Capps Replaces Her Late Husband In Congress

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, March 11) -- In an early boost to the Democrats' drive to recapture the House this year, Lois Capps handily defeated Republican Tom Bordonaro Jr. on Tuesday to claim her late husband's seat in Congress.

The widow of the late Rep. Walter Capps beat Bordonaro, a state assemblyman, by a 53-45 percent margin in a special runoff election in California's 22nd congressional district. A Libertarian candidate, Robert Bakhaus, got 1.8 percent.

Capps, 60, a retired school nurse, talked about education and health care during the campaign and portrayed herself as a moderate more in step with the central California coastal district than the conservative Bordonaro.

Capps will serve the rest of her husband's term, which ends Jan. 3, 1999. Capps and Bordonaro both have entered the June primary for the next full term, which begins in January 1999.

The district, which covers parts of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, had been a Republican mainstay until Capps' husband won it 1996.

In victory, Lois Capps told supporters their voices had been heard, despite a profusion of independent, third-party expenditures in the race.

"We are sending such a strong message about outside interest groups, aren't we?" she said.

Bordonaro, a 38-year-old former rancher and tax preparer, blamed the loss on not getting his supporters to the polls.

"It's all about turnout in these special elections," Bordonaro told The Associated Press. "Somehow we did not get our voters out to the polls."

Bordonaro may have been left wounded by a tough GOP primary battle that pitted the party's conservative and moderate wings. Some party leaders, including House Speaker Newt Gingrich, had backed Brooks Firestone, a more centrist Republican. But Firestone finished third in balloting in January.

Wednesday March 11, 1998

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• Court Reinstates Carollo As Miami's Mayor
• House OKs Bill To Spur African Trade
• Burton: White House Is 'Keeping Secrets From Congress'
• Capps Replaces Her Late Husband In Congress
• Texas Voters Narrow The Field
• A Historical Tutorial On Impeachment, Censure
• White House Scandal At A Glance
• Grand Jury Focuses On Tripp Tapes
• No Little "Buddies"; First Dog To Be Fixed