LOCAL ELECTIONS / PASADENA : Runoff for 16th District Senate Seat

A current member of the state Assembly and one who left the chamber last year will face off in what is expected to be a bare-knuckles runoff campaign for a state Senate district that includes parts of Pasadena and Altadena.

Assemblyman Jim Costa (D-Hanford) narrowly outpolled former Assemblyman Phillip D. Wyman (R-Tehachapi) in Tuesday’s primary election in the 16th Senate District, which featured 10 active candidates.

With such a large field, neither Costa nor Wyman emerged with more than 50% of the votes, prompting an April 27 runoff in the oddly shaped district, which meanders from the San Joaquin Valley through the eastern edge of the Antelope Valley and into neighborhoods near the Rose Bowl.

Costa and Wyman are vying to fill the remaining year and a half of the term of Sen. Don Rogers (R-Tehachapi). After legislative districts were reapportioned following the 1990 Census, Rogers last year ran and won election in another Senate district, leaving the 16th District seat vacant.

State law requires that the seat be filled, even though as currently drawn it will cease to exist next year. The reapportionment process shifted the 16th District’s boundaries northward, eliminating its Los Angeles County precincts. Those boundaries officially take effect for the 1994 elections.

Because the new district is heavily Democratic, state Republican leaders must decide whether to pump sizable campaign contributions into Wyman’s current campaign, knowing that even if he wins, the revised boundaries will mean he would probably face a tough reelection fight in 1994.

Wyman, 48, said he is confident of getting adequate party funding for his runoff campaign because GOP officials view a Republican victory in the race as the start of a bid to win control of the Senate. The current Senate breakdown is 22 Democrats, 14 Republicans and 2 independents, with 2 vacancies.

Signaling the start of the runoff campaign, Wyman also blasted Costa as a “classic liberal.” Wyman, who last year lost a bid for Congress, contended that his own staunchly conservative views are better suited to voters in both the old and new 16th District.

In contrast, Costa, 40, described himself as a moderate lawmaker who has a track record as an effective advocate for his constituents.

Both Wyman and Costa were first elected to the Assembly in 1978.

The Secretary of State’s office reported that only 20.2% of the district’s registered voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s election. In final unofficial totals for the entire district, Costa captured 37.4% to Wyman’s 37%.

With all 539 precincts in the district reporting, the totals for the other Democratic candidates were as follows: Irma Carson, 4.1%; Darrel Beller, 1.3%; Dennis Wilson, 1%; and Jay Hanson, 0.5%.

Among the other Republicans, the breakdown was: Kevin McDermott, 14.8%; Leonard Tekaat, 1.5%; Michael McCloskey, 1.4%; Donald Heath, 0.7%; and Chris Binning, 0.3%. Although he was on the ballot, Heath did not actively campaign.