilman Richard Pombo, as an “extreme right-wing” candidate, and said the women candidates’ stand in favor of abortion rights “may be the biggest issue for all of us.”

Patricia Malberg, a teacher who ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination, will face Rep. John Doolittle, who defeated a little-known foe in the Republican primary. Malberg nearly upset Doolittle two years ago, losing by a 51%-49% margin.

In the 14th District race for the seat left vacant when Rep. Tom Campbell (R-Palo Alto) ran for the Senate, San Mateo County Supervisor Anna Eshoo outdistanced Assemblyman Ted Lempert (D-San Mateo), her nearest rival in the Democratic primary, by a 40%-36% margin.

“We represent change and that is, more than anything else, what has swept the district and the state,” Eshoo said. “California again is at the cutting edge of change. This sends a great signal for the rest of the country.”

Women Winners

In the California congressional primary election, 16 new women candidates won and will compete in November for House seats:

Name Party District * Patricia Malberg Dem. CD4 * Lynn Woolsey Dem. CD6 * Patricia Garamendi Dem. CD11 * Anna Eshoo Dem. CD14 * Gloria Ochoa Dem. CD22 * Anita Perez Ferguson Dem. CD23 * Lucille Roybal-Allard Dem. CD33 * Jane Harman Dem. CD36 * Joan Milke Flores GOP CD36 * Molly McClanahan Dem. CD40 * Georgia Smith Dem. CD44 * Patricia McCabe Dem. CD45 * Lynn Schenk Dem. CD49 * Judy Jarvis GOP CD 49 * Bea Herbert Dem. CD51 * Janet M. Gastil Dem. CD 52