3 Long Beach Candidates in Assembly Race : Politics: At least some of the figures campaigning for the primary election to replace Dennis Brown are familiar to local voters--and to each other.

LONG BEACH —  With three Long Beach politicians pursuing their parties’ nominations in the 58th Assembly District race, the June primaries may seem as familiar as a summer rerun to local voters.

Two City Council members, Jan Hall and Jeffrey A. Kellogg, are running with three other candidates in the Republican primary, while Luanne Pryor, a former competitor of Hall for the mayor’s seat, is one of two contenders in the Democratic primary.

At least they will know who their enemies are.

“There is something to say for that. You know who the candidates are. I’ve served with Jeff, I know how he’s voted,” said Hall, a 12-year council veteran who announced earlier this year that she would not seek another council term.

The 58th primaries suddenly blossomed with contenders last week after Republican incumbent Dennis Brown of Los Alamitos announced that “the Lord wants me to do something else with my life” and dropped out of the race.

Along with Kellogg and Hall, Long Beach physician Seymour Alban, Huntington Beach banker and businessman Peter E. von Elten and Huntington Beach Mayor Thomas J. Mays are competing in the GOP primary. Pryor, a public relations executive, will face Joel R. Bishop, a computer systems analyst from Long Beach, in the Democratic primary.

Scott Stier of Long Beach is running on the Libertarian Party ticket.

Kellogg, a freshman councilman and executive in his family’s oil-drilling business, jumped into the race Wednesday, the last day of primary filing.

One of the most conservative members of the council, Kellogg, 36, appeared to be casting a line to Brown followers when he declared in his announcement: “If I am elected, I will not be afraid to say ‘no’ if I believe that funding for a program can be better used fighting crime.”

So often has Brown, a staunch conservative, voted no in the Assembly that he is known as “Dr. No.”

Both Hall, 47, and Pryor, 61, said they would seek the women’s vote, firmly planting themselves in pro-choice territory.

“It’s probably one of the most exciting years ever for a woman candidate,” said Pryor, who forced Hall and Ernie Kell into a mayoral runoff that Kell won two years ago.

Although the district is a Republican one split between Orange and Los Angeles counties, Pryor said the absence of an incumbent and the crowded GOP field could be a boon to the Democrats. “All the people entered in the Republican race are going to have quite a time with each other.”

Bishop, who works for Orange County, is the only candidate who filed for the seat before Brown pulled out. “I felt at the time that he needed a strong challenger,” Bishop, 32, explained.

Alban, a well-established orthopedic surgeon, has never run for public office before but will almost certainly be able to draw on financial help from the medical community.

Von Elten, alluding to last month’s Huntington Beach oil spill, vowed to refuse contributions from any companies involved in offshore oil drilling or oil tanker shipments.

Von Elten, 46, is an executive vice president and general counsel for the Mola Development Corp. in Newport Beach. He said he will focus his campaign on education, crime, transportation, the elderly, the environment and “getting government off the backs of small business in California.”

Mays, 36, gained extensive exposure during the oil spill crisis, when he was regularly interviewed on television and said he would continue to sound environmental themes.

Times staff writer Bob Schwartz contributed to this story.