Suspense Over--Epple, Beverly Win Close Races
The suspense is finally over in two of the hardest fought Southeast-area state legislative races.
According to the final count by the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office released Thursday, Democrat Assemblyman Bob Epple held on to his lead over Bellflower realtor Phillip D. Hawkins to win reelection by .42% of the vote, or 542 votes in the 56th Assembly District.
In the 27th state Senate District, Republican Sen. Robert G. Beverly widened his 2,000-vote lead over Democrat Brian Finander and clinched his reelection by 5,054 votes. The 27th District includes most of Long Beach, Lakewood and Downey.
“We hoped that the count would go my way, but obviously it went the other way,” Finander said. “Still, I’m very proud of what we did, and it’s no great secret that I’ll be looking to run in 1996.”
Epple, who will represent Artesia, Bellflower, Cerritos and Downey, said he was pretty certain that he would win and pointed out that he won his first election two years ago by 220 votes.
“Maybe that’s why I wasn’t sweating this one out. I considered this a very large margin,” he joked.
The election results will be officially certified Tuesday by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
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