Election Day 2009: GOPers Sweep Governor Races; Bloomberg Wins Tight NYC Mayoral Race; Dems Take House Seats; Maine Repeals Gay

In New Jersey Republican Chris Christie beat incumbent Democratic Governor Jon Corzine, the former Senator and former CEO of Goldman Sachs. Christie becomes the first Republican to win statewide office in New Jersey in 12 years.

Conservatives were dealt a surprising defeat in upstate New York as Democrat Bill Owens beat Conservative Party candidate Douglas Hoffman in a closely watched special election for a Congressional seat.
In the only other Congressional race, California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi beat Republican challenger David Harmer.

The most surprising result of the night may have been here in New York City where the mayor’s race between billionaire incumbent Michael Bloomberg and William Thompson was far tighter than many analysts had projected. Unofficial returns showed Bloomberg with 51 percent of the vote and Thompson with 46 percent. Bloomberg poured at least $90 million of his own money into the race and spent at least 14 times as much as Thompson.

During his victory speech, Mayor Bloomberg said New York voters had defied the national trend by supporting an incumbent.

In other election news from New York City, John Liu was elected comptroller becoming the first Asian-American elected to citywide office in the city’s history.

Meanwhile in the state of Maine voters have repealed a state law that would have allowed same-sex couples to wed. This marked the first time voters had rejected a gay-marriage law enacted by a legislature.

And the mayors race in Houston, Texas is headed to a runoff next month after no candidate won more than 50 percent of the vote. A victory for city controller Annise Parker would make Houston the largest U.S. city with an openly gay mayor.

To talk more about Tuesday’s elections results we are joined by two guests, Tom Robbins is a longtime reporter for the Village Voice here in New York and Adele Stan is the Washington Bureau Chief of Alternet dot org.

Tom Robbins, reporter for the Village Voice.

Adele Stan, Washington Bureau Chief of Alternet.