Senator Sets Sights on Garamendi’s Post : Politics: Art Torres rallies in Santa Ana for support in his bid for state insurance commissioner.

One of the state’s most prominent Latino elected officials tested the waters in Orange County on Friday, rallying a group of local politicians, business owners and community leaders to support his bid for state insurance commissioner.

“This is the beachhead for the new Democratic Party in California,” state Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) said of Orange County.

Torres told about 150 people at Trattoria Ciao restaurant on 3rd Street that he hopes to be the first Latino to hold a major statewide office in California in 119 years.

At the same time, he said: “I am not running as a Mexican; I am not running as a Latino. I am running as a man, able and qualified to fight the insurance industries . . . who happens to be a Latino.”

He said he wants to focus on health issues, adding that the next insurance commissioner must coordinate President Clinton’s health care plan for the state in 1995, if Congress approves the plan.

Known for his statements on immigrant rights and immigration reform, Torres said he will leave legislation on those issues to his Senate colleagues. “There are a lot of excellent representatives who are more than competent to take on those issues,” he said.

Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly, several Santa Ana and Garden Grove council members and other local officials attended the event.

Torres is likely to face competition from Assemblyman Burt Margolin (D-Los Angeles) for the Democratic nomination. On the Republican side, Assemblyman Charles W. Quackenbush of San Jose and Wes Bannister of Huntington Beach, the former GOP nominee for the post, are expected to battle it out for their party’s nomination.