Scott Wildman

Scott Wildman (born April 12, 1951 in San Diego, California) is an American teacher, labor organizer and politician. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

In 1996 he ran for the Glendale-Burbank based 43rd district in the California State Assembly left open when incumbent Republican James Rogan decided to run for congress. Wildman was an underdog, but demographic changes plus coordination with other Democratic campaigns in the area allowed him to eke out a 192-vote win over wealthy GOP businessman John Geranios.^[1] The race was so close that Wildman was not officially declared the winner until November 23, 1996.^[2]

In 1998 Wildman sought reelection and was a top Republican target. He lucked out when his GOP opponent turned out to have too many skeletons in his closet. As a result Republicans didn't mount much of a challenge, and Wildman scored an easy win.^[3]

In 2000 he didn't seek reelection and instead opted to run for an open state senate seat.^[4] He faced off against fellow assemblyman Jack Scott from neighboring Pasadena in the Democratic primary.^[5] Considered more of a gadfly and complainer, Wildman was not supposed to be much of a match for the savvier Scott, a former president of Pasadena City College. He nevertheless made the race close, scoring 46.7% of the vote ^[6] to Scott's 53.3%.

In 2001, several weeks after his tenure in the assembly had come to an end, Wildman lost another close race, this time for a seat on the Los Angeles City council. He came in third behind future mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti and former councilman Mike Woo.

Electoral history

References