Kuehl Wins by Wide Margin

Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl strolled into her post-election party 15 minutes before it was supposed to start, eagerly greeting the tiny knot of supporters who preceded her.

At a rival gathering across town, Assemblyman Wally Knox appeared at his own not-so-festive party about an hour late Tuesday night, remaining stone-faced as he badly trailed Kuehl, a longtime Democratic ally.

“I think it looks really good,” Kuehl said at a Santa Monica restaurant as the results began to tumble in. “I feel confident. I feel happy. I feel grateful.”

It was the low-key end to a highly charged primary battle for political survival in the 23rd state Senate District--a wealthy, liberal area where voters voiced more than a little dismay over being forced to choose between two popular Democrats nudged from the Assembly by term limits.

From the moment the early absentee ballots were counted, Kuehl held a substantial lead over her opponent. As the margin widened, she moved from modestly deflecting early congratulations to, after an enthusiastic 11 p.m. call from Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), proudly declaring victory with just 10% of the ballots counted.

By Wednesday morning, the magnitude of Kuehl’s conquest became clear. With all precincts reporting, she led with 50.5% of the vote to Knox’s 29.1%--and had already updated the message on her home answering machine.

“This is potentially Sen. Kuehl,” the new message says, noting that her title wouldn’t be official until after the general election in November. The southwest San Fernando Valley and Westside district is so heavily Democratic, however, that the race is as good as decided.

The outcome positions Kuehl to become California’s first openly gay or lesbian state Senator.

On election night, Knox refused to concede defeat at a tense party at a downtown Los Angeles club. As about 85 supporters munched tortilla chips and worried over their candidate’s poor showing, Knox repeatedly pointed the finger at the National Rifle Assn., saying it had amassed a “formidable force” to target him for defeat.

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He didn’t call Kuehl to congratulate her until well after midnight. But on Wednesday, Knox was more conciliatory, calling his opponent “a wonderful person and a superb legislator.”

“The fact that Sheila had as deep and broad a victory as she did means that the victory was to her credit,” Knox said. “And I do not believe that the NRA had a major influence on her victory.”

The race to fill state Sen. Tom Hayden’s seat was one of the most expensive legislative primary campaigns in California history, with the candidates raising more than $2 million combined. Kuehl collected endorsements from such prominent Democrats as Gov. Gray Davis and Sen. Barbara Boxer, while Knox pocketed an endorsement from Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, a popular Republican who also hosted a Knox fund-raiser.

Kuehl downplayed Riordan’s influence on the contest, saying it carried little weight with the smaller cities in the district’s western reaches. Instead, she said her leadership on a wide array of issues, from HMO reform to a law protecting gay students from discrimination, tipped the scales.

“I think that the one factor that made the difference was [my] very broad-based record of work on so many issues that serve the district, [including] social justice and the environment and health care,” Kuehl said. “[Knox] emphasized a few bills and I don’t think that he tied them into the larger concerns of the district effectively.”

Hayden, the anti-Vietnam War icon who represented the area for 18 years in the Legislature, offered another explanation for Kuehl’s decisive win: her snug fit with a freethinking district willing to support “a true creative spirit.”

“She’s overcome discrimination in her own life on a profound, personal level,” he said. “I don’t think [voters] rejected Wally. I just think this district would like somebody who’s been through adversity and knows what discrimination is.”