All State Incumbent Members of Congress Elected to New Terms

Longtime Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) and every other incumbent member of Congress from California were reelected Tuesday, a turn that left the state’s delegation split 27 to 18 in favor of the Democrats.

Lagomarsino has spent the past year trying to repel a challenge by state Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara). The race, in a district on the coast north and west of Los Angeles, was one of the most contested House campaigns in the country.

Lagomarsino has been a popular congressman in the area for 15 years, and the seat was held by Republicans long before he won it. But some Republican leaders feared that Hart, a former school teacher, might be the kind of Democrat who could bring off an upset.

Cost of $2 Million

More than $2 million was spent by the two candidates.

“People realize that he’s been a fantastic congressman and has met his constituents’ needs,” said Robert Mobley, Lagomarsino’s volunteer campaign chairman, at a victory party in a Mexican restaurant in Ventura.

In the San Jose area, Republican Thomas J. Campbell defeated Democratic San Mateo County Supervisor Anna Eshoo to keep a longtime GOP seat in the party fold.

Campbell is a 36-year-old economist and Stanford Law School professor who worked for the Reagan Administration. The district where he was winning is the last in the San Francisco Bay Area to be represented by a Republican.

Two other new Republicans were elected to Congress in races where there was only token opposition. The newly elected House members are Dana Rohrabacher, who will represent parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties, and C. Christopher Cox, also of Orange County.

Surviving Democrats

All of the Democrats who appeared vulnerable survived Republican challenges.

Rep. George Brown Jr. (D-Colton) defeated insurance agent John Paul Stark for the fourth time in a race that national Republican advisers had hoped to win.

Brown is a liberal who used to represent parts of Los Angeles, left Congress to run for the U.S. Senate, and returned to the House from a district that now covers San Bernardino and parts of Riverside County.

Stark, a conservative with support from Christian activists, plastered the district with reflective signs which said only that Brown opposed the death penalty. Brown said the signs probably helped him.

“Most of my constituents thought I put those signs up,” Brown chuckled while watching returns at the Riverside County registrar of voters.

Rep. Jim Bates (D-San Diego), who was presumed early in the year to face an easy reelection challenge, was accused of sexual harassment by current and former aides. The charges gave new impetus to the Republican challenger, Rob Butterfield Jr.

But Bates won his reelection, though by a narrower margin than in his past races.

On the east side of Los Angeles County, Rep. Matthew G. Martinez (D-Monterey Park) overcame a challenge by businessman Ralph Ramirez to easily win reelection.

The Lagomarsino and Hart race for the House, one of the most expensive in the country, pitted two politicians who have enjoyed success along the Santa Barbara and Ventura coast, but who appeal to different voters.

Lagomarsino is a conservative in the Reagan mold, an advocate of aid to the Nicaraguan Contras and supportive of defense spending, especially at Vandenberg Air Force Base and other installations in the district.

Hart is a liberal who campaigned against Contra aid and the Strategic Defense Initiative, or Star Wars. He charged that Lagomarsino is weak on the environment.

At times, the campaign strayed from defense and environment to side issues. Lagomarsino sent mailers saying Hart would be beholden to “West Los Angeles” interests for taking help from Democratic Reps. Henry Waxman and Howard Berman.

Debate Charge

Hart, meanwhile, alleged that Lagomarsino was ducking debates.

The San Jose-area race between Campbell and Eshoo turned into a battle of party heavyweights sent in to do battle for loyal local talent.

Campbell, who directed a staff of 200 attorneys at the Federal Trade Commission before he was 30, benefited from appearances by GOP celebrities such as former U.N. Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick and former Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Hanford Dole.

Help for Eshoo came in the form of Sen. Bill Bradley (D-New Jersey) and Sen. Albert Gore (D-Tenn.). Eshoo has been a Democratic Party committeewoman for several years and played an active role in national conventions.

In a district where even the Republicans tend to the liberal on social issues, both candidates favor the Equal Rights Amendment and won the endorsement of the Sierra Club and other environmental groups. But they differed on defense policy and how to reduce the federal deficit.

Campbell set the race up by defeating Rep. Ernest Konnyu (R-Saratoga) in the June Republican primary. Konnyu vowed on election night last June to never support Campbell but ended up in his camp.

Easy Races

The two newly elected congressmen who had the easiest time of it Tuesday were Rohrabacher and Cox.

Both won hotly disputed Republican primaries in June in districts where the GOP registration is overwhelming. They were considered anointed once they got through the primary.

Rohrabacher, a former journalist and White House speech writer, will represent the 42nd District, which runs from Torrance south through Long Beach and into beach cities in Orange County. He replaces Rep. Daniel Lungren (R-Long Beach), who retired from Congress.

Cox, also a former White House aide, will go to Washington from the 40th District in the center of Orange County. He replaces Rep. Robert Badham (R-Newport Beach), who retired.