GOP Wins Governor Seats In Virginia, New Jersey

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RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne.

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

And I'm Steve Inskeep.

Two states that helped to lead Democrats back to national power chose Republicans for governor last night. One of those states is Virginia, where Democrats spent years coming back. They won election after election in recent years by meticulously choosing their candidates. They've found ways to appeal to the state's rapidly growing suburbs. And last year, Virginia chose Democrat Barack Obama for president.

MONTAGNE: One year later, Democrats have lost the governor's chair, and it wasn't the only Republican victory. Here's NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson.

MARA LIASSON: The biggest headline of the night was in the blue state of New Jersey, where the Republican, former U.S. attorney Chris Christie, defeated incumbent Democratic Governor Jon Corzine.

Mr. CHRIS CHRISTIE (New Jersey Governor-Elect): Hey, New Jersey, we did it.

(Soundbite of crowd cheering)

LIASSON: President Obama had visited the state several times for Corzine. But despite the fact that he won New Jersey by 600,000 votes just one year ago - and exit polls show he remains very popular there - Mr. Obama was not able to motivate enough of his supporters to vote for Corzine. The president also campaigned for state Senator Creigh Deeds in the Virginia gubernatorial race and he, too, lost. The Republican candidate there, former attorney general Bob McDonnell, won decisively.

Mr. BOB MCDONNELL (Virginia Governor-Elect): Eight months ago, I applied for the job of governor of Virginia. Tonight, you have hired me. Thank you.

(Soundbite of crowd cheering)

LIASSON: Both Christie in New Jersey and McDonnell in Virginia won the lion's share of independent voters, the crucial part of the electorate that have been voting with the Democrats for the past two election cycles. The outgoing governor of Virginia, Tim Kaine, also serves as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Governor TIM KAINE (Democrat, Virginia): The president remains very popular in Virginia. You know, this is - the last really strong poll that I saw showed that the president's approval among Virginia voters was at about 57 percent among registered voters, which is very strong. But you know, yeah, there was a gap between the president's popularity and Creigh.

LIASSON: But the president wasn't able to close that gap for Deeds. Kaine and other Democrats said yesterday's elections were about local issues and local candidates, not a referendum on the president or his party in Washington. But the chairman of the Republican National Committee, not surprisingly, drew the opposite conclusion. Michael Steele suggested on CNN that the results meant the tide was finally turning in his party's favor.

Mr. MICHAEL STEELE (Chairman, Republican National Committee): I think it's about leadership paying attention to what people are saying. When you don't listen, when you don't take into account their concerns, they will respond. And they responded here tonight. I think the president, the White House, certainly the leadership in Congress, as they prepare to vote on a health-care bill that no one wants, they need to pay attention. There are ramifications. Their votes are being paid attention to, and people are going to respond next year.

LIASSON: Sometimes, the results of off-year elections forecast the results of the following year's midterms; sometimes, they don't. But independent analyst Stu Rothenberg says last night was a good night for Republicans, no matter what happens next year.

Mr. STU ROTHENBERG (Independent Analyst): That's the big news out of this, that Republicans - the Republicans finally have a positive narrative of their own about how they can do well and that they can do well. You know, in politics, winning begets winning. And while the Republican image numbers are still horrendous - they're just horrible; people don't like the Republican Party - I think that those numbers might actually get a bump from these victories.

People will see, well, Republicans won in New Jersey and they won in Virginia, and that changes people's perception of the party. Maybe not overnight and maybe not dramatically, but look, the Republicans have been such a deep hole in terms of image, they could use any improvement that they could get.

LIASSON: In the wildest campaign of all, Democrat Bill Owens beat Conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman and moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava in a special election in New York's 23rd Congressional District. After Republican conservative activists revolted against Scozzafava for supporting same sex-marriage and abortion rights, she suspended her campaign and endorsed the Democrat.

In other results last night, the incumbent mayors of Boston, Pittsburgh and Detroit won. So did New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, but only after spending $100 million of his own money and coming away with just 51 percent of the vote. It was the single most expensive, self-financed campaign in U.S. history.

Mara Liasson, NPR News, Washington.

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