MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Two DFL Party heavyweights battled Tuesday night for the Minnesota gubernatorial nomination as the biggest spender in the race conceded defeat.

House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher staked out a lead over former Sen. Mark Dayton in early returns. She had 42 percent of the vote to Dayton’s 39 percent with 59 percent of precincts reporting. Attorney Matt Entenza, who spent $5 million on the race, acknowledged defeat 90 minutes after polls closed.

The winner of the state’s first-ever August primary will face Republican state Rep. Tom Emmer. He cruised to victory in his primary as the party’s preferred candidate to replace outgoing GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who didn’t seek a third term. But earlier polls showed Emmer trailing any of his likely Democratic opponents as he tries to extend Republicans’ eight-year hold on the governor’s office.

The Independence Party — made famous by former Gov. Jesse Ventura — had a five-way primary in which public relations executive Tom Horner beat out the only other candidate who mounted a serious campaign, publisher Rob Hahn.

Kelliher, 42, relied on the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party endorsement she won at the April state convention to give her a ground-game edge against her monied opponents and promoted a jobs plan tied to additional public borrowing. A primary victory would make her the first woman to win a major party’s nomination for Minnesota governor.

“I liked what she had to say in the debates and I like that she’s a woman,” said Nicole Lang, a 32-year-old acupuncturist from Minneapolis who voted for Kelliher. “Democrats need a little re-energizing right now and I think that could be the thing to do it.”

The 63-year-old Dayton’s lengthy past in Minnesota politics — he first ran statewide in 1982 — gave him broad recognition among the party faithful. A millionaire himself, his campaign’s cornerstone was a pledge to make the top 10 percent of Minnesota income earners pay more in taxes to help plug a budget deficit.

“I like what he says about taxing the rich,” said Eve Parker, 50, an educational assistant who voted for Dayton in Minneapolis.

For 61-year-old retiree Kay Nelson, Dayton is a living link to one of Minnesota’s liberal icons. “Paul Wellstone mentored him and Paul Wellstone believed in him,” Nelson said.

Wellstone and Dayton served in the U.S. Senate for not quite two years, until Wellstone was killed in an October 2002 plane crash.

Entenza, 48, fueled his run largely with family money from his wife’s career as a business executive. The St. Paul attorney previously led House Democrats, leaving the chamber just as the party regained majority status. He hit two main themes: investment in next-generation energy projects and a move away from federally imposed student testing requirements.

“It is with tremendous regret I know I will not become the next governor of Minnesota,” Entenza told supporters who gathered Tuesday night. He called Kelliher and Dayton “strong candidates and predicted “one of them will become the next governor of Minnesota.”

Emmer got a boost from Sarah Palin’s endorsement a day before the state Republican convention. Since then, he’s had a few stumbles, including a furor over his suggestion that tips somehow be used to calculate restaurant server wages. He brought in new top advisers just last week.

An attorney and father of seven, Emmer has played up his past as a collegiate hockey player. On policy, he has been more guarded with details.

Emmer has declined to spell out how he would approach an anticipated $6 billion deficit awaiting the next governor, but says he would “redesign government” and wouldn’t allow tax increases.

“We can no longer do what we’ve been doing,” Emmer said Tuesday night. “It’s time to actually reduce the size of government. It’s time to lower taxes.”

Meanwhile, a state senator whose re-election bid was thrown into doubt when local Democrats revoked their endorsement lost his primary Tuesday. Three-term Democratic Sen. Satveer Chaudhary of Fridley ran into trouble after he was admonished by a Senate committee for attempting to enact a special fishing regulation on a lake where he owns a cabin. He lost to former Rep. Barb Goodwin.

In the Brainerd area, two-term GOP Sen. Paul Koering was running without official party backing against endorsed Republican Paul Gazelka, a former House member. Koering was knocked for straying from his party on votes in the Legislature. The race received wide exposure this summer when Koering, who is gay, acknowledged dining with a male adult film star.