Incumbent Rep. Brown Headed for Reelection With 865-Vote Margin

With absentee ballots counted, Rep. George Brown (D-Colton) has preserved his reelection over Republican challenger Linda Wilde, but his margin of victory shrunk, virtually final election results showed Friday.

Brown, 76, was reelected to his 13th term in the House from the 42nd District by just 865 votes, compared with his 1,150-vote margin on election night.

Brown, an unabashed liberal, has seen his margins of victory continue to close in recent elections as his district turns more conservative, and this election was the closest yet.

Of 102,449 ballots counted, Brown won with 50.4%. Friday’s tally included 3,785 absentee ballots not counted Tuesday night.

Wilde, a San Bernardino Superior Court judge, took a bare majority of them, but not enough to overtake Brown, the dean of California’s House delegation.

San Bernardino County Registrar Ingrid Gonzales said about 3,100 provisional and write-in ballots remain to be counted throughout the county, but there are not enough from the district to change the outcome.

Christian Nelson, Wilde’s campaign manager, was glum after the results were announced. “We do not concede,” he said.

Brown representative Bobi Johnson said of the slim victory: “A win’s a win.”