Dornan Aide Is 1st Republican in Race to Replace Royce in Senate : Politics: Brian Bennett is expected to face Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young; Assemblyman Tom Umberg may make bid for Democrats.

Brian O’Leary Bennett, a longtime aide to Garden Grove Congressman Robert K. Dornan, unfurled a list of big-name Republican supporters Monday as he became the first candidate to enter an upcoming special election for an open state Senate seat in central Orange County.

Gov. Pete Wilson is expected to call the special election for next spring in order to fill the seat now held by state Sen. Edward R. Royce (R-Anaheim), who was elected last month to the U.S. House of Representatives. The winner of the special election will serve the remaining two years in Royce’s term and face reelection in 1994.

Royce was among those on the high-powered list of Orange County endorsements that Bennett revealed Monday in hopes of scaring off any major Republican competition. The list also claimed the backing of four incumbent Orange County congressmen as well as four of the area’s Sacramento lawmakers.

“I will be another vote up there to lower taxes and reduce regulations and encourage business to stay put in California,” Bennett said. “ . . . California’s reputation as the best place to live and work needs major repair work.”

Bennett, 37, is hoping through his endorsements and early announcement that he can become the consensus candidate among Republican conservatives since the party’s right wing has shown itself to be especially powerful in special elections where voter turnout is often low.

Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-Fullerton) has hinted that he might make a bid for the seat, which could split the conservative support. GOP sources say they do not expect Johnson to enter the race although a spokesman for the lawmaker’s Sacramento office said Monday that he has not yet decided.

Without Johnson, this special election appears headed in the same direction as several other recent GOP primaries in which conservatives have been pitted against an increasingly vocal moderate wing of the party.

Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young, a former Democrat who switched his party affiliation to Republican in 1988, is expected to run against Bennett, setting up the philosophical showdown.

Young and Bennett have both talked recently to the influential Republican Lincoln Club in hopes of gaining its support for the Senate race. And Young told a reporter recently: “I am interested. I’ve been making the rounds, talking to people about it.”

This special election comes at an interesting time for Republicans and Democrats in Orange County as both parties test the new political landscape left by the November election.

Republicans have long dominated Orange County’s political offices, holding all but one of the state and federal offices representing the area. But now, Democrats are buoyed by their best election showing in more than a decade, and some are wondering whether they could expand their local representation by stealing Royce’s seat from the GOP.

Republicans have a narrow 1% edge over Democrats among registered voters in Royce’s district, which is dominated by the cities of Fullerton, Santa Ana and Garden Grove.

Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove) could be a formidable candidate, and his staff said Monday that he is considering whether to enter the race. Umberg, whose current district overlaps Royce’s territory in the Senate, could run without sacrificing his Assembly seat since he is not on the ballot again until 1994.

Another enticement for Democrats is that their future in this Senate district looks even brighter. That’s because in 1994 the district boundaries will be redrawn according to reapportionment and Democrats appear to benefit.

The new district will drop Fullerton and gain the cities of Westminster and Buena Park. Currently, Democrats have a 4% edge over Republicans in that new district.

Bennett comes to the race with no background in elected office, but he is still a well-known name in Republican circles.

He worked in Dornan’s congressional office for more than 12 years, serving as the congressman’s chief of staff until he left in 1989 to become a regional affairs manager with Southern California Edison Co. He has spent most of his career in politics, first becoming an aide to a senator from his native New York when he was just 17.

Last year, Bennett announced his plans to run for Congress in the district held by Dornan when the incumbent congressman indicated he was going to seek another seat in Orange County. When Dornan changed his plans and ran for reelection in his old seat, Bennett withdrew his bid.

Bennett described himself as a conservative politician in the model of Dornan and former President Ronald Reagan. “To put it in street language, I’m for lower taxes, less regulation, privatization of government services and I’m pro-life (on abortion) and proud.”