LEGISLATURE : Primaries Set Stage for Two Election Firsts : Wins in November would produce the state’s only openly lesbian assemblywoman and a father-son team in office.

The Westside has emerged from its state legislative primaries with two possible firsts.

One is women’s rights attorney Sheila James Kuehl, who swept the Democratic primary in the 41st Assembly District Tuesday. Kuehl could become the first openly gay member of the state Assembly--provided she wins November’s general election fight for the swing district, which runs from Santa Monica into the San Fernando Valley.

The other potential first involves attorney Kevin Murray, winner of the Democratic primary in the 47th Assembly District, which includes the Crenshaw area and Culver City. Because the district is overwhelmingly Democratic, Murray--along with his father, Assemblyman Willard H. Murray Jr. (D-Paramount)--has an excellent chance of becoming part of the Legislature’s first father-son team.

In another closely watched Westside race, for an open Assembly seat, Community College Board Trustee Wally Knox vanquished six opponents to win the Democratic nomination in the 42nd District. He will face Republican businessman Robert Davis in November for this heavily Democratic turf, which includes Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and Westwood.

Meanwhile, veteran state Sen. Ralph C. Dills (D-El Segundo), who is 84, won the Democratic primary in the 28th District, which reaches from the South Bay up to Venice and Marina del Rey. His GOP opponent will be Redondo Beach attorney David Barrett Cohen.

Attracting the most attention, however, were the victories by Murray, who in November will take on Republican businessman R. Jonathan Leonard of Los Angeles, and Kuehl, who will face law student Michael Meehan of Santa Monica.

“It’s amazing to me that I could be the first open lesbian to be elected to the Assembly,” Kuehl said. “It seems so late in the century for there still to be such discrimination that we wouldn’t have been there before now.”

Supported by Santa Monica’s rent control forces and by female voters, Kuehl was thought by many to be the front-runner in the race. But few thought she would win by as wide a margin as she did in her race against five male opponents--all but one of them well-financed. Kuehl garnered 40.5% of the vote, with her closest opponent, attorney Edward Tabash, trailing far behind with 15.5% and outgoing Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman’s hand-picked successor, Bill Rothbard, in third.

Kuehl appeared to have done extremely well in the Valley portion of the district, despite forecasts by some pundits that she would not fare well there. With 25% of the vote counted on Tuesday night, nearly all of it from the Valley, Kuehl was in first place with 35%.

“Where’s the mismatch between me and the Valley?” Kuehl asked late on election night.

Kuehl’s success in the Valley was a blow to Rothbard and Tabash, who had targeted that half of the district. Tabash, who was on two major slate mailers, walked more than 60 precincts, nearly all of them in the Valley. Rothbard blanketed Valley voters with mail featuring strong anti-crime stances but sent no mailers to Santa Monica renters. One Rothbard mailer recommended punishing graffiti gangs with “hard labor or hard time.”

For the most part, candidates in the race refrained from negative campaigning. But Rothbard put out a hit piece accusing Tabash of being a hypocrite on crime issues and accusing Kuehl of saying rioters in Los Angeles acted in self-defense. Kuehl struck back with one mailer to renters that linked Rothbard to real estate interests who oppose rent control.

In the 47th District, Murray attributed his victory over eight other Democrats to his family and community ties.

“I got a lot of response from people who actually knew me since I was a kid,” Murray said. “In the end, we pushed the family thing.”

Murray took 21.2% of the vote, edging out congressional aide Ed Johnson, who finished with 16.9%. Johnson had support from his boss, Rep. Julian C. Dixon (D-Los Angeles), and a group of Westside Jewish officeholders, such as Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles).

The seven-way race in the 42nd Assembly District was notable in that Knox won with a hard-edged law-and-order message in what is one of the most liberal legislative turfs in the state.

Knox spent more than $400,000 to finish with 21.9% of the vote, followed by West Hollywood City Council members Paul Koretz and Abbe Land. Los Angeles school board member Mark Slavkin, who had a comparatively weak fund-raising effort, finished fifth.

Opponents criticized Knox for fear-mongering on the crime issue. But he defended his message, saying it was time for liberals to be tough on crime, instead of focusing solely on social programs aimed at reducing crime.

In walking precincts for five hours every day for two months, Knox said he became convinced that crime is on everyone’s mind.

“Literally every single person I spoke to would tell me what happened to them or a member of their family or a next-door neighbor recently,” he said. “The paramount concern on people’s minds is the crime situation.”

Dills’ victory, meanwhile, came as a surprise to many who thought that, in this era of term limits, his age made him vulnerable.

“I can’t believe all these people voted for Dills,” said a disappointed volunteer for one of his opponents. “Most people in the district weren’t even alive back when he (first) was a public official in 1938.”

But a victorious Dills said voters liked his experience. “They like the power that goes with it,” Dills said. “Despite the fact that I’m 84, I carry my weight. I’ll be there rapping the gavel at 4 a.m. when a lot of them have gone home.”

* RESULTS RECAP: Page 6