‘92 LONG BEACH ELECTIONS : ELECTIONS / LEGISLATURE : Karnette Pulls Major Upset of GOP Incumbent : Results: Other office-holders struggled but prevailed in area races. Seven of 10 local seats in Sacramento will be held by Democrats.

A little-known math teacher, making her first bid for public office, unseated a veteran Republican assemblyman Tuesday in one of the major upsets of the local political season.

Betty Karnette, a Long Beach resident who teaches at South Gate Middle School, took on 14-year Assembly veteran Gerald N. Felando in a race for the 54th Assembly District that the Democratic Party had virtually conceded.

Karnette attributed her success to anti-incumbent sentiment, an overconfident opponent, new voter support for women candidates and old-fashioned grass-roots effort.

“I think my success can be (attributed to) the tenor of the times,” Karnette said early Wednesday morning. “People wanted change. No incumbent can rest easy.”

Other incumbents also struggled, but generally prevailed according to preliminary vote counts.

In two tight races, Democratic Assemblyman Bob Epple edged Republican Phillip D. Hawkins to win a third term, and veteran Republican state Sen. Robert G. Beverly fended off Democrat Brian Finander.

Other incumbents had an easier time of it, including state Sen. Frank Hill and Assemblymen Paul Horcher and Willard H. Murray Jr.

Four of the state legislative races had no incumbent, but they had overwhelming favorites, all minority women.

Teresa Hughes, an African-American, won a state Senate term, and Juanita M. McDonald, another black, will join the Assembly. Latinas Martha M. Escutia and Grace M. Napolitano also captured Assembly seats.

But Karnette’s victory over Felando ranks as the major surprise. A leading state political magazine last month labeled the district “safe Republican.” Most Democrats felt the same way, and the party initially ignored the bid of Karnette, 61.

“Everybody, including me, told her that she wasn’t going to win,” political consultant Jeffrey Adler said. “I also told her that she wasn’t going to raise any money.”

He agreed to help Karnette after she raised $30,000 on her own. Then, he said, he realized that redistricting left Democrats with a slight edge in voter registration. The district includes the Long Beach coast, Hawaiian Gardens, Lakewood and Rancho Palos Verdes.

A significant number of voters also listed themselves as independents or refused to state a party preference when polled. To appeal to some of those voters, Karnette campaign workers handed out literature at Sunday’s Ross Perot rally in Long Beach.

Democratic Party leaders began to take an interest and kicked in last-minute funding. Teacher unions were also heavy contributors.

Even so, Felando probably outspent Karnette by a significant margin to introduce himself to voters in a district that was 60% new.

“We knew that the race was going to be close all along,” Felando said. “We tried to run on a conservative record of 14 years as a tax fighter and a law-and-order candidate.” Felando said he is also proud of his work on legislation to help senior citizens and the disabled.

Both candidates stressed the jobs issue and both tried to label the other as a more natural ally of Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, who came under criticism during the recent state budget deadlock.

Karnette said Felando’s mistake may have been that he did not introduce himself to voters in person.

“Felando did not make himself visible in the district,” Karnette said. “He did not present his positions and program except through the mail.”

In other Southeast area legislative races:

50th Assembly District

(Bell, Bell Gardens, Commerce, Cudahy, Huntington Park, Maywood, South Gate, Vernon.)

Democrat Martha M. Escutia rolled to victory, as expected, over Republican Gladys O. Miller, who had to overcome a lack of money, a lack of name recognition and a lack of Republicans. The new district is 70% Democrat.

Escutia, a political activist who lobbied to create the heavily Latino district, will now be its first elected representative.

52nd Assembly District

(Lynwood, Paramount, Gardena; much of Compton; parts of South Los Angeles, South Gate, Long Beach.) This race was literally over after Paramount incumbent Willard H. Murray Jr. overcame a vigorous challenge from two Democratic foes in the June primary. Murray had no opposition to a third term Tuesday.

55th Assembly District

(Compton, Carson, Wilmington, Willowbrook; parts of Long Beach, Dominguez, Los Angeles.) Juanita McDonald, a first-term Carson councilwoman, easily outdistanced her only opponent, Libertarian Shannon Anderson. McDonald’s victory was virtually assured in the Democratic primary when she defeated incumbents Richard E. Floyd and Dave Elder. The two assemblymen had been placed in the same overwhelmingly Democratic district through reapportionment.

56th Assembly District

(Artesia, Bellflower, Cerritos, Downey.) Two-term Democrat Bob Epple declared victory in a squeaker early Wednesday morning after trailing Republican newcomer Phillip D. Hawkins most of the evening. Epple nudged ahead shortly before 1 a.m., prompting supporters to uncork champagne and shout: “Two more years! Two more years!”

In the end, Epple said, voters accepted his message on the issues, with the economy and jobs at the top of the list. “I have been fighting for changes to keep jobs and will continue to fight for jobs,” he said. “They looked at what Hawkins promised and what I delivered.”

Yet Hawkins and his campaign came close to delivering an upset. The first-time office seeker trailed Epple by just over 1 percentage point. Libertarian Richard Gard finished a distant third.

“We’ve worked very hard,” said Hawkins, a 49-year-old Bellflower realtor and contractor. “We did a lot of walking, knocking on doors, lots of meetings in homes in different precincts.”

Hawkins said he appealed to voters as a 37-year community resident, a successful businessman and a fresh political face. Voters would “just ask: ‘Are you the incumbent?’ I’d say, ‘No,’ and they said they would vote for me,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins also hit Epple hard for moving from Norwalk to Cerritos to run for office. But Epple said voters found the carpetbagging charge “foolish . . . Norwalk is a part of the area,” Epple said.

Epple relocated after redistricting left his house just outside the district boundary. But the move put him in a district that was 50% new, giving Hawkins more of an opening.

For the 43-year-old Epple, Tuesday’s race was the second narrow escape of his political career. Epple barely won election four years ago in a district that has often swung between Democratic and Republican candidates.

58th Assembly District

(Norwalk, Santa Fe Springs, Pico Rivera, Montebello; western edge of Whittier; part of South El Monte.) Norwalk City Councilwoman Grace M. Napolitano cruised to victory in a race whose outcome surprised no one. Napolitano is a well-known Democratic Latina politician in a district that is heavily Latino and Democratic. She defeated Republican Ken Gow and Libertarian John P. McCready in a general election that was less of a challenge than the Democratic primary, where Napolitano outdistanced--and outspent--a field of five Latino candidates.

60th Assembly District

(La Habra Heights, La Mirada, eastern Whittier; several San Gabriel Valley cities.) Moderate Republican Paul Horcher posted a comfortable win over Democrat Stan Caress, a political science professor, and American Independent Robert Lewis, a champion of term limits.

Horcher’s financial resources swamped those of his opponents, so the only surprise may be that Democrat Caress did as well as he did, getting more than a third of the vote. Redistricting shifted the 60th District east into the San Gabriel Valley and left Horcher with a district where the number of Republican and Democratic voters is about even.

25th Senate District

(Lynwood, Paramount, Inglewood, Hawthorne, Gardena; part of Compton.) Democrat Teresa P. Hughes cruised to victory against two underfunded opponents, Republican Cliff McClain and Hattie Marie Benn of the Peace and Freedom Party. Hughes had good reason to be confident going into Tuesday’s polling. Only 17% of district voters are registered Republicans and Hughes has substantial name recognition after serving 17 years in the Assembly.

27th Senate District

(Downey, Bellflower, Cerritos, Artesia, Lakewood, Long Beach, San Pedro; Rancho Palos Verdes.) In the newly redrawn 27th Senate District, Republican incumbent Robert G. Beverly posted a narrow win over a political newcomer, Long Beach Democrat Brian Finander.

“It was close, but I’m pleased with the results,” Beverly said Wednesday morning after a long, tense night of monitoring results with friends and family who gathered at his Redondo Beach campaign headquarters.

The 67-year-old Beverly, a state legislator since 1967, has typically cruised to victory. But this year the white-haired senator said he had to battle an intense anti-incumbent mood in a redrawn district where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans, 47% to 41%. “For the first time in my life, incumbency was a negative,” he said. “That, plus the Democratic sweep, was worrisome.”

Beverly, who spent an estimated $500,000--five times more than Finander--credited his victory to strong support from community leaders in his new district, including council members in Bellflower, Lakewood, Artesia and Downey.

Finander, a 46-year-old business consultant, said it was premature to concede defeat. He said he will await the results of an updated vote total that includes still-uncounted absentee ballots. “Of course, I’d rather be on the front end at this point, than on the catch-up end,” he said near dawn on Wednesday morning.

That updated vote total is not expected until Monday. Election officials said Beverly’s narrow margin will probably hold up. Libertarian David J. Rosen and Peace and Freedom candidate Patrick McCoy finished a distant third and fourth, respectively.

29th Senate District

(La Habra Heights, La Mirada, Industry, Covina, West Covina, Walnut, San Dimas, La Verne, Claremont, Glendora ; Diamond Bar.) Republican Frank Hill won a second term by a comfortable margin. The 38-year-old veteran politician overcame a spirited challenge from Democrat Sandy Hester, an environmental consultant and public policy planner.

Hester had tried to tarnish Hill’s reputation by publicizing an ongoing FBI investigation against Hill for alleged corruption. No charges have ever been filed against Hill. Hester also hoped to benefit from reapportionment, which pushed Hill’s district north into the San Gabriel Valley. But in the new 29th, registered Republicans outnumbered Democrats 48% to 41%.