Despite Krekorian's wide margin of victory, the race was very close at the polls in the two candidates' home cities. Quintero took Glendale by a mere 112 votes, 3,383 to 3,271, while Krekorian, a Burbank Unified School District Board member, won the poll count in that city by just 700 votes, 2,735 to 2,038, according to officials at the registrar's office. Final absentee ballot counts, as well as vote tallies in the other district communities of North Hollywood, Los Feliz, Silver Lake and Toluca Lake, were not available as of press time.
Krekorian, who faces an advantage in November over Republican challenger Michael Agbaba in the heavily Democratic district, was ecstatic about his win.
"I am thrilled at this resounding victory, especially because of the circumstances of the last week," Krekorian said Wednesday, referring to a mailing sent out by an independent expenditure committee that linked him and the Armenian National Committee to a terrorist suspect. "This was really a clear victory of hope over hatred, and it was a victory for a common vision instead of ethnic division."
Quintero has denied involvement in the distribution of the mailer, which was put out by the Oakland-based California Latino Leadership Fund.
Krekorian said he had received congratulatory calls from prominent Latino leaders including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez and other members of the Latino Caucus.
