Democrat Terry McAuliffe came out on top after a long, bitter and divisive gubernatorial race in Virginia on Tuesday evening.
The former DNC chairman beat out Republican contender, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, with a surprisingly slim 48-45 percent victory to become Virginia's next governor. Meanwhile, Libertarian Robert Sarvis only received about seven percent of the vote as a third-party candidate, reports NBC News.
According to exit polls, both McAuliffe and Cuccinelli did very well within their party lines. Although Cuccinelli had a nine-point edge among independents, McAuliffe did better in getting out his base as slightly more voters described themselves as Democrats (37 percent) than Republicans (32 percent), reports CBS News. The Democratic businessman also won over more voters under age 45, college graduates, moderates and women.
Some polls suggest that Virginia voters may have perceived Cuccinelli as more extreme ideologically than McAuliffe, with 50 percent calling Cuccinelli too conservative and just 41 percent calling McAuliffe too liberal. However, McAuliffe's victory was narrow because voters cited the economy and health care as the issues most important to them and Cuccinelli beat his Democratic rival in both categories.
In his victory speech Tuesday night, McAuliffe made a pledged of bipartisanship, promising to reach out to every Republican in the state assembly before taking office.
"The truth is that this election was never a choice between Democrats and Republicans, it was a choice about whether Virginia would continue the mainstream bipartisan tradition that has served us so well over the last decade," he said, reports NBC News.
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