CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : Oakland Mayor Harris Leads Challenger Dang : In San Diego, Pfingst runs ahead of Stirling to become first new D.A. in 24 years. Initiatives to clear streets of homeless head for approval in San Francisco.

Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris was leading comfortably in a reelection battle with upstart challenger Ted Dang, a real estate developer, while in San Diego, Paul Pfingst appeared headed for victory over Larry Stirling in a bid to become the first new district attorney in 24 years, results in prominent local California elections showed Tuesday.

San Franciscans, meanwhile, were approving two companion initiatives designed to remove the homeless from their downtown streets.

The Oakland mayoral race divided a city beset by daunting troubles and wondering whether drastic change is needed at the highest level--even if it means ending an 18-year reign of African American leadership.

The city is still reeling from the 1989 earthquake and the 1991 fire, as well as chronic crime and economic woes. But political leaders in the city’s African American community had warned that if Dang was elected, it would erode hard-won political gains at a time when the city is on the brink of renewal.

Harris 47, a former three-term assemblyman, is seen as a savvy, energetic mayor. But he has offended some constituents with what they feel is an impatient and condescending air.

Dang, 43, the son of Chinese immigrants, burst onto the political scene in the June primary, casting himself as a businessman who would trim city government, work with business and add police.

The possibility that an African American could be toppled by an Asian American in the state’s largest city with an African American plurality has been viewed as a sign of just how multicultural the city has become.

In San Francisco, Proposition M--yet another attempt by the city to clear its sidewalks of homeless people--calls for a ban on people lying or sitting on commercial district sidewalks between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.

A companion measure, Proposition N, would require recipients of general assistance to spend a major part of their grants on housing--for which the funds already are intended.

In San Diego County, the race for district attorney pitted Pfingst, 43, who won popularity as one of the city’s highest-profile prosecutors before going into private practice, against Stirling, 52, a municipal judge who previously served as a San Diego city councilman, assemblyman and state senator. Edwin L. Miller Jr. lost his reelection bid in June after serving 24 years as San Diego’s district attorney.

In other local races around California:

* Berkeley voters were choosing from 19 City Council candidates; Thomas Burcham, an attorney and co-owner of a delicatessen, was trailing in the race after flaunting himself as the first candidate in 25 years to run for the nonpartisan seat as a Republican.

* In San Bernardino County, a mud-slinging race for district attorney found Dennis Stout, a deputy prosecutor and the mayor of Rancho Cucamonga, ahead of San Bernardino City Atty. James Penman.

* In the Bay Area city of Albany, the City Council was winning voter support to approve a card room beneath the grandstands of Golden Gate Fields racetrack because gambling revenue is needed by the city to help offset a $600,000 municipal budget deficit.

* In Fresno--where the population has nearly tripled since the last new high school opened in 1962--a $215-million school construction bond issue appeared short of winning a two-thirds majority approval. Previous efforts to approve new school construction funds have failed.

* In Sacramento, Robbie Waters was leading in his bid for a seat on the City Council, banking on a colorful and mostly illustrious 28-year career as a local lawman, including a stint as county sheriff. His tenure, however, was marred by an arrest for drunk driving in 1984.

* In Alpine County, where there was a tie in the June county sheriff’s election, two candidates were hoping that electoral lightning would not strike twice. Incumbent Sheriff Henry (Skip) Veatch and challenger Villa (Lew) Roper, a California Highway Patrol officer, each got 276 votes in that first election.

* In Santa Cruz, voters rebuked a 24-year-old City Council candidate known simply as Rodent who campaigned as “the other white meat.”

Among Rodent’s campaign promises: to change the color of police uniforms to orange and purple and to introduce restrictions on people who wear Spandex.