US Democrats score double win in governor elections

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Democrats won gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday, in the first statewide polls since Donald Trump was elected US president.

Ralph Northam decisively beat Republican Ed Gillespie in a bitter race for Virginia governor, dealing a setback for Trump given the candidate adopted some of the president's combative tactics and issues.

Supporters of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam begin to celebrate in Fairfax, Virginia on November 7, 2017. /Reuters Photo‍

Northam, the state's lieutenant governor, overcame a barrage of attack ads by Gillespie that hit the Democrat on divisive issues such as immigration, gang crime and Confederate statues.

Trump, who endorsed Gillespie but did not campaign with him, had taken a break from his Asia trip to send tweets and record messages on Tuesday supporting the former chairman of the Republican National Committee.

But after the outcome, Trump quickly tweeted that Gillespie "did not embrace me or what I stand for."

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At his victory party, Northam told supporters the sweeping Democratic win in Virginia sent a message to the country.

"Virginia has told us to end the divisiveness, that we will not condone hatred and bigotry, and to end the politics that have torn this country apart," Northam said.

In New Jersey, Democrat Phil Murphy, a former investment banker and ambassador to Germany, defeated Republican Kim Guadagno for the right to succeed Republican Chris Christie.

Murphy had promised to be a check on Trump in Democratic-leaning New Jersey. Guadagno, the lieutenant governor, was hampered by her association with the unpopular Christie.

Democratic candidate Phil Murphy celebrates after being elected Governor of New Jersey in Asbury Park, New Jersey on November 7, 2017. /Reuters Photo

Democrats also swept the other top statewide Virginia races, winning the offices of lieutenant governor and attorney general, and gained seats in the Virginia House of Delegates. Democrat Danica Roem beat a long-time Republican incumbent to become the first transgender person to win a state legislative race.

Murphy's win and the Northam victory in Virginia, a state Democrat Hillary Clinton won by five percentage points in the 2016 presidential election, provided a much-needed boost for national Democrats who were desperate to turn grassroots resistance to Trump into election victories.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is greeted by supporters after his re-election in New York City on November 7, 2017. /Reuters Photo

Democrats had already lost four special congressional elections this year.

In Virginia, Democrats had worried that if Gillespie won, Republicans would see it as a green light to emphasize divisive cultural issues in their campaigns for next year's elections, when all 435 seats in the US House of Representatives and 33 of the US Senate's 100 seats come up for election. Republicans now control both chambers.

In local races across the country, Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio in New York and Marty Walsh in Boston both easily won re-election. Voters were also picking mayors in Detroit, Atlanta, Seattle and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Source(s): Reuters