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Subject: More women, minorities aim for state legislatures
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 15:19:55 EST
Message-ID: <news18.1992Nov3.151955@AmeriCast.com>

\SE A;NATION
\SS (WS)
\HD More women, minorities aim for state legislatures
\BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

From Juneau to Hartford, the nation's state legislatures are changing
in ways that mirror the upheaval in Congress: More incumbents are leaving;
more women and minorities are running.

As in Washington, the balance of power is likely to stay firmly tipped
to the Democrats once the votes are counted in today's elections.

One in five of the nearly 7,500 incumbents won't be on the ballot;
record numbers of women and minorities will be.  In all, nearly 6,300 seats
will be decided.

And redistricting under the 1990 census, in line with 1982 Voting
Rights Act amendments, all but ensures that more minorities will win.
Courts, and in some cases the U.S.  Justice Department, have made sure of
it.

"Believe it or not, even partisan gerrymandering had to take a back
seat to that," said Tim Storey, a policy analyst at the National Conference
of State Legislatures.

The anti-incumbent mood that has prompted a record number of
retirements in Congress seems to have trickled down to the state level,
leading some lawmakers to forgo re-election bids - or lose primaries.
Others sought higher office.  Still others were, or will be, squeezed out
by redistricting.

In Alaska, 11 of 20 incumbent senators and 19 of 40 representatives
won't be on the ballot today.  More than a third of the California Assembly
is already gone.  Nationwide, at least four dozen house speakers, senate
presidents and other top legislative leaders won't be back.

Combine anti-incumbent sentiment with tough tax and budget choices that
many legislatures have had to face, and some of the luster may have gone
out of serving in the state house.

"A little-advertised benefit of serving in public office is you feel
the public appreciates you, and that has never been at as low an ebb as it
is now,' said Connecticut Democratic Rep.  Irving Stolberg, the state's
former House speaker, who chose retirement this year after 22 in office.

But he and other observers believe the "throw the bums out" mood won't
turn out to be much of a threat to incumbents who made it to today's
ballot.

"In each of the last two or three elections there's been this feeling
out there of antagonism toward incumbents, yet the re-election rate of
those actually running remains pretty high," said Rich Jones, director of
legislative programs for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

As Karl Kurtz, NCSL's director of state services, put it, "A lot of
people say they hate the legislature, 'but gee, ol' Joe, the guy who
represents me, is a really good guy.'  "

Of course, ol' Joe can't win if he isn't in the race.  The turnover
rate, historically higher in years of redistricting, is 20 percent going
into today's elections; the NCSL predicts it could hit 35 percent after the
ballots are counted.

By comparison, the turnover rate averaged 34 percent after general
elections in each two-year cycle from 1962-1972, reflecting a landmark U.S.
Supreme Court decision requiring equal representation.  In 1982, the last
redistricting year, turnover ran 32 percent.  In 1990 it was 19 percent.

Hoping to fill state seats this year are nearly 2,400 women, an
increase of 15 percent over the 1990 record, according to the Center for
the American Woman and Politics at Rutgers University.

Nearly 200 Hispanics, also a record, seek state legislative offices
nationwide, according to the National Association of Latino Elected and
Appointed Officials.

And it's likely that a record number of blacks are running for state
legislatures, though no specific numbers were available, according to the
Joint Center for Political Studies, which tracks black representation.

Currently, 18 percent of state lawmakers are women, 6 percent are
black, and 2 percent are Hispanic.

As for the political party equation, Democrats now control 70 percent
of legislative chambers, including both houses in 29 states; Republicans
control both houses in just six states.

Mr.  Kurtz and other observers predicted that the overall balance of
power would not shift significantly.


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