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
Meanwhile, the results are still trickling in from Virginia. We’ll update you with the winner as soon as possible. Surprisingly, Cuccinelli is up big at the moment. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. You can follow the live (unofficial) election results here.
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?
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.