‘92 WESTSIDE ELECTIONS : ELECTIONS / CONGRESSIONAL RACES : Democrats Chalk Up Solid Wins : Politics: Harman beats Flores in a new district, while incumbents Waxman, Dixon and Beilenson roll up easy victories.

Former Carter Administration official Jane Harman, running on a platform of jobs and abortion rights, overcame charges of Washington carpetbagging to beat Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores in a race to represent a new congressional district stretching from Venice to San Pedro.

As longtime incumbents Henry A. Waxman and Julian Dixon coasted to reelection, Harman’s triumph, along with that of Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson, who will now represent Malibu, means that Westside voters once again will be sending a strictly Democratic delegation to Congress.

Harman said Wednesday that it was her message of change and its appeal to moderate Republicans and independent voters that made the victory a resounding one. An attorney, Harman once served as deputy secretary to the Cabinet in the Carter White House.

“We never thought we could win this with only Democrats,” she said.

She also credited a Democratic Party registration drive for her victory. Starting with a four-point disadvantage, the number of registered Democrats increased to 42.4% by election day, compared to 42.8% for the Republicans.

Harman won 49% of the vote, while Flores picked up 42%. Richard H. Greene of the Green Party garnered 5.25%, Owen Staley of the Peace and Freedom Party won 2.2% and Libertarian Marc F. Denny got 2.1%.

Flores, initially expected to cruise to an easy victory, attributed Harman’s triumph to “the three Cs: cash, coattails and choice.”

The cash came from Harman herself, who loaned her $1.3-million campaign nearly $700,000 to finance a series of last-minute commercial television ads. The coattails were Bill Clinton’s, Flores said, as frustrated voters in the economically beleaguered district looked for a clean slate. And choice, she said, came into play because of Harman’s unceasing reminders that she favors abortion rights while Flores does not.

“Most people do not have the ability to call up their bank and say, ‘Transfer $400,000 into my campaign account,’ ” Flores said.

It was a bruising race, with Flores painting Harman as an outsider who spent most of her career in Washington and Harman casting Flores as an entrenched politico whose anti-abortion stance was out of step with the district’s voters.

The contest was one of only three congressional races in the nation to pit a woman who supports abortion rights against one who does not. But the district’s defense-based economy probably played more of a role in the voters’ decision.

Harman repeated her campaign vow to immediately begin work on a high-tech jobs program and to seek a seat on the House Armed Services Committee, a position already assured to her by Chairman Les Aspin.

In Congress, she will be joining seven-term incumbent Dixon, who lacked even a token Republican challenger this year.

The 58-year-old member of the House Appropriations Committee picked up 87% of the vote, compared to 7% for Bob Weber, a motion picture technician who ran on the Libertarian ticket, and 6% for William R. Williams, a retired truck driver who appeared as a representative of the Peace and Freedom Party.

Despite a testy exchange over alternative health care at a joint appearance with Republican challenger Mark A. Robbins, the 53-year-old Waxman also enjoyed a comfortable win, with 62% of the vote.

Robbins, a 33-year-old attorney, won 25%, while David Davis, an independent, got 6%, Susan C. Davies of Peace and Freedom received 5% and Libertarian Felix T. Rogin got just under 2%.

For Beilenson, whose current district includes Beverly Hills and Bel-Air, the election results showed that he was right to take his chances in a new district rather than challenge Waxman when political boundaries were redrawn this year.

“The election results show that the vast majority of people in this district are far more comfortable with my positions” than with Tom McClintock’s, he said at his Tarzana campaign headquarters Tuesday night.

“The nationwide trend is discouraging,” said McClintock, one of the Legislature’s most conservative members, who split with Republican Gov. Pete Wilson over proposed tax increases in the state budget.

The race gave 24th District voters one of the most stark ideological choices in the state this year: Beilenson, a respected veteran liberal, versus McClintock, a fiery young conservative.

In a series of debates throughout the district, the men expressed dramatically different positions on abortion, federal budget policy, defense spending, national health care and other issues.

Beilenson, 60, is one of the few members of Congress who has not accepted campaign contributions from political action committees, and he assailed McClintock repeatedly for accepting funding from special interests.

According to campaign finance reports, nearly 49% of McClintock’s funds between July 1 and late October came from PACs. During the campaign he acknowledged hiring a Virginia consultant who solicited more than 500 PACs on his behalf.

The campaign became a battleground between the national Democratic and Republican parties, which made thousands of dollars available to their respective nominees. Voter registration in the district is 46% Democratic and 40% Republican--close enough to be considered a tossup.

Contributing to this story were staff writers Mathis Chazanov, Deborah Schoch, Stacy Wong, Tracey Kaplan and Hugo Martin.