Capps Succeeds Her Husband

By Alan Greenblatt, CQ Staff Writer

California Democrat Lois Capps had scarcely won the special House election for her late husband's seat March 10 when her opponent, state Rep. Tom Bordonaro, fired the first salvo of the next campaign.

"Now the real race starts," said Bordonaro, who is unopposed for the Republican nomination to face Capps again in November.

"Now we are running against the incumbent Lois Capps, not the widow Lois Capps," said Bordonaro, who got 45 percent of the vote versus Capps' 53 percent. Republicans were quick to note that widows who seek to serve out their husband's unexpired term are nearly always elected.

The total vote was roughly two-thirds of the 22nd District vote for Congress in 1996, when Walter Capps became the first Democrat to win the Santa Barbara-based district in half a century. He died of a heart attack in October. Lois Capps now becomes the fifth person to represent the district since 1992.

John Culver, chairman of the political science department at California Polytechnic State Institute in San Luis Obispo, said that Republicans "claimed a historical legacy to the district, like China claiming Tibet," but said that Capps had won over some Republicans.

"The Santa Barbara contingent [of the GOP] is concerned about the environment and pro-choice," Culver said.

Bordonaro beat Capps in his home county of San Luis Obispo, where he claimed slightly more than half the vote. Libertarian Robert Bakhaus finished with 2 percent of the overall vote.

Capps asked voters for the right to carry on her husband's "legacy," but campaigned on a platform of her own. A former school nurse, she stressed the need for improved schools, crime prevention and increased access to health care.

Capps outspent Bordonaro by a ratio of about 2 to 1. But the candidates' own spending was sometimes overshadowed by that of the parties and several interest groups. When final reports have been tallied, overall spending in the contest is expected to approach $4 million.

© 1998 Congressional Quarterly Inc. All rights reserved.

Saturday March 14, 1998

• GOP Struggles To Find Strategy To Deal With Starr Fallout
• Departing from Tradition, A Kennedy Calls A Halt
• Seeking Showdown With Clinton, Gingrich Gets One With GOP
• Capps Succeeds Her Husband
• Computer-Reliant U.S. Society Faces Growing Risk Of 'Information War'
• Senate Measures Would Limit Minors' Access to 'Cyberporn'
• Kim Escapes Prison Sentence But Still Faces Ethics Panel