Election results: Murphy hangs on in New Jersey as Democratic blame game over Virginia begins

Republican Jack Ciattarelli is ahead of New Jersey Democratic governor Phil Murphy by a slight margin but the race was too close to call.

As the votes are still being tallied, Ciattarelli appears to be in lead with 49.66 per cent ahead of Murphy closely following with 49.59 per cent, according to New York Times projections.

But county-wide analysis shows there could be more Democratic-leaning mail ballots yet to be counted. Ciattarelli is waging a re-election campaign centred on the progressive policies he’s enacted in his first term.

Notably, no Democrat has won reelection as governor in New Jersey since Brendan Byrne in 1977.

“We’ve sent a message to the entire nation. This is what I love about this state: Every single time it’s gone too far off track, the people of this state have pushed, pulled and prodded it right back to where it needs to be,” Ciattarelli said in the wee hours of Wednesday. He added he couldn’t yet declare a victory.

Murphy also seemed hopeful and said: “When every vote is counted, and every vote will be counted, we hope to have a celebration.”

Atlanta city council member Andre Dickens will face city council president Felicia Moore in the runoff on 30 November, reported CBS46.

Dickens took the lead over former mayor Kasim Reed to advance to the runoff with about 600 votes margin.

Moore maintained a substantial lead against more than a dozen other candidates to advance to the runoff while Dickens took the second runoff spot.

Republican Glenn Youngkin mobilised voters concerned about education and race, while making small gains with suburban voters and other key groups to help his party rebound from Donald Trump's poor showing in Virginia last year and win the governor's race.

The former private equity executive's victory came even as Mr Trump remained broadly unpopular in the commonwealth.

Mr Youngkin managed to keep Mr Trump at arm's length without angering his base. A year after Joe Biden dispatched Mr Trump in Virginia by 10 percentage points, it was Mr Youngkin's supporters, not Democrat Terry McAuliffe's, who were more fired up.

Some 74 per cent of them said they were "extremely" interested in the election, compared with 63 per cent who voted for McAuliffe, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of voters.

Both Democrats and Republicans pulled together familiar coalitions. Men, rural and small town voters and white evangelicals were squarely in Mr Youngkin's corner, while Mr McAuliffe was the choice for black voters, moderates, and people under 45. Women were only slightly more likely to back the Democrat than the Republican, 53 per cent to 46 per cent.

But small shifts added up to make a difference. In 2020, voters ages 45 and older split about evenly between Mr Biden and Mr Trump. This year they were more likely to back Youngkin over McAuliffe, 55 per cent to 45 per cent.

Mr Youngkin also performed better with suburban voters, a group that helped Democrats win elections across the country during the Trump era.

AP

Michelle Wu has made history by being both the first woman and first non-white person to be elected as Boston’s mayor.

Throughout its long history, Boston had previously only elected white men as mayor.

Ms Wu defeated fellow Boston city councilor Annissa Essaibi George. The two Democrats faced off against each other after defeating several other mayoral hopefuls in a September preliminary election.

The election of Ms Wu, whose parents immigrated to the US from Taiwan, marks another break from tradition in Boston.

Ms Wu grew up in Chicago, only moving to Boston to attend Harvard University and Harvard Law School. Boston typically elects mayors with lifelong Boston roots.

Additional reporting by agencies

The man who would be Seattle’s first Asian-American mayor has claimed this is “history in the making” as he surged to a 30 per cent lead over his rival, writes Andrew Buncombe.

Bruce Harrell, 64, a former president of the city council and whose mother, originally from Japan, was interned during the Second World War, appeared before supporters as early results placed him more than 30 points ahead of Lorena González.

Mike Carey, a Republican and long-time coal lobbyist, wom an open US House seat in central Ohio for his party in Tuesday's special congressional election.

Mr Carey defeated two-term Democratic state representative Allison Russo, a public health policy consultant, in the state’s 15th congressional district, even though Ms Russo had raised more money in the district than any Democrat in history.

Donald Trump had endorsed Mr Carey to succeed veteran congressman Steve Stivers, a centrist Republican who resigned in April to become chief executive of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

Mr Trump called Mr Carey a "courageous fighter" and visited the state to campaign for him, as did former vice president Mike Pence.

Mr Carey has been vice president of government affairs for American Consolidated Natural Resources, formerly Murray Energy, since 2012. He also chairs the board of the Ohio Coal Association.

Additional reporting by agencies

#icymi

More than 50 per cent of Americans disapprove of Joe Biden’s performance in the White House, a poll has found.

According to a survey by NBC News, about 71 per cent of the participants believed that the US was headed on the wrong track under the presidency of Mr Biden, while only 42 per cent of the adults approved of him as the president, writes Namita Singh.

Mr Biden did not seem to be doing well in other surveys as well. About 58 per cent of Americans were critical of Mr Biden’s handling of the economy, found a poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Winsome Sears, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in Virginia, has claimed victory in her battle against Democrat Hala Ayala.

Ms Sears, who served in the legislature for a single term two decades ago and was attempting a political comeback. Either also would be the first woman of color to be elected to statewide office in Virginia.

While the Associated Press had not called the down-ballot races, Republicans were claiming victoy. Ms Sears stood with her family in front of cheering supporters at a victory party in Chantilly, saying, "What you are looking at is the American Dream."

Ms Ayala did not concede defeat early Wednesday morning.

Either would be the first woman of colour elected to statewide office in Virginia, and the first female lieutenant governor.

Additional reporting by agencies

Shontel Brown has won the Cleveland, Ohio-area US House seat formerly held by Joe Biden’s housing secretary, Marcia Fudge, in a special election.

Ms Brown is a Cuyahoga county council member who also chairs the county Democratic Party. She defeated Republican Laverne Gore, a business owner and activist, in the 11th congressional district. The district is a heavily Democratic area that stretches from Cleveland to Akron.

Ms Brown will fill the remainder of Fudge's term, which runs until January 2023, and faces a reelection battle just next year. Already, her defeated primary opponent, the progressive Nina Turner, has begun campaigning for the full congressional election.

Ms Brown’s victory is a boost for establishment Democrats, who sought to defend the district against a takeover by progressives. Her backers included Hillary Clinton, congressman Jim Clyburn and several labor unions.

The established bloc in the Democratic Party fared less well elsewhere, however, with Terry McAuliffe, a former Clinton fundraiser, defeated in Virginia.

A news photographer captured the moment Glenn Youngkin and his team realised they were ahead of Terry McAuliffe, the Democrat, in the race to become Virginia’s governor.