Wildman Lead Shrinks as Absentees Are Tallied

The still-undecided contest over a Glendale-Burbank seat in the state Assembly that has been held by Republicans for 62 years grew even tighter Monday, with Republican John Geranios closing to within 168 votes of Democrat Scott Wildman.

Wildman, a teachers union representative, had a 544-vote lead after all precincts in the 43rd Assembly District were tallied last week. That margin has tightened with the counting of absentee ballots. There are another 10,000 of those to go, plus 30,000 provisional ballots--those with errors that must be clarified.

Businessman Geranios has inched closer to Wildman since the painstakingly slow absentee count began. Last Friday, Geranios narrowed the margin by 166 votes, followed by another 210-vote gain on Monday.

Counting will resume again Friday and may take another week to complete, election officials said.

By late Monday, the count gave Wildman 48,213 votes, or 48.34%, and Geranios 48,045 or 48.18%. The traditionally Republican seat was vacated by Assemblyman Jim Rogan (R-Glendale), who made a successful bid for Congress.

Both candidates in the Assembly race are cautiously awaiting the final count, campaign workers said. Wildman was described by one supporter as “nervous, but confident he’ll win.”