Wildman Widens Lead Over Geranios in 43rd

Reversing a trend that saw his lead in the 43rd state Assembly District race grow repeatedly smaller since election night, Democrat Scott Wildman widened his margin over Republican John Geranios Monday to 128 votes.

The latest update from the registrar of voters released Monday showed teachers’ union official Wildman with 49,210 votes--48.32% of the total--to represent the Burbank-Glendale district. Businessman Geranios trailed with 49,082 votes, or 48.19%.

Wildman’s margin increased by 47 votes since Friday, when just 81 votes separated the two contenders for the Assembly seat vacated by Congressman-elect James Rogan.

Wildman, who has watched his lead dwindle from 544 votes on election night as absentee votes were tallied, said he was not surprised by Monday’s comeback.

Most of the votes counted since Friday’s update were provisional ballots, cast by those whose registration must be verified.

“We anticipated the provisional votes would break more like the popular vote,” Wildman said. “We’re still optimistic.”

Wildman acknowledged the stress of the past two weeks, as the vote count continued. “It’s been tense,” Wildman said. “We knew it would be close.”

If Wildman holds on to the lead, he will have scored an upset over Geranios in a seat held by the GOP for more than 60 years.

Geranios, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, has also remained upbeat as the count continues.

A spokeswoman for the registrar-recorder said the next update will be Thursday. About 1,000 absentee ballots and 20,000 provisional ballots have yet to be counted, but it is not known how many of them are from the 43rd District.

The counting continues slowly because the signature on each ballot must be hand-checked and each registration validated.