BREAKING: Chris Christie Declared Winner in New Jersey; UPDATE: McAuliffe Wins in Virginia

Chris Christie has had this election wrapped up for months, or so it seemed. But now it’s official. Within seconds after the clock struck 8:00 PM EST, CNN declared the Garden State governor the unofficial winner. The much-hoped-for second term is his:

CNN projects that Republican Gov. Chris Christie will win re-election in New Jersey, defeating Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono.

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 6, 2013

UPDATE: Interesting:

Virginia vote update (8:36pm): Cuccinelli 48%, McAuliffe 45%, Sarvis 7%. 58% in. Full Results: http://t.co/B3wImoDvei

— Sam Feist (@SamFeistCNN) November 6, 2013

UPDATE: Still ahead:

UPDATE: Cuccinelli now leads McAuliffe by 3 points, with 62% reporting http://t.co/hfpgN0DPAs #VAGov pic.twitter.com/3vkiP9kBT8

— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 6, 2013

UPDATE (9:03 PM): With 74.1% of precincts reporting, Cuccinelli still leads McAuliffe 47.35% to 45.42%.

UPDATE (9:09 PM): With roughly 80% of precincts reporting, Cuccinelli is *barely* still ahead. How long can he hold on?

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Update (9:17 PM): The race is now a dead heat.

UPDATE (9:26 PM): Ken Cuccinelli gave Terry McAuliffe a run for his money, but in the end, he couldn’t seal the deal. A Democrat will succeed Republican Bob McDonnell as the next governor of the Old Dominion. With 85 percent of precincts reporting, Fox News was the first network to call the race:

BREAKING: Democrat Terry McAuliffe projected to win Va. governor's race http://t.co/A6tChwlgur

— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) November 6, 2013

What do these elections portend for the nation? Is Chris Christie now the standard-bearer of the Republican Party? Is Virginia now a lean-Democratic battleground state? Stay tuned for Guy’s post-election analyses tomorrow morning.