McKeon to Be Lone Area Newcomer in Congress : Politics: Incumbents dominate other state and federal races, some by smaller margins because of Democratic gains in registration and redistricting.

There will be one new face from the San Fernando Valley area appearing in Washington next year.

Former Santa Clarita Mayor Howard P. (Buck) McKeon, a conservative Republican who says he is not a politician, easily won election Tuesday in the new 25th Congressional District with more than 50% of the vote.

In other races, voters returned local incumbents to office in both Washington and Sacramento although by smaller margins in some districts because of Democratic gains in registration and redistricting.

McKeon, who with his brothers owns a chain of Western clothing stores, defeated Democrat James R. Gilmartin, independent Rick Pamplin and three minor-party candidates. He will be the first congressman to represent both the fast-growing Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, which formerly were divided among four districts. The new district also covers the northwestern San Fernando Valley.

“I’m really looking forward to representing the whole area,” McKeon said. “I love the idea of having a solid district.”

McKeon, who spent about $500,000 on his campaign, said the hardest battle for him was in the primary when he faced several prominent Republican politicians, including Assemblyman Philip Wyman, ex-Congressman John Rousselot and John Lynch, former Los Angeles County tax assessor.

Pamplin, an early supporter of Ross Perot, waged a spirited campaign until the last minute, buying time on four cable television systems Monday night and crisscrossing the district in a recreational vehicle. But he ended up with only 6.5% of the vote and blamed Perot for his overwhelming defeat.

“It was political suicide to run on Ross Perot’s platform,” he said. “There was no such thing as coattails for Perot. . . . The bottom line is you’ve got to be part of the two-party system to win.”

Had Perot not dropped out of the presidential race July 16, Pamplin said, “I think he could have won and I think you’d be talking to the new congressman for this district.”

But Pamplin said that Perot “never recovered from breaking faith with the American people.”

The closest congressional race was in the 27th District, where rising Democratic registration held 70-year-old Republican Carlos Moorhead of Glendale, a veteran of 20 years in Congress, to less than 49% of the vote. Democrat Doug Kahn, an Altadena businessman who ran a high-profile campaign, got 40%.

Kahn vowed to run again in two years. “I’ll be back,” he said. “I’m running right now.”

Kahn said he spent more than $100,000, but Moorhead doled out more than $400,000 on expensive mailings and radio and television commercials. The congressman said he had to run well ahead of President Bush in his district to win reelection.

“We were swimming against the trend,” he said.

In other congressional races, Democrat Howard L. Berman, a five-term lawmaker, easily defeated Republican businessman Gary Forsch and two minor-party candidates in the heavily Democratic 26th District. The district covers the eastern and central San Fernando Valley.

In the 29th District, which covers Sherman Oaks and Studio City as well as Hollywood, Los Feliz and the Westside, Democratic incumbent Henry A. Waxman did not suffer from racking up 434 overdrafts at the House bank.

Widely regarded at one of the most influential members of the House, Waxman won by more than 35% over his closest challenger, attorney Mark A. Robbins.

In the state Senate, the region’s closest race was in the 21st District between Republican Newton R. Russell, another veteran lawmaker, and political newcomer Rachel Dewey, a rocket scientist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

Russell blamed Bush’s weakness in California as an obstacle he had to overcome to score a comparatively narrow victory over his Democratic challenger. He received more than 49% of the vote, compared to 44.4% for Dewey.

“It was the year of the woman, the year of anti-incumbents and the new district has more Democrats,” Russell said. “This is the toughest challenge I’ve faced and I’m glad she didn’t raise money for a stronger campaign.”

Dewey said she plans to run for the Senate seat again in four years.

“I definitely expect to run again,” she said. “I think the state party should be targeting this area. We’ve been conceding it to Republicans for the past 30 years.”

Dewey said she received the vote she expected, given that she had only about $12,000 to spend on the campaign. The district covers the eastern San Gabriel Valley as well as Glendale, Burbank, Sunland and Tujunga.

In the 17th District, which includes the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys, Republican Don Rogers easily defeated Democrat William M. Olenick, a deputy probation officer.

The result mirrors registration in the district, in which voter registration is 52% Republican and only 36% Democratic. Rogers was elected to a four-year term in the 16th Senate District from Bakersfield two years ago but lost much of his old district after reapportionment. He moved from Bakersfield to Tehachapi to run for the 17th District seat.

Rogers said he decided to stand for reelection two years early in the newly created district because it is more heavily Republican than his old district. He said that to stay in the now mainly Democratic 16th District was to risk defeat in 1994.

In the 19th Senate District, which includes Castaic and parts of Santa Clarita, the northwest corner of the San Fernando Valley and part of eastern Ventura County, Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) defeated Democrat Hank Starr, a Bell Canyon attorney, by a comfortable margin.

As expected in the 23rd District, Democratic Assemblyman Tom Hayden will advance to the state Senate after coasting to a win over Republican Leonard (Len) McRoskey. Hayden’s victory was assured in June after he narrowly won a $2-million, three-way Democratic primary slugfest with state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal and Catherine O’Neill, a Pacific Palisades public relations consultant. The district runs from Hollywood to Malibu and Studio City to Westlake Village.

In the Assembly, the region will send two new legislators to Sacramento, Republicans William J. (Pete) Knight in the 36th District and Bill Hoge in the 44th District.

In the 36th District, which includes most of the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys, Knight, a former Palmdale mayor, defeated Democrat and Lancaster City Councilman Arnie Rodio by 58% to 34%.

The makeup of the newly drawn district heavily favored Knight, with Republicans outnumbering Democrats 54% to 34%. But Rodio, a moderate, said before the election he could win conservative voters as he has in past elections.

Knight, who traveled to Sacramento on Wednesday “to start getting engrossed in the Assembly,” said he “wasn’t looking back at the election,” but instead would focus his energy on improving the economy in California.

“We need to get jobs back into California,” Knight said. “I’ve got nothing else on my mind right now. Until we can do that there really isn’t any time for anything else.”

Democrats did better than usual in the 44th District, centered in Pasadena. Hoge beat Democrat Jonathan Fuhrman, a Pasadena insurance broker, by about 8,000 votes--51% to 45%.

President-elect Bill Clinton’s coattails “weren’t as strong as we had hoped,” Fuhrman said.

Fuhrman estimated he spent $17,000. Hoge spent more than $300,000. The district also covers the foothill communities of Sunland, Tujunga and Lake View Terrace in the San Fernando Valley.

In the 38th District, Assemblywoman Paula L. Boland, a Republican, handily won a second term by turning back Democrat Howard Cohen. The district includes Castaic, Granada Hills, Lake Hughes, parts of Chatsworth, Mission Hills, North Hills, Northridge, Saugus, Sylmar and Ventura County.

Democratic Assemblyman Richard Katz won nearly 70% of the vote in the 39th Assembly District, easily defeating Republican Nicholas Fitzgerald and Libertarian David H. George.

Katz has raised more than $200,000 in his bid to succeed Mayor Tom Bradley in the April city election, but he said he will not formally announce his candidacy until early January.

He said Wednesday he will still work hard in the Assembly to represent his constituents in the district--which includes Sylmar, San Fernando, Pacoima, Arleta, Sun Valley and Panorama City--while also pursuing his mayoral bid.

“I intend to run for mayor. I’m meeting people. I’m raising money,” Katz said. “But there will be no official announcement until after the first of the year.”

In the 40th District, Democratic Assemblywoman Barbara Friedman easily defeated Republican Horace Heidt, winning 58% of the vote. The heavily Democratic district includes parts of North Hollywood, Reseda, Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys, Studio City and Canoga Park.

Friedman was elected to the Assembly in July of last year in a special election in a district that included Los Feliz, Koreatown and part of Hollywood. After her district was reapportioned out of existence, she decided to run in the 40th District when veteran Democrat Tom Bane decided to retire.

Friedman, who grew up in Van Nuys, said she felt “very comfortable coming home to the Valley.”

In the 41st District, Democratic Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman of Encino fought off a well-financed challenge by Republican Christine Reed, a former Santa Monica city councilwoman, to win a fourth term in the Legislature.

With heavy financial support from Gov. Pete Wilson and the Republican Party, Reed launched a direct mail and telephone blitz that branded Friedman as a liberal carpetbagger who is soft on crime.

But Friedman easily turned back the first serious challenge of his political career. “This was a tremendous victory,” he said. “It was targeted as a challenging, difficult race.”

The district stretches from Santa Monica to Malibu and across the western San Fernando Valley.

In the 42nd District, Assemblyman Burt Margolin rolled to a sixth term with 67.8% of the vote, while Republican challenger Robert Davis got 26.1%. The district includes Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Universal City and most of the Westside east of Santa Monica and north of Wilshire Boulevard.

Republican Assemblyman Pat Nolan of Glendale was an easy winner over Democrat Elliott Graham, capturing more than 55% of the vote to retain his seat in the 43rd Assembly District.

Nolan, who has been in the Assembly since 1978, ran in a reapportioned district that has about 1,500 more Democrats than Republicans. His previous district had a strong GOP majority, with about 15,000 more Republicans than Democrats.

Times staff writers Jeanette Avent, John Chandler, Jeffrey L. Rabin and Mike Ward contributed to this story.