New Jersey to help fuel a nationwide Republican resurgence . They were buoyed by a huge swing of independent voters to the Republican column . Democrats sought to minimize the defeats . Since 1989 , it was noted , the party winning the White House has always gone on to lose the gubernatorial races in both states the following year . CNN also projects that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be re-elected to a third term . The billionaire mayor is believed to have spent well over $ 100 million of his own money in his quest for a third term -- shattering the record for personal spending in any American campaign . Democrat Bill Owens has won a vacant U.S. House seat in upstate New York , CNN projects . The contest to fill the seat sparked a vicious internal fight between GOP conservatives and moderates . The struggle has been viewed as a proxy for a national struggle between activists arguing the GOP slipped by betraying conservative values and officials warning a rightward move would further alienate an increasingly independent-minded electorate . The split could result in the election of a new Democratic congressman from a region
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A Republican Party that struggled in the wake of recent Democratic landslides sprang back to life Tuesday with wins in hotly contested races for governor in Virginia and New Jersey , according to CNN projections . In Virginia , 55-year-old former state attorney general Bob McDonnell will be the first Republican to win the state 's highest office in twelve years , CNN projects . Republicans will win races for Virginia 's lieutenant governor and attorney general as well . In New Jersey , former federal prosecutor Chris Christie will oust first-term Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine , CNN projects . Christie will be the first Republican to win the top office in heavily Democratic New Jersey in 12 years . Corzine will be the first New Jersey governor to lose a re-election bid since 1993 , when then-Gov . Jim Florio , a Democrat , lost to GOP challenger Christie Todd Whitman . The two gubernatorial contests have been deemed by some analysts as the first major referendum on President Obama 's administration . Republicans leaders , demoralized after landslide defeats in 2006 and 2008 , have been hoping to capitalize on wins in Virginia and