Democrats claim victories in governor’s races

Democrats took home the top prizes Tuesday, securing the governor’s mansions in New Jersey and Virginia. As expected, Democrat Phil Murphy cruised to an easy victory to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Chris Christie. Leading up to Election Day, Christie’s approval ratings plummeted to the teens, hurting the chances of Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, the Republican challenger. Murphy won by 12 percentage points. But Virginia offered Tuesday’s biggest surprise. Democrat Ralph Northam defeated Republican Ed Gillespie by a 54 to 45 percent margin—a much larger spread than experts predicted. President Donald Trump invested in Gillespie’s campaign, often tweeting messages of support for the candidate, but after Northam secured the win, Trump wrote, “Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for. Don’t forget, Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!” Trump was referring to Republicans winning all four special elections this year in the U.S. House of Representatives. Each of those candidates ran pro-Trump campaigns. But during his gubernatorial campaign, Gillespie repeatedly aligned himself with the president. Larry Sabato, director, of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics offered his own theory of what happened: “The bigger explanation is a backlash to Trump and Trumpism, pure and simple.” Virginia Democrats could also gain control of the state’s House of Delegates, pending several vote recounts. Coming into Tuesday’s election, Republicans had a 32-seat advantage.