Davis, Boxer Win; Prop. 5 OKd : Democrats Make Key Gains in State, Nation

Putting a definitive end to 16 years of GOP rule in Sacramento, Democrat Gray Davis won a decisive victory Tuesday over Republican Dan Lungren in the race for California governor, while Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer unexpectedly romped to reelection.

Davis, once considered a longshot at best, made history as only the fourth Democratic governor elected in California this century--and only the second without the last name Brown. And he powered a strong showing by Democrats farther down the ballot.

A beaming Lt. Gov. Davis declared his victory “a clear indication the voters want to take a moderate path for California.”

“That is who I am, that is how I ran, and that is how I will govern,” Davis told cheering supporters at a victory rally in downtown Los Angeles. “I will be a governor for all the people in this state, not just the people who voted for me.”

A gracious Lungren conceded defeat soon after Davis spoke.

“I want to wish him well and wish the state well over the next four years,” said Atty. Gen. Lungren, surrounded by disconsolate family members at a gloomy GOP election night gathering in Newport Beach. “As partisan as politics may be, it’s important to work together and make the state as good as can be.”

Running away after a nip-and-tuck race for U.S. Senate, Boxer easily defeated Republican state Treasurer Matt Fong, en route to a new six-year term--after spending her first six years in office atop the GOP’s target list.

Flanked by her family and pumping her fists in the air, a triumphant Boxer thanked her supporters late Tuesday at a raucous San Francisco rally.

“They said we couldn’t do it, that I was a fluke of history,” she laughed. “They said that I was too progressive, they said I was too supportive of our president. They said I was too feisty. . . . But they all missed something. They missed the deep support I have in this, the greatest state in the union.”

Addressing supporters in Newport Beach, Fong sent his regards to Boxer and Davis while serving notice that he plans to stay in politics. “Tomorrow in America is another day,” Fong said. “Watch out. We’re coming back.”

Proposition 5, the Indian gaming initiative and the subject of the most expensive ballot fight in U.S. history, was approved by voters and headed toward a legal challenge as early as this week.

Proposition 9, which would affect utility regulation, was handily defeated. Proposition 10, an attempt to slap a 50-cents-a-pack tax on cigarettes to finance early childhood development programs, was trailing by a small margin.

With strong momentum for Davis in the final days of the campaign and an unprecedented effort to get out the vote, Democrats were hoping for the best party showing in 30 years--since Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Sr. won a landslide victory in 1958 and Democrats captured five of six statewide races.

Democrats managed a clean sweep of the three open constitutional offices.

Democrat Cruz Bustamante handily defeated Republican Tim Leslie in the race for lieutenant governor. His win creates the first Democratic tandem of governor and lieutenant governor in California in nearly 20 years. Also, it makes Assemblyman Bustamante (D-Fresno) the first Latino elected to a statewide office in a century.

In the race for state treasurer, Democrat Phil Angelides defeated Republican Assemblyman Curt Pringle. In the race for attorney general, Democratic state Sen. Bill Lockyer of Hayward defeated Republican Deputy Atty. Gen. Dave Stirling.

Incumbents Lead in Statewide Races

Among incumbents, Democratic Controller Kathleen Connell defeated Republican Ruben Barrales; and Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush beat Democrat Diane Martinez. Republican Secretary of State Bill Jones was narrowly ahead of Democrat Michela Alioto.

In the nonpartisan race for superintendent of public instruction, incumbent Democrat Delaine Eastin declared victory over Republican Gloria Matta Tuchman.

But most important was the outcome at the top of the ticket. With Democrats controlling the governorship and both legislative houses in Sacramento, the party will enjoy an upper hand in state politics well into the early 21st century, thanks to unfettered control of the decennial reapportionment process.

Republican Gov. Pete Wilson must step down in January after serving the limit of two terms.

Half a dozen or more seats in California’s House delegation, the nation’s largest, could change hands as a result of how the state’s political boundaries are redrawn. (After the 2000 census, California’s contingent could increase from 54 to 56 or more members of the House, more than one-eighth the nation’s total.)

That, in turn, could affect the national balance of congressional power. For that reason, the race for California governor was widely considered the single most important electoral contest in America.

The results provided a dramatic flourish to the most expensive state elections in U.S. history, a series of contests whose tab ran well over a quarter of a billion dollars.

Although Davis and Lungren spent about $50 million between them, the thickest wallets were wielded by gambling interests, electric utilities and the tobacco industry, which spent more than $155 million targeting Propositions 5, 9 and 10.

“This is the supernova of elections,” said Robert M. Stern, co-director of the Center for Governmental Studies, a Los Angeles money-and-politics research group. “We’ve never seen anything like it and may never see it again. The combination of [Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Al] Checchi, Propositions 5, 9 and 10, some very expensive legislative seats and the Davis-Lungren blitz all added up. I wish I’d invested in local TV and in political consulting firms.”

More than the record spending, however, this campaign season was noteworthy for producing one of the most remarkable turns of fortune in modern California political history. Not for nothing did the Davis staff proudly dub his campaign “the road kill comeback tour.”

A year ago, Democrats were holding their collective breath in the hope that Sen. Dianne Feinstein would enter the contest. When she declined in January, pundits and many in the party figured that the Democratic nomination would go to one of two free-spending millionaires, businessman Al Checchi or Rep. Jane Harman (D-Torrance).

Davis, who devoted most of the last 25 years to a methodical pursuit of the governor’s office, was written off as too boring and too

old hat to beat his flashier and better-financed competition. He spent much of the primary season mired in third place, practically begging contributors and even his own party establishment to take him seriously. A mere seven weeks before the primary--when he could finally afford to start TV advertising--few gave the plodding Davis much chance.

But Checchi’s $40-million candidacy imploded and his barrage of negative ads took Harman down with him. Davis, largely unscathed, not only finished first in the June 2 primary, but actually outpolled Lungren, who appeared on the same ballot under the state’s new free-for-all blanket primary system.

Lungren’s weak showing was a warning sign for the GOP nominee, who struggled throughout the campaign to expand his reach beyond his core of conservative Republican backers.

Starting out, the two gubernatorial hopefuls were seen as bookends. Both are Catholic white middle-class lawyers in their 50s, who spent decades in public office and years plotting their races for governor. But Davis proved the far cannier politician.

He quickly seized the middle ground, where most statewide California races are decided, by taking control of the campaign agenda--turning the race largely into a referendum on abortion, gun control, support for public education and the environment. He portrayed himself as a centrist and painted Lungren off to the far right.

“He wants to roll the clock back. I want to move California forward,” Davis said in kicking off his fall campaign with a series of Labor Day stops. “My views are in sync with Californians. He’s out of step and out of sync.”

Lungren, in contrast, spent much of his campaign casting about in search of a consistent message. Trying various themes, he called for tax cuts, sought to make personal character an issue and talked about vouchers--using public funds to boost private schools--as a way of shaking up the state’s education system.

But again and again, Lungren, who wore two hats as candidate and chief campaign strategist, returned to crime-fighting as the focus of his efforts, an issue that rallied Republicans but did little to expand the attorney general’s following beyond his built-in base of support.

Hard-Fought Senate Race

Davis led in the polls from start to finish and, literally, never broke a sweat capturing the office he has coveted since serving nearly 25 years ago as chief of staff to the state’s last Democratic governor, Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown. Jr.

In contrast, the race for U.S. Senate was closely fought to the end, with Fong and Boxer leading the polls at different points during the campaign. Boxer, whose outspokenness makes her one of California’s most polarizing politicians, was guaranteed a tough race the day she won office six years ago with a mere 48% of the vote.

For all the talk of her vulnerabilities, however, only two challengers stepped forward to oppose the incumbent Democrat. Fong, making his third run for statewide office, defeated car alarm magnate Darrell Issa in a scrappy primary that left Fong flat broke the day after his victory.

A deep reservoir of anti-Boxer sentiment kept the race competitive, however, and the momentum seemed to shift in Fong’s direction over the summer as a result of the Monica S. Lewinsky scandal. Boxer was notably tepid in her condemnation of President Clinton, in contrast to her crusades against Republicans Clarence Thomas and Bob Packwood when they faced charges of sexual misconduct.

But Fong’s financial difficulties and poor fund-raising performance eventually caught up with his campaign. For weeks, Boxer pounded away at her Republican challenger in a series of negative and largely unanswered television spots that assailed Fong’s positions on issues such as abortion, gun control and HMO reform--portraying him--a la Davis’ depiction of Lungren--as outside California’s mainstream.

But that message--indeed, those of each candidate--competed on the airwaves with an unprecedented spending blitz by some of California’s most powerful monied interests.

Gambling interests shattered campaign finance records by spending more than $90 million in the fight over Proposition 5, the Indian gaming initiative.

The tobacco industry spent more than $28 million trying to defeat Proposition 10, the proposed 50-cents per pack tax increase initiative, and several electrical utilities raised more than $40 million beating Proposition 9, which promised a 20% rate reduction.

But for all the free-flowing dollars, none of the initiatives captured the public’s fancy or drove the political agenda the way Propositions 187, which dealt with immigration, or Proposition 209, which struck down state affirmative action programs, once had.

In a largely tranquil political environment, the prevailing public mood was even-tempered and aversion toward anything--or any candidate--suggesting anything too radical.

The latest vote totals, analysis from Times political writers, video excerpts from candidates’ speeches, and a discussion about the results are on The Times’ Web site: https://www.latimes.com/elect98

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Contributing to tonight’s election coverage were Times staff writers Agnes Diggs, Virginia Ellis, John Glionna, Matea Gold, Carl Ingram, Eric Lichtblau, Eric Malnic, Seema Mehta, Jean Merl, Josh Meyer, Tony Perry, Amy Pyle, Esther Schrader, Beth Shuster, Hector Tobar and Phil Willon and correspondents Jack Leonard and Richard Winton.