For the first time in the 64-year history of the most storied political family in Los Angeles, a Hahn is going to Washington.
After two months of evident but needless fretting, three-term Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn impressively scrubbed her much lesser known Republican opponent in a runoff election yesterday for a Congressional seat to represent the South Bay.
By a onesided margin of 54.6 percent to 44.4, Ms. Hahn drubbed businessman Craig Huey, but only after a bitter hand-to-hand campaign and after recruiting national Democrats, including former President Clinton, to boost her chances.
On her second try, Ms. Hahn will succeed former U.S. Rep. Jane Harman, also a Democrat, who resigned last February, shortly after the death of her husband, to join the Woodrow Wilson Institute think tank at Princeton.
Mr. Huey had scared, if not shocked, the heavily liberal 36th Congressional district that runs along the coastline from Venice to San Pedro by running second to Ms. Hahn in the primary. Emerging from a large and faceless crowd of mostly lightweight contenders, Mr. Huey upset Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who had been expected to challenge Ms. Hahn.
Going into the primary, the 59-year-old Ms. Hahn, mourning the death of her widowed mother the day before, had anticipated falling short of the 50 percent-plus-one threshold. She expected a relatively friendly runoff against Ms. Bowen, a fellow liberal, but instead found herself waist-deep swapping hard-edged accusations against Mr. Huey. He emphasized his Christian roots throughout the 60-day runoff and Ms. Hahn, benefitting from far more outside help, stressed her green roots.
Her father Kenny Hahn, the family patriarch, launched his political career as a Los Angeles City Councilman in 1947, and five years later jumped to the County Board of Supervisors, where he essayed a 40-year legend as a champion of civil rights. Ms. Hahn’s brother James rose to power as City Attorney for 16 years, before directly segueing into the Mayor’s office for one term in ’01.
Ms. Hahn sought this same Congressional seat in 1998, was denied, and three years later won her first of three Council elections.
