Politics

They may have lost Florida, but Tuesday's governor's races were a major victory for the Democrats

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Illinois Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker, right, celebrates his win Tuesday night with running mate Juliana Stratton. Nam Y. Huh/AP
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Democrats were hoping to see Stacey Abrams elected as the nation's first black female governor Tuesday night, and although she hasn't conceded the Georgia race by Wednesday morning, current numbers show Republican Brian Kemp winning.

The Georgia race was perhaps the closest watched governor's race in the country, along with Florida, where another Democratic hopeful, Andrew Gillum, lost to a Republican.

But overall, the night was widely a success for the Democrats, who flipped seven states.

The Republicans only flipped one, Alaska, which was previously governed by an Independent, Bill Walker.

 

Read more: Stacey Abrams, the Oprah-endorsed Democratic candidate, hints at a possible runoff against Republican Brian Kemp in the Georgia governor's race

The results of the gubernatorial races will no doubt be heralded as a rebuke of President Donald Trump by the Democrats. Two of the states that flipped on Tuesday, Michigan and Wisconsin, turned Republican for Trump in 2016. And Nevada, another state that turned blue on Tuesday, hasn't had a Democratic governor in nearly 20 years.

The Democrats also unseated two Republican incumbents: Wisconsin's Scott Walker (who ran for president in the Republican primary in 2016) and Illinois' Bruce Rauner.

Here's a rundown of the results of Tuesday's governor's races:

Alabama: Republican incumbent Kay Ivey defeats Democrat Walt Maddox

Alaska: Republican Mike Dunleavy defeats Democrat Mark Begich

Arizona: Republican incumbent Doug Ducey defeats Democrat David Garcia

Arkansas: Republican incumbent Asa Hutchinson defeats Democrat Jared Henderson

California: Democrat Gavin Newsom defeats Republican John Cox

Colorado: Democrat Jared Polis defeats Republican Walker Stapleton

Connecticut: Democrat Ned Lamont defeats Republican Bob Stefanowski

Florida: Republican Ron DeSantis defeats Democrat Andrew Gillum

Georgia: Republican Brian Kemp leads Democrat Stacey Abrams (not called yet)

Hawaii: Democrat incumbent David Ige defeats Republican Andria P. Tupola

Idaho: Republican Brad Little defeats Democrat Paulette Jordan

Illinois: Democrat J.B. Pritzker defeats Republican incumbent Bruce Rauner

Iowa: Republican incumbent Kim Reynolds defeats Democrat Fred Hubbell

Kansas: Democrat Laura Kelly defeats Republican Kris Kobach

Maine: Democrat Janet Mills defeats Republican Shawn Moody

Michigan: Democrat Gretchen Whitmer defeats Republican Bill Schuette

Minnesota: Democrat Tim Walz defeats Republican Jeff Johnson

Nebraska: Republican incumbent Pete Ricketts defeats Democrat Bob Krist

Nevada: Democrat Steve Sisolak defeats Republican Adam Laxalt

New Hampshire: Republican Chris Sununu defeats democrat Molly Kelly

New Mexico: Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham defeats Republican Steve Pearce

New York: Democrat incumbent Andrew Cuomo defeats Republican Marcus Molinaro

Ohio: Republican Mike DeWine defeats Democrat Richard Cordray

Oklahoma: Republican Kevin Stitt defeats Democrat Drew Edmondson

Oregon: Democrat incumbent Kate Brown defeats Republican Knute Buehler

Pennsylvania: Democrat incumbent Tom Wolf defeats Republican Scott Wagner

Rhode Island: Democrat incumbent Gina Raimondo defeats Republican Allan Fung

South Carolina: Republican incumbent Henry McMaster defeats Republican James Smith Jr.

South Dakota: Republican Kristi Noem defeats Democrat Billie Sutton

Tennessee: Republican Bill Lee defeats Democrat Karl Dean

Texas: Republican incumbent Greg Abbott defeats Democrat Lupe Valdez

Vermont: Republican incumbent Phil Scott defeats Democrat Christine Hallquist

Wisconsin: Democrat Tony Evers defeats Republican incumbent Scott Walker

Wyoming: Republican Mark Gordon defeats Democrat Mary Thorne

Click here to see the House and Senate results »

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Skye was the Design Director for Business Insider and Insider. She led the Graphics and Photo teams in producing all graphics, data visualizations, story art, photography, and special projects for the newsroom.
Ashley was formerly a senior news reporter at Insider. Before joining Insider, she worked as a general assignment reporter at DailyMail.com, where she focused on breaking news across the US. Ashley is a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, where she earned a degree in magazine journalism.