Diverse Group of Women Vying for House

They come from all walks of life--a geographer, a Harvard-educated lawyer, a nurse, a teacher and a single parent.

One is a 70-year-old, semi-retired accountant and another is a rancher who raised six children.

Some have never served in public office while others are entrenched politicians. Joan Milke Flores worked her way up from stenographer to Los Angeles City Council member. Lucille Roybal-Allard, the daughter of a prominent Los Angeles lawmaker, grew up with a disdain for politics before she became a California assemblywoman.

In what is being called the “Year of the Woman,” they share one trait--their gender--that could help catapult at least half a dozen female candidates from California into the halls of Congress. In all, 16 women newcomers--believed to be a record--were chosen by Democratic and Republican primary voters last week to run for the House in the November election.

Now, they are turning their attention to the fall campaign and seeking to mold a winning agenda. Most are Democrats, favor abortion rights and aggressively advocate such causes as increased funding for child care and equal pay for women.

“These are not their (men’s) issues--reproductive rights, economic parity, child care,” said Petaluma City Councilwoman Lynn Woolsey, 54, who captured the Democratic nomination in the 6th Congressional District in Sonoma and Marin counties. “We will lead on these issues. These guys might vote right, they just don’t lead.”

In their quest to storm Capitol Hill, however, many women nominees face tall odds.

All but two of the 16 women newcomers are Democrats, but among them only Roybal-Allard and Patti Garamendi are considered strong favorites. The others face many obstacles in knocking off Republican incumbents with considerable campaign war chests and comfortable districts. Both Republican women are paired in the fall against women Democrats.

“It remains to be seen whether what we find in June holds in November as well,” said Bruce Cain, associate director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley. “The issues have a way of turning toward the economy and crime. Those are issues (in) which women have no particular advantage, and are at a disadvantage in the minds of some voters.”

No matter the odds, many women candidates are confident that they will mount effective campaigns.

Take Democrat Gloria Ochoa. Matched against Republican Michael Huffington, 44, who spent more than $2.7 million of his own money to unseat Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino, Ochoa would seem to have little chance in the Republican-leaning 22nd District covering Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

But Ochoa, 46, believes her gender and ethnicity will be important assets against Huffington. Born in Manila, Ochoa moved to the United States when she was 18 and earned chemistry and law degrees at UC Davis. She became a practicing attorney in 1976 and the state’s highest-ranking elected official of Filipino descent in 1988 when she won a seat on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. Ochoa, who emphasized abortion rights and health issues during the primary, recently divorced her second husband, a Santa Barbara judge, and is raising their two teen-age sons.

“The fact that I’m a woman and minority is a plus to the campaign,” Ochoa said. “We are not wedded to the established way of solving problems. We look for creative solutions. . . . It’s the time women will show that the old boys’ network has not provided us with solutions to better the quality of life for most of America.”

In San Diego, 70-year-old accountant Bea Herbert said that being a woman helped her top a five-candidate Democratic field. She hopes her gender will give her at least an outside chance of beating 50-year-old Rep. Randall (Duke) Cunningham (R-Chula Vista) in the 51st District, which has a 53%-30% GOP registration edge.

“When I started, I thought my age would be against me,” Herbert said of her primary win. “. . . But it was nice when it happened. I had never run before. I had no money for polling. I had no idea what would happen when people walked into the polling box.”

Herbert, who says her profession has given her insight into the inequities of tax laws, suggests that Cunningham’s opposition to abortion and a backlash over his move from his southern San Diego district into the 51st could help her this fall.

“I know the numbers are against us,” Herbert said. “But this isn’t a normal year.”

She is one of five women Democrats who face incumbents with considerable fund-raising abilities in GOP-leaning districts. As of May 13, Herbert and Democrat Georgia Smith, 56, a Riverside geographer, had not filed campaign reports with the Federal Election Commission, indicating that their expenditures and receipts were less than $5,000.

Democrat Anita Perez Ferguson had only $15,943 compared to $348,387 in the campaign vault of Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), 48, her opponent in the 23rd District. But Perez Ferguson, 43, who has considerable political connections, poses a threat. She is a first vice president of the National Women’s Political Caucus in Washington, which produced dozens of volunteers for her campaign. She also has the backing of feminist groups such as the National Organization for Women and EMILY’s List, a national fund-raising group for women candidates.

Perez Ferguson, a Latina who grew up in East Los Angeles, said that she wants to represent the concerns of women and working people, “the voices that have not been heard, those of us who have been sent to the back of the room.”

Former teacher Patricia Malberg, who ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination in the 4th District, trailed Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Rockland), 41, in available campaign funds $68,284 to $15,082 as of mid-May. After nearly upsetting Doolittle two years ago, Malberg, 51, will try again in the fall. She received 59,000 votes in the primary; Doolittle garnered 55,300 against a little-known foe.

Regardless of how Democratic women fare in races against Republican incumbents, they have a good chance to send six women to Washington in the fall--twice the number now in the California delegation.

Two incumbents--Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco)--won their primaries handily and are expected to return to Washington. The third woman incumbent, Rep. Barbara Boxer (D-Greenbrae), is running for the Senate.

Two other women nominees are considered heavy favorites.

Back in February, the prospects seemed good that Assemblywoman Roybal-Allard, 50, would join her father, longtime Rep. Edward R. Roybal of Los Angeles, in the House as the first father-daughter duo in Congress. But the veteran lawmaker announced his retirement in February, citing his wife’s health.

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

Patti Garamendi, 48, running in the 11th Congressional District in Sacramento and San Joaquin counties, operates a ranching business with her husband, Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi. She easily won the Democratic nomination with 64% of the vote and is expected to defeat first-term Tracy City Councilman Richard Pombo in November.

Women appear certain to win two other races where they are the nominees of each major party.

In the 36th District in southern Los Angeles County coastal communities, the matchup between Councilwoman Milke Flores, 56, a conservative Republican, and Harvard-educated lawyer Jane Harman, 46, a mainstream Democrat, presents voters with a clear-cut choice. Flores opposes abortion rights while Harman, whose motto is “Pro-Choice, Pro-Change,” supports abortion rights.

Further south, the battle between Democrat Lynn Schenk, 47, and Republican Judy Jarvis, 41, all but ensures that San Diego County will send its first woman to Congress next year. Although Republicans hold a significant 44%-39% edge among registered voters in the newly drawn 49th District, Schenk has considerable name recognition and fund-raising advantages over Jarvis, a nurse who is a political novice.

Jarvis’ victory in the 10-candidate Republican primary was a major upset. She was outspent by as much as 5 to 1 by other candidates and raised only about $50,000.

“I was campaigning on change, and as women we embody the change people want to see in politics,” she said.

Contributing to this story were Times staff writers Eric Bailey, Tina Daunt, Paul Feldman, George Hatch, Barry Horstman, Dan Morain and Ron Soble.