Incumbents’ Support Is No Help for 2 Aides

Endorsements from two influential Assembly incumbents were not enough to boost their aides to primary victories in the San Fernando Valley. Instead, the Democratic nominations--and, most likely, the Assembly seats--went to a small-city mayor and a Capitol staffer whose opponent turned sharply negative in the race’s final week.

By 11 percentage points, Lloyd Levine defeated Andrei Cherny in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for the 40th Assembly District, an area of the southwest Valley with enough Democrats to secure the seat for Levine in November’s general election.

Cherny, a 26-year-old regarded by many in his party as a Wunderkind, boasted the endorsement of incumbent Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks), who was the Assembly’s speaker and Cherny’s boss. But Levine, 32, seemed buoyed more by his work in Sacramento for Assemblyman John Longville (D-Rialto), the support of several labor unions and the connections of his father, a prominent political consultant.

In the northeast Valley’s 39th Assembly District, San Fernando Mayor Cindy Montanez, 28, trounced Yolanda Fuentes, 27, a staff member for outgoing incumbent Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Panorama City). Beating Fuentes by nearly 2 to 1, Montanez said she is confident she will defeat Republican real estate agent Ely De La Cruz Ayao.

“It’s a Democratic seat ... but we’re still going to run an effective campaign to make sure that we’re victorious in November and also to help out other Democrats,” she said.

(Cardenas, like Hertzberg, was barred by term limits from running for a fourth two-year term. On Wednesday, he was still awaiting the outcome of his close runoff in the Los Angeles City Council’s 2nd District.)

Not all of Tuesday’s Assembly results were disheartening to incumbents.

In the Antelope Valley, a safely Republican seat reaching into San Bernardino County will almost certainly stay in the family--the wife of incumbent George Runner, Sharon, beat three other Republicans.

Among the losers was Kern County Assemblyman Phil Wyman, who had moved into the district to run.

On the Democratic side, television producer Robert Davenport received 101 more votes than retired businessman Byron Bostic.

Of the two Assembly districts confined to the San Fernando Valley, Levine and Cherny’s race to represent Canoga Park, Northridge, Reseda, Van Nuys, Woodland Hills, West Hills and Winnetka was by far the more competitive. The first-time candidates struggled to strike differences on issues on which they mostly agreed. In its final days, the contest became bitter.

Cherny’s campaign, in particular, produced hit pieces so nasty that several top Democrats came out of neutrality to endorse Levine. One Cherny mailer questioned Levine’s pro-choice position on abortion, using reasoning that Cherny’s strategist admitted Tuesday was a mistake.

On election night, crammed into a two-room campaign office in a Van Nuys shopping center, Levine’s supporters waited nearly four hours for the tallies that indicated he had won.

About one-quarter of the 40th District’s registered Democrats voted Tuesday in the party’s primary. Levine won 55.5% of the 20,805 votes cast; Cherny took 44.5%. The lone Republican, business owner Connie Friedman, received 12,101 votes in her party’s primary.

Levine said he is not counting out Friedman but will prepare for November’s general election as if he were already headed to Sacramento.

“I’m going to make wise use of that time and be willing to hit the ground running from day one,” he said.

At Cherny’s headquarters, the candidate conceded his loss just after midnight in front of his staff, parents and friends from as far away as Hong Kong.

Beneath an admonition from Winston Churchill that “in this house

Hertzberg called soon after to congratulate Levine, whom he had previously dismissed in interviews as an unknown Sacramento staffer.

The former Assembly speaker did not call from Cherny’s headquarters, however. Hertzberg had spent the evening in Merced, cheering fellow assemblyman and congressional candidate Dennis Cardoza to victory over besieged 18th District incumbent Gary Condit.

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Times staff writer Garrett Therolf contributed to this report.