Daily US Times: US media projections said that Republican Glenn Youngkin has been elected as Virginia’s next governor in a major upset.
With 99% of votes counted, he was 2.1 points ahead of Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who served as governor from 2014-18.
Mr McAuliffe saw his opinion poll lead vanish in recent weeks.
The election result has been widely seen as a referendum on Joe Biden’s presidency, and defeat will unnerve the Democrats.
President Biden won by 10 points in Virginia in the presidential election just a year ago.
In a speech to cheering fans, Mr Youngkin promised to get to work straight away to transform the state.
The Republican declared: “We work in real people time, not government time.”
Virginia’s current Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, was unable to stand for re-election as Virginia doesn’t allow governors to serve consecutive terms in office.
There are potential good news for Republicans. Their candidate, former US Marine Winsome Sears, is tipped to become the first black female lieutenant governor of the state, which was the former seat of the pro-slavery Confederacy during the American Civil War.
Cuban American Jason Miyares, the Republican candidate for Virginia attorney general, was also leading that vote count. And Republicans seemed to be closing in on control of the state’s House of Delegates.
In other elections across the US on Tuesday, Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli is neck and neck with Democratic Governor Phil Murphy In New Jersey.
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