Ex-Actress, Sen. Dills Take Early Leads in Legislative Races : Legislature: Attorney Sheila James Kuehl leads five Democrats in the 41st Assembly District. State Sen. Ralph Dills, 84, is ahead of three challengers in a district stretching from Venice to Long Beach.

In Tuesday’s primaries for state legislative seats, an octogenarian senator battling for one more term and an actress-turned-lawyer vying to become the first openly gay member of the Assembly each took early leads in their races.

In a Los Angeles-area Senate district stretching from Venice to Long Beach, incumbent Ralph C. Dills, 84, trumpeted his experience as an asset in seeking another four-year term. Dills, a Democrat from El Segundo whose legislative career began in 1938, declared in campaign mailers that he was “too old to quit.”

After scattered early returns gave him the lead, Dills said: “We’ll take it and that feels good.”

He faced three Democratic opponents, including Torrance Councilman George Nakano, in the extensively redrawn district.

Nakano and Dills’ other foes argued that the incumbent had been in the Capitol too long and was out of touch with voters in the coastal district.

In the Westside’s 41st Assembly District, Sheila James Kuehl, a Santa Monica women’s rights attorney who starred in the old “Dobie Gillis” TV series, was leading five other Democrats in their party’s primary for an open seat.

Kuehl would be the first openly gay member of the Legislature, but her sexual orientation was not a campaign issue. The other leading contenders for the seat were two attorneys, Edward Tabash and Roger Diamond.

Ethnicity was center stage in two spirited Democratic contests. In an Assembly district comprising northeast Los Angeles, a white legislative aide and a Latino community activist squared off for an open seat in an area long represented by Latinos. In a nearby district comprising several San Gabriel Valley communities, a rookie Latino assemblywoman sought to hold off a challenge from a Chinese American.

In Riverside County, freshman Assemblyman Ray Haynes, who enjoyed strong backing from members of the Christian right, appeared headed for victory in a Republican Senate primary. Critics say he is so conservative that if nominated, a potentially safe GOP seat could fall to the Democrats in November.

All 80 Assembly seats and half the state Senate’s 40 seats were on Tuesday’s ballot. Many of these seats are in heavily Republican or Democratic districts, so capturing the primary will probably be tantamount to winning in November.

Triggered by voter-enacted term limits and dissatisfaction with the Democrat-controlled Legislature, 29 lawmakers were seeking higher office or retiring. The open legislative seats created new opportunities to move up the political ladder, especially for Latinos and women.

In Marin County, first-term Assemblywoman Vivien Bronshvag, appeared in danger of losing the Democratic nomination in the 6th District to Kerry Mazzoni, a member of the Novato school board.

In a spirited Westside race, five Democrats, including school board member Mark Slavkin, were bunched together in early returns in the 42nd Assembly District.

The Democratic primary in the nearby 47th Assembly District also attracted attention, as candidates vied to succeed incumbent Gwen Moore, who was running for secretary of state.

The heavily Democratic district, anchored around Baldwin Hills, was drawn to favor the election of an African American. The nine Democrats running in the primary included Jimmie Lee Gray, who is active in the teachers union, and Kevin Murray, son of Paramount Democratic Assemblyman Willard H. Murray Jr. Other leading contenders were attorney Geoff Gibbs and Ed Johnson, a longtime aide to Rep. Julian C. Dixon (D-Los Angeles).

The 45th Assembly District, in northeast Los Angeles, has been the scene of a political brawl with ethnic overtones. Assemblyman Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) is vacating the seat to run for the Senate and has endorsed his chief of staff, Bill Mabie, who is white.

A competing faction in the local Latino community headed by Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina is backing Antonio Villaraigosa in the race.

Polanco heads the Legislature’s growing 12-member Latino caucus. But some critics charged that in promoting Mabie’s candidacy, he was undercutting the continuing efforts of Latinos to add to their numbers in the Legislature. Polanco responded that he viewed Mabie as the best qualified among the candidates who filed for the seat.

In the 49th District, Judy Chu, the mayor of Monterey Park, fell behind in early returns in her bid to become the first Chinese American in the Assembly since 1974. Chu was trailing rookie Assemblywoman Diane Martinez (D-Rosemead). The primary winner is virtually a shoo-in in November in the strongly Democratic district, which includes the communities of Alhambra, San Gabriel and Temple City.

In a third race of special interest to the Latino community, first-term Assemblywoman Hilda L. Solis (D-El Monte) is seeking the Democratic nomination in the 24th Senate District. If she wins and is elected in November, Solis would become the first Latina in the upper house.

The Republican primary to succeed state Sen. Robert Presley (D-Riverside) resulted in one of the spring’s most spirited campaigns, with Riverside County Sheriff Cois Byrd squaring off against Haynes, whose candidacy has won strong support from the Christian right.

Republican strategists believe that they must win this seat if they are to wrest control of the Senate from Democrats (the current lineup is 22 Democrats, 16 Republicans and two independents). Democrats maintain that Haynes is too conservative for the district and would be vulnerable to defeat in November.