Incumbents Prevail in Races for U.S. House

Assemblywoman Juanita McDonald is going to Congress--with 13,097 votes.

McDonald, who came out on top of a nine-candidate field Tuesday, was the winner of the most hotly contested congressional race in California. But in doing so, she made it to the U.S. House of Representatives on the strength of precious few votes, primarily because of a sparse voter turnout coupled with a bulging field of candidates.

By winning the Democratic primary, as well as a simultaneous special election, McDonald will fill out the unexpired term of Walter R. Tucker III, who resigned in December after a federal extortion conviction. And she is also virtually assured of a victory in the November election because the district is so heavily Democratic.

McDonald’s victory was one of the 52 congressional primaries held in California on Tuesday. And while a handful were hard-fought--most of them in Southern California--the vast majority went as expected. No incumbent was unseated in any of the contests.

The 37th District commanded the most attention, primarily because of the publicity surrounding Tucker’s trial and the field of candidates--including Tucker’s wife--that was made up of some of the biggest political names in ethnically diverse southern Los Angeles County. In the primary contest, McDonald defeated her main rival, Assemblyman Willard Murray Jr., by a scant 1,054 votes in an election in which the turnout hovered around 25%.

Late Tuesday, while she listened to the cheers and praises at her victory party, McDonald said that it was a bittersweet moment because her son, Keith, had failed in his bid to replace her in the Assembly.

Earlier in the evening, she said the race, to a certain extent, had been about family names--especially that of Tucker, the heir to a Compton political dynasty.

“Perhaps this is an era when a new family will emerge and begin a reign of political life,” she said at one point as the returns rolled in at her campaign party in the Champagne Ballroom of the Carson Hilton. “Clearly, the Tucker name has been around for years. If it’s to be, the McDonald name will emerge.”

At 2 a.m., McDonald took to the ballroom’s podium to declare victory and told two dozen bleary-eyed supporters that she would fight for more federal funds for the Alameda Corridor, the rail artery from the harbor area to downtown Los Angeles, and for welfare reform.

But the scene was quite different in a tree-lined Compton neighborhood where Walter and Robin Tucker knew early Tuesday the race was lost. Family members sat on the couch and in extra chairs in the den, as clusters of red, white and blue balloons floated overhead.

The Tuckers acknowledged that the campaign had been emotionally wrenching for them but said they were determined to breathe life back into the political legacy they inherited.

“We still love and care for the constituents,” Robin Tucker said. “We don’t know anything else.”

Two other races in the Los Angeles area became targets for both parties with the announcement by the incumbents--one a Democrat, another a Republican--that they were leaving office. The two primaries were the 24th District, where U.S. Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) is retiring and the 27th, a seat held by Rep. Carlos Moorhead (R-Glendale) for a quarter century.

In the 24th’s Democratic primary, Board of Equalization member Brad Sherman of Sherman Oaks easily defeated six other candidates to become his party’s nominee to replace Beilenson.

Sherman will face Republican Rich Sybert, Gov. Pete Wilson’s former planning director, who easily defeated his two opponents. Two years ago, Sybert nearly unseated Beilenson, whose district includes Thousand Oaks, Malibu and portions of the San Fernando Valley.

With district registration almost evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, strategists from both major parties have targeted the race as one of the pivotal contests that could determine control of the House of Representatives.

“This is going to be one of the most closely watched races in the country,” Sherman said Wednesday. “I’m going to put everything I’ve got into it.”

Sybert, an attorney, vows to remain a dogged campaigner. “This is the fourth year that I’ve been running. I’m not about to let up.”

In the 27th Congressional District, the primaries produced a fall matchup between current Assembly Majority Leader James Rogan (R-Glendale) and Doug Kahn, an heir to the Annenberg fortune who largely funded his own campaign.

Kahn beat former Screen Actors Guild President Barry Gordon for the Democratic nomination, despite Gordon’s key Democratic Party support on the local and state level, as well as extensive union backing. Gordon suffered from a comparative shortage of funds and then last-minute attacks from Kahn.

Kahn said he won by talking about the issues as much as possible.

“People appreciate hard work and common sense and they particularly appreciate it when you talk about the issues,” Kahn said.

Rogan, one of the most popular politicians in the area, won the GOP primary with nearly 90% of the vote and will try to keep the key seat being vacated by Moorhead in Republican hands.

In San Diego’s 50th Congressional District, two-term Democratic incumbent Bob Filner turned back a primary challenge from San Diego Councilman Juan Carlos Vargas, 54% to 46%.

Filner, 53, said that his stand in favor of keeping abortion legal tipped the balance in the election. With just two weeks remaining, polls for both candidates showed Vargas beating Filner.

In the final days Filner’s television advertisements and mailers reminded voters of his long-standing support of abortion rights and labeled Vargas as “anti-choice.”

Other winners included Rep. Jay C. Kim (R-Diamond Bar), who defeated securities broker Bob Kerns despite admissions by several Korean companies that they made illegal campaign donations to Kim, the first Korean American to serve in Congress.

And in Northern California, Michela Alioto, granddaughter of former San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto, won the Democratic primary in the 1st Congressional District. She will face Republican Rep. Frank Riggs in the November election.

Contributing to this story were Times staff writers Nancy Hill-Holtzman in Los Angeles, Tony Perry in San Diego and Kenneth Weiss in Ventura.