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Senate Minority Leader Dick Saslaw, D-Fairfax, won a tough primary fight for the Democratic nomination Tuesday, overcoming a challenge from Yasmine Taeb, the first Muslim woman elected to the Democratic National Committee.

Karen Torrent, a lawyer and former congressional staffer who leads a legal consulting team, trailed in the balloting.

The primary is tantamount to election because there is no Republican in the general election contest.

Saslaw spent more than $646,000 between Jan. 1 and May 31, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan organization that provides information about Virginia politics and political money. Taeb had spent $113,832.

Taeb attacked Saslaw for not supporting collective bargaining rights; taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from Dominion Energy, payday lenders and tobacco companies; and for his support of the death penalty.

Saslaw responded that he is a trusted lawmaker backed by multiple unions and the Virginia Education Association, is a strong supporter of abortion rights who was endorsed by NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, and refers to himself as a “progressive leader.”