UPDATE 8:25 a.m.: With 100 percent precincts reporting, Salas is up 336 votes, 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent. Provisional, damanged and vote-by-mail ballots turned in on election day still need to be counted.
With 93 percent of precincts reporting, the brutal battle in the 40th Senate District Democratic primary is caught in a dead heat.
Assemblywoman Mary Salas currently leads her more moderate rival, former Assemblyman Juan Vargas, by 259 votes, 50.5 percent to 49.5 percent.
Salas, of Chula Vista, had the support of Democratic leaders in Sacramento, including Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, while Vargas received heavy backing from the insurance industry and business groups.
Vargas was boosted by $1.5 million in independent spending from the insurance and business industries. Outside groups spent about $900,000 to oppose Salas.
The two are sparring for the seat being vacated by termed-out Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheney, D-San Diego.
In another closely watched Democratic primary, party favorite Bob Wieckowski, a member of the Fremont City Council, leads Garrett Yee, a Ohlone College Trustee and employee of the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, by 4.4 percentage points with all precincts reporting.
Wieckowski leads 52.2- 47.8 percent.
Insurance industry committees contributed heavily to Yee, who has been registered as a Decline-to-State and Republican in the past. Committees funded by insurance groups also spent more than $300,000 in independent expenditures to support his bid.
Wieckowski, backed by labor and tribal gaming groups, won the endorsement of the seat's current member, termed-out Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont.
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