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Democrat Juan Vargas has taken a large lead in the race for the 51st Congressional District.
Vargas had 68.6 percent of the district-wide vote with more than half of the precincts reporting, compared to his competitor Republican Michael Crimmins, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
Crimmins had about 31.4 percent of the total final preliminary vote. A number of provincial and vote-by-mail ballots still need to be counted.
The 51st Congressional District encompasses a portion of south San Diego County and all of Imperial County.
Vargas retained a majority of the vote in Imperial County as well as San Diego. He had 18,101 votes in Imperial County, compared to 8,801 for Crimmins in the final preliminary. In San Diego County, Vargas too led with 51,311 votes, while Crimmins had 21,535 votes in the southern portion of San Diego County.
If Vargas continues his lead into the final outcome, he would take over the seat vacated by Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, who decided to run for mayor of San Diego after a two-decade span in Congress. Filner is currently in a tight race with Carl DeMaio, the two within a few percentage points for the race for San Diego mayor. Final preliminary results for the San Diego mayor race were not available by press time.
UPDATE 2:30 a.m.
Democrat Juan Vargas has increased his lead for the 51st Congressional District to 69.9 percent in the final preliminary numbers of the night.
With 100 percent of precincts reported in both San Diego and Imperial counties, Vargas led over Republican Michael Crimmins, who had 30.1 percent of the vote, or 32,223 votes. Vargas’ votes totated 74,716.
More ballots still need to be counted, with some vote-by-mail, absentee and provisional ballots left to be counted.
UPDATE 2:20 a.m.
Democrat Juan Vargas has continued the lead he has held all night in the race for the 51st Congressional District in the final preliminary numbers in Imperial County.
Though not the final numbers of the night – a number of ballots remain to be counted in San Diego County – Vargas has kept up a lead of 68.6 percent as compared to Republican Michael Crimmins, who has 31.4 percent of the vote as of 2:15 a.m.
UPDATE 12:20 a.m.
Democrat Juan Vargas continued his lead in the 51st Congressional race, according to the fourth update of the night for the Imperial County Elections Office.
Vargas had 66.99 percent of the vote as compared to Republican Michael Crimmins with 33.01 percent. The numbers don’t include San Diego County, where a portion of the 51st district is.
UPDATE 11:20 p.m.
Democrat Juan Vargas still leads in the third update for the 51st Congressional district race.
Vargas has 64.46 percent of the vote in the 11:10 p.m. update. Michael Crimmins held steady at 35.54 percent of the Imperial Valley vote. More results are expected from both Imperial and San Diego counties, though the most recent update is only Imperial County.
Vargas leads in statewide numbers as well, with 32,555 votes or 66.1 percent of the ballots that have been counted between Imperial and San Diego counties. Crimmins has 16,727 or 33.9 percent of the vote.
UPDATE 10:30 p.m.
Democrat Juan Vargas continued his lead in the 51st Congressional race with 63.96 percent of Imperial County residents voting in his favor.
Republican Michael Crimmins gained some ground in the Valley with 36.04 percent of the vote. The numbers do not include San Diego County, a portion of which also votes for the 51st district. More votes are expected to be counted tonight.
ORIGINAL
With early-returned vote-by-mail results, Juan Vargas is leading the race for the 51st Congressional District in Imperial County.
In the first results posted Tuesday evening and 72 of the 159 precincts in Imperial County reported, Democrat Vargas leads over Republican Michael Crimmins 62 percent to 38 percent. The results only include Imperial County, with more expected from San Diego County.