Assemblywoman Mary Salas has ended the ballot recount and conceded defeat to Juan Vargas in a fiercely contested Democratic primary for a San Diego County Senate seat, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported today.
The two finished in a virtual dead heat, separated by only 22 votes, in the June 8 primary election for the seat of termed-out Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny, D-San Diego.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and various labor unions supported Salas against a coalition of business groups that supported Vargas as a more moderate, business-friendly Democrat.
Salas, of Chula Vista, has served four years in the Assembly. Vargas was termed out of the Assembly in 2006 and has run unsuccessfully for the congressional seat of Bob Filner, D-Chula Vista.
Ducheny's 40th Senate District tilts strongly toward the Democratic Party, so the party's nominee has a huge advantage in the the general election. Forty-seven percent of district voters are Democrats, compared to 29 percent for the GOP, records show.
Republican Brian Hendry, who ran unopposed for the GOP nomination, will oppose Vargas in the Nov. 2 runoff.
The Union-Tribune story can be read here.








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