Sen. Baca Leads Brown in Close House Race : Inland Empire: Democratic winner will face Republican Elia Pirozzi in runoff.

SAN BERNARDINO — The widow of Rep. George E. Brown Jr. was slightly behind state Sen. Joe Baca on Tuesday night in a special election for the late congressman’s 42nd District seat.

Ten candidates were on the ballot, but Marta Macias Brown and Baca, who is from Rialto, were clearly the front-runners.

With about 90% of the vote counted, Baca was leading Brown, 31.8% to 30.4%, with a 472-vote difference.

Republican candidate Elia Pirozzi, a Rancho Cucamonga attorney and real estate agent, was third with 27% of the vote.

The race attracted five Democrats, but the focus was on the battle between Brown and Baca.

On Tuesday’s open primary ballot, voters could select any of the candidates without respect to party affiliation. But because no candidate won more than 50% of the vote, the top vote-getter from each party will be on the Nov. 16 general election ballot.

The candidate who wins the Democratic nomination will be in a strong position to win that election because the district’s voter registration favors Democrats over Republicans 52% to 33%.

George Brown had won 14 consecutive elections before his death at 79. Since 1972, he had represented the gritty blue-collar heartland of the Inland Empire in a district straddling Interstate 10 from Ontario east to San Bernardino. He was the longest-serving House member from California.

Marta Brown has followed the example of more than three dozen political widows by seeking election to her late husband’s post. In the past, virtually all the congressional widows have won.

The Republican Party had three members on the ballot, but only Pirozzi was provided party money and resources. Pirozzi ran against Brown in 1998, when Brown won by 15 percentagepoints, his largest margin of victory in two decades.

Brown’s widow and Baca staked out similar stands on such issues as Medicare, Social Security and education, but differed on gun control.

Brown is a firm advocate of banning assault weapons and cheap handguns, and has strongly criticized Baca for failing to support such measures.

Baca says that despite the National Rifle Assn.’s support for him over the years, his position on gun control has evolved. He said he recently voted in the state Senate to support mandatory trigger locks.

Brown, a San Bernardino native, was politically active long before her 1989 marriage to the congressman. She began working in public service jobs after college and joined Brown’s congressional staff in 1980. She served as the congressman’s chief advisor.

Baca was first elected to office in 1979 as a community college trustee. In 1992, he won an Assembly seat and in 1998, facing term limits, sought his current Senate post.

Times staff writer Tom Gorman contributed to this report.