Skin-Tight Race in 27th District May Prompt Recount : Trailing by less than 2,000 votes, Democrat Brian Finander refuses to concede state Senate victory to Robert G. Beverly until absentee and provisional ballots are counted.

With unofficial results showing that Republican incumbent Robert G. Beverly won the 27th State Senate District by a hair, Democratic challenger Brian Finander refused to concede defeat Wednesday and said he may seek a recount of the ballots.

Beverly won by 1,969 votes, 118,279 to 116,310, collecting 46.7% of the ballots cast in the newly redrawn 27th, which runs from the Palos Verdes Peninsula through Long Beach into Lakewood and Downey. Political newcomer Finander garnered 45.9%.

“If it were a fish, I’d throw it back,” Beverly said Wednesday of his margin of victory, adding that he was “a little bit surprised” at the closeness of the race, but not shocked.

Finander said he would probably seek a recount of the ballots if the official count this week leaves Beverly with his current slim margin.

“Just doing this was amazing,” Finander said. “We will not drop this subject easily or quickly.”

In the South Bay’s other state Senate race, Democrat Teresa P. Hughes coasted to victory over GOP contender Cliff McClain, 77.2% to 18.4% in the 25th District--overwhelmingly Democratic turf that covers Inglewood, Gardena, Hawthorne, Lynwood, Paramount and part of Compton. Hattie Marie Benn of the Peace and Freedom Party captured 14.5% of the ballots.

But all eyes Wednesday were on the razor-thin margin in the 27th District, where Finander said he hoped to benefit from uncounted absentee ballots and the verification of ballots cast by Democrats who registered too late to be included in the county registrar-recorder’s computerized list of voters. Those people were allowed to vote at polling places, but their “provisional” ballots will not be included in the tally until their registrations are confirmed, election officials said.

“We’re hanging in there,” Finander said Wednesday. “We don’t know what’s going to happen. Obviously, we would have preferred to have been ahead.”

Finander, outspent 6 to 1 by Beverly, led a grass-roots campaign that tried to capitalize on the anti-incumbency mood among voters. During a debate, Finander suggested that career politicians like Beverly had led the country into “one hell of a mess.”

Finander, a 46-year-old small-business consultant active in the Long Beach Jewish community, said he walked about 100 precincts and operated an aggressive telephone bank soliciting votes.

The result stunned him, he said, adding that he believes Beverly took the race for granted and misjudged the sour mood among voters.

Although Beverly said he believed he ran a positive campaign, Finander disagreed, saying his positions on various issues were deliberately misrepresented in last-minute flyers mailed to voters by Beverly’s campaign.

Observers had predicted that Beverly, who spent $600,000 on the campaign and has been in Sacramento for 25 years, would have trouble retaining a seat in the senate with anti-incumbency fervor at a high. The once-a-decade reapportionment, moreover, had shifted his district southeast into Democratic territory, giving that party a 46% to 42% voter registration edge over Republicans.

The district includes Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills Estates, Rolling Hills, Rancho Palos Verdes, Lomita, San Pedro, Catalina, Long Beach, Signal Hill, Lakewood, Hawaiian Gardens, Cerritos, Artesia, Bellflower and Downey.

To establish residency in the district, Beverly said he temporarily moved from Manhattan Beach, his home, into the Long Beach condominium of an unidentified friend, prompting foes to call him a carpetbagger.

Yet Beverly, 67, was expected to benefit from his pragmatic, moderate stand on most issues and his respect in Sacramento from both Democrats and Republicans.

Going into the race, Beverly said, “I knew there was hostility toward incumbents” because of the recession and the term limits movement sweeping the country.

Still, he said he was certain his victory would hold up in the official count, predicting that absentee ballots would seal his win.

Beverly said that as senator, his priority would be to fashion incentives to keep businesses in California as a way to boost the economy.

David J. Rosen, the Libertarian candidate, had 10,159 votes, or 4%, and Peace and Freedom candidate Patrick J. McCoy got 8,504 votes, or 3.4% of the tally.

Times staff writers Jill Gottesman and Tina Griego contributed to this story.