Republicans have early lead in key Legislature races

Democrats trying to recapture a powerful supermajority in the California Legislature after being hobbled by a series of political scandals were trailing in early returns Tuesday in races pivotal to regaining the party’s grip on the Capitol.

Half of the 40 state Senate seats and all 80 Assembly seats were on the ballot, with candidates and independent groups spending millions of dollars in some close contests.

Republican state party Chairman Jim Brulte said a top priority for the election was to block Democrats from regaining a two-thirds majority in both houses that would enable them to raise taxes and put measures on the ballot without Republican support.

“Every day they are able to shut Republicans out of lawmaking is a threat to our conservative values and California’s future,” Brulte said in a recent email to Republican voters.

Democrats won supermajorities in both houses in the 2012 elections, but a series of scandals involving Democratic state senators cost them that advantage. The Senate suspended three Democratic members in March over criminal charges. That left them two members short of a 27-member supermajority in the upper house.

One of those suspended, Sen. Roderick D. Wright, resigned in September after he was found guilty of eight felony charges, including lying about living in his district. A special election has been scheduled for Dec. 9, when Democrats are heavily favored to regain the seat.

Sens. Leland Yee of San Francisco and Ronald S. Calderon of Montebello were suspended after federal grand juries indicted them in separate cases alleging corruption, including accepting bribes.

Republican candidates seized on the scandals to paint their Democratic opponents as part of a corrupt culture in Sacramento.

Senate races seen as most competitive were targeted by Democratic and Republican leaders, including one for an Orange County seat formerly held by Democrat Lou Correa of Santa Ana, who is termed out.

Republican Janet Nguyen was leading Democrat Jose Solorio in the 34th Senate District, where Democrats have a small advantage in voter registration.

Solorio, 44, is president of the Rancho Santiago Community College District Board of Trustees and previously served six years in the state Assembly. Nguyen, 38, is a Garden Grove resident and Orange County supervisor.

Nguyen attacked Solorio in television ads and mailers by quoting the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. as calling her opponent “one of the greatest threats to Proposition 13 on this year’s ballot,” referring to the state’s landmark property tax law.

The other top target for party leaders was in the San Joaquin Valley, where Republican state Sen. Andy Vidak was leading Democratic challenger Luis Chavez.

In another closely watched Senate contest, Democrat Tony Mendoza was leading Republican Mario Guerra in a race to represent Calderon’s old district in east Los Angeles County.

Mendoza, a 43-year-old teacher, lives in Artesia and served six years in the state Assembly before term limits forced him to leave.

Guerra, a 55-year-old member of the Downey City Council, is a partner and co-founder of SGB-NIA Insurance.

The Democrats were expected to lose a member Tuesday with Sen. Mark DeSaulnier leading a contest for a congressional seat, which would force a special election for the San Francisco Bay Area.

Tuesday marked the first election for the 20 even-numbered Senate seats since their district boundaries were redrawn in 2011, ending two years during which nearly 4 million Californians did not have a state senator elected by their community.

In the Assembly, party leaders also focused money and attention on a few competitive districts. Before the election, Democrats held 55 seats, one more than necessary for a supermajority.

Democratic Assemblyman Steve Fox was trailing GOP challenger Tom Lackey in early returns for a closely watched Palmdale-area Assembly race.

Republicans had made Fox’s ouster a top priority in hopes of breaking the Democratic supermajority in the lower house.

In another targeted contest, Democrat Jacqui Irwin was leading Republican Rob McCoy for an Assembly seat in Ventura County, in a race that attracted a surge of independent spending.

Irwin is a Thousand Oaks City Council member. McCoy is a pastor at Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Newbury Park.

They were vying for a post held by moderate Republican Assemblyman Jeff Gorell of Camarillo, who passed up a reelection bid to run for Congress.

Both the Republican and Democratic parties spent significantly in the race, but outside groups also poured resources into it.

There was nearly $1 million in independent spending in the 44th Assembly District, the vast majority to boost Irwin, whose backers included labor groups and business interests.

Democratic Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva was trailing Republican challenger Young Kim in one of the year’s most expensive Assembly races.

Democratic Party committees spent nearly $2 million in the last month of the campaign to protect Quirk-Silva, whose seat in the 65th district was seen as crucial in keeping the party’s supermajority in the Assembly.

In October, the California Republican Party directed more than $650,000 to boost Kim, a former aide to Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton).

Observers said the race between Kim, a Korean American, and Quirk-Silva, who is Latina, illustrated the changing demographics of Orange County, which have turned this once solidly Republican seat into a swing district.

patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com

Twitter: @mcgreevy99

melanie.mason@latimes.com

Twitter: @melmason