New Districts Promise Hot Local Races : Elections: Redistricting and retirements have made it a new ballgame for many political pros and a few newcomers.

The winds of political change are blowing on the Westside.

Redistricting and retirements have shuffled the deck for the first time in years. This fall, there are open seats and new competitive districts at stake.

Some of the most spirited election battles will be taking place along the coast from Venice to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, where voters in two newly drawn districts will choose a congresswoman and an Assembly member. Many of those same voters will help decide a runoff contest for county supervisor between incumbent Deane Dana and challenger Gordana Swanson.

Other voters along the southern tier of the Westside will join in selecting a new member of the County Board of Supervisors to replace Kenneth Hahn, a political legend who is retiring after 40 years in office.

Elsewhere, Santa Monicans will fill two open City Council seats and determine the fate of two incumbent council members. West Hollywood residents will decide whether to establish their own police force or stay with sheriff’s deputies.

Beyond the bombast of the presidential campaign and the heat of two U.S. Senate races, it will be a spirited political season on the local front.

Change is inevitable for voters in Venice, Marina del Rey, Playa del Rey and Westchester. They will join with South Bay voters to send new lawmakers to Washington and Sacramento.

Although the economy and jobs may take center stage, abortion is a major issue dividing the Democratic and Republican candidates in the congressional and Assembly contests.

Voters in the new 36th Congressional District, which stretches from Venice to San Pedro, will choose between two women with sharply different views on the abortion question.

Republican Joan Milke Flores, a Los Angeles councilwoman, opposes abortion, while Democrat Jane Harman, a corporate attorney, favors abortion rights.

Flores defeated several pro-choice Republican candidates in the June primary, including Maureen Reagan, daughter of former President Reagan.

Democrat Harman hopes to use the abortion issue to capture Republican votes, which is essential if she is to overcome the GOP’s advantage in voter registration and loyalty in past elections.

The approach is the same in the 53rd Assembly District, which stretches from Venice through the South Bay beach cities. Democrat Debra Bowen hopes to capitalize on pro-choice sentiment to defeat Republican Brad Parton, an abortion opponent.

Bowen, a Marina del Rey environmental attorney, is counting on support from national abortion rights groups, while Parton, the mayor of Redondo Beach, has the backing of statewide coalition of Christian fundamentalists strongly opposed to abortion.

In the neighboring 41st Assembly District, Republican candidate Christine Reed is following a different strategy, doing all she can to distance herself from the anti-abortion plank in the GOP’s national platform.

A moderate, pro-choice Republican, Reed is challenging liberal Democratic Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman, also a supporter of abortion rights.

Although Democrats hold a 49% to 40% advantage over Republicans in voter registration in the district, the race could become a high-profile battleground if Reed, a former Santa Monica councilwoman, can raise enough money to reach voters.

The district extends from Santa Monica to Malibu and across the Santa Monica Mountains to encompass the western San Fernando Valley. Much of the Westside part of the district is new to Friedman, who stepped in after Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) decided to run for the state Senate.

A deeper philosophical rift will face voters in the larger 24th Congressional District as Democratic Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson of Los Angeles battles a stiff challenge from Republican Assemblyman Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks.

Forced by redistricting into a less-than-safe district far from his longtime Westside political base, the liberal Beilenson finds himself locked in a race with a staunchly conservative McClintock.

The battleground is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans in registration. Malibu is Beilenson’s last foothold on the Westside. Most of the district’s voters live in the San Fernando Valley from Sherman Oaks west into Ventura County.

Of all Westside congressmen, Beilenson faces the toughest challenge. Democratic Reps. Henry A. Waxman and Julian Dixon of Los Angeles are virtually assured of victory in their new, heavily Democratic districts.

By contrast, the outcome of the race for Los Angeles County Supervisor between state Sen. Diane Watson and former Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke is by no means certain.

Watson and Burke are battling in a runoff for the 2nd District seat, long held by Hahn. The district includes Mar Vista, Culver City, Rancho Park, mid-Wilshire, and Crenshaw on the Westside, as well as Koreatown, South Los Angeles, Inglewood and Compton.

Burke, an attorney and former congresswoman who has been out of office for a dozen years, must overcome the attention that Watson received during and after the riots. The race promises to be hard-fought and expensive in the 7 1/2 weeks remaining before the Nov. 3 election.

Another tough battle is taking shape in 4th Supervisorial District, where Swanson, a Rolling Hills councilwoman, capitalized on a wave of anti-incumbent sentiment last June to force Dana into a runoff. The crescent-shaped district follows the coast from Venice to Long Beach and extends into eastern Los Angeles County.

One incumbent with an easy road ahead in his quest for a state Senate seat is Hayden.He narrowly won a bitter $2-million Democratic primary slugfest in June against state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal of Los Angeles and Pacific Palisades public relations consultant Catherine O’Neill.

The 23rd Senate District on the Westside and San Fernando Valley is so solidly Democratic that no Republican even ventured onto the ballot. Determined that Hayden not go unchallenged in the fall, Republican Leonard McRoskey ran a quiet write-in campaign for the GOP nomination. But this week, he stopped campaigning and conceded that Hayden will win the race.

Hayden joins the ranks of incumbent Westside lawmakers, including Democratic Assemblyman Burt Margolin and Assemblywoman Gwen Moore, whose return to the Legislature from safe districts is all but assured even before the voters have spoken.

Westside Races at a Glance

For the first time in years, Westside voters will decide several truly competitive races this fall. Redistricting has altered the political landscape, sharply narrowing the advantage Democrats had in some areas. The retirement of several incumbents has left a few open seats to fill in November, ensuring new faces in Los Angeles, Sacramento and Washington.

Congress

24th District: Malibu, the western San Fernando Valley from Sherman Oaks to Westlake Village and portions of Ventura County.

Candidates: Democratic Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson of Los Angeles is seeking a ninth term. But this year, Beilenson faces Republican Assemblyman Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks in a new and competitive district. Peace and Freedom Party candidate John Paul Lindblad is also on the ballot.

29th District: From Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades to Hollywood-Los Feliz, including the Santa Monica Mountains and Hollywood Hills.

Candidates: Democratic Rep. Henry A. Waxman of Los Angeles is seeking a 10th term. Waxman faces Republican Mark A. Robbins, Libertarian Felix Tsvi Rogin, Peace and Freedom Party candidate Susan C. Davies and Independent David Davis.

32nd District: Mar Vista, Palms, portions of West Los Angeles, Culver City, mid-City and Crenshaw, and parts of South-Central Los Angeles.

Candidates: Democratic Rep. Julian C. Dixon of Los Angeles is seeking an eighth term. He has no Republican challenger but faces Libertarian Bob Weber and Peace and Freedom Party candidate William R. Williams.

36th District: Follows the coast from Venice, Marina del Rey, Playa del Rey and Westchester through the South Bay beach cities to the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Candidates: Open seat. Democrat Jane Harman, an attorney, faces Republican Joan Milke Flores, a Los Angeles city councilwoman. Green Party candidate Richard H. Greene, Libertarian Marc F. Denny and Peace and Freedom Party candidate Owen Staley are also on the ballot.

Assembly

41st District: Santa Monica, Brentwood, Pacific Palisades, Malibu and southwestern San Fernando Valley.

Candidates: In a high-profile race, Democratic Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman of Los Angeles is running for a fourth term in a new district against Republican Christine Reed, a former Santa Monica city councilwoman. Libertarian Roy A. Sykes Jr. is also on the ballot.

42nd District: Most of the Westside east of Santa Monica and generally north of Wilshire Boulevard. Includes the Hollywood Hills and southern edge of the San Fernando Valley.

Candidates: Democratic Assemblyman Burt Margolin is seeking a sixth term against Republican Robert Davis, Libertarian Andrew S. Rotter and Peace and Freedom Party candidate Timothy Burdick.

47th District: Rancho Park, Culver City, Palms, Mid-City, Baldwin Hills and Crenshaw.

Candidates: Democratic Assemblywoman Gwen Moore is running for an eighth term against Republican Jonathan Leonard, Libertarian Chuck Hammill and Peace and Freedom Party candidate Yassin A. Saededdin.

53rd District: Mar Vista, Westchester, Venice, and down the coast to Redondo Beach and Torrance.

Candidates: An open seat. Democrat Debra Bowen, a Marina del Rey attorney, faces Republican Brad Parton, mayor of Redondo Beach. Libertarian William N. Gaillard is also on the ballot.

State Senate

23rd District: Most of the Westside from Hollywood to Malibu and the lower San Fernando Valley from Studio City to Westlake Village.

Candidates: Democratic Assemblyman Tom Hayden of Santa Monica captured the Democratic nomination after a bruising primary against two rivals. Republican Leonard H. McRoskey won a place on the ballot with a write-in campaign but this week conceded the race. Libertarian William Weilburg and Peace and Freedom Party candidate Shirley R. Isaacson are also on the ballot.

Los Angeles County Supervisor

2nd District: Culver City, Mar Vista, mid-Wilshire, Koreatown, Crenshaw, Inglewood, South-Central Los Angeles, Hawthorne, Lawndale, Gardena, Carson, Lynwood and Compton.

Candidates: State Sen. Diane Watson of Los Angeles and former Rep. Yvonne Brathwaite Burke are in a spirited fight for the open seat created by the retirement of Supervisor Kenneth Hahn.

4th District: A broad coastal crescent from Venice to Long Beach, including much of the South Bay, as well as the southern tier of the county as far east as Diamond Bar.

Candidates: Supervisor Deane Dana was forced into a runoff against Rollings Hills City Councilwoman Gordana Swanson.

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