Results in 72nd District Race Stall GOP Assembly Hopes : Politics: No winner emerged Tuesday, so Republicans will have to wait until after September runoff for likely reinforcement in battle for Legislature.

North County may be solid Republican territory, but the Democratic Party won a temporary victory of sorts in this week’s primary election for the vacant seat in the 72nd Assembly District.

Because none of the candidates in Tuesday’s race got more than 50% of the vote, a runoff between a Democrat and a Republican must be held Sept. 12. Thus, the turbulent Assembly will not get a new member--expected by most observers to be a Republican--for nearly two months.

For now, that means one less Republican vote to influence the continuing battle over the Assembly speakership in which a single vote is important.

Although Democrat Shirley Hafner, 56, a manager at UCI Medical Center and a Fullerton resident, came in third of the four candidates in the primary, she will face Republican Richard Ackerman, 52, a Fullerton attorney who won 47.2% of the vote.

“The unfortunate part of the race is that Dick came so close to capturing that 50%-plus-one majority,” Thomas A. Fuentes, chairman of the county Republican Party, said Wednesday. “It would be nice to have this done with because I am sure he will win in September and now we have a delay.”

The most heated among several issues in the Assembly is the recall campaign targeting Speaker Doris Allen (R-Cypress), who has been accused by her GOP colleagues of conspiring with the Democrats to gather enough votes to become speaker, replacing Willie Brown (D-San Francisco.)

“As close as things are up there, one vote means a lot,” Fuentes said.

Ackerman, who spent 12 years on the Fullerton City Council and is a former Fullerton mayor, said he agrees with those who, like Fuentes, want to see Allen recalled.

“Unless there are some substantial changes in her actions, we should stay the course on the recall,” Ackerman said.

Ackerman handily defeated his two Republican challengers: Chris Norby, a Brea Olinda High School teacher and Fullerton councilman, and Barbara Kiley, a political consultant and member of the Yorba Linda City Council.

With about 800 votes still uncounted Wednesday, officials at the county Registrar of Voters are expected to have the final tally today.

The winner of the runoff will take over the seat vacated by Republican Ross Johnson, who moved out of the North County district to Irvine and was elected to the state Senate.

The 72nd Assembly District includes La Habra, Placentia, Fullerton, Yorba Linda, Brea and parts of Anaheim Hills and Buena Park.