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A Recap of Tuesday's Election Results

The Associated Press -- Voters selected Democrats for governor in Virginia and New Jersey, while incumbent Kwame Kilpatrick made a come-from-behind re-election victory in the Detroit mayor's race. Below is a roundup of results from key races in Tuesday's state and local elections.

GOVERNORS

New Jersey: Democratic Sen. Jon Corzine easily beat Republican businessman Doug Forrester after a sharply negative campaign to succeed acting Democratic Gov. Richard J. Codey. The multimillionaires spent $70 million, more than double the previous record for a New Jersey governor's race.

Virginia: Democratic Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine soundly defeated Republican Jerry Kilgore, a former attorney general, in a closely watched contest to succeed popular Democratic Gov. Mark Warner.

MAYORS

Atlanta: The city's first female mayor, Shirley Franklin, trounced two little-known challengers to win a second term.

Boston: Three-term Mayor Thomas Menino fended off a challenge from longtime City Councilwoman Maura Hennigan.

Chicopee, Mass.: Attorney Michael Bissonnette easily defeated Mayor Richard Goyette, who was charged with extorting campaign contributions from two businessmen. Goyette dropped out of the race a week ago -- too late to remove his name from the ballot.

Cincinnati: State Rep. Mark Mallory, who is black and a member of a prominent political family, beat white City Councilman David Pepper four years after race riots tore apart the city.

Cleveland: Popular City Council President Frank Jackson, whose hard-luck life growing up in the nation's 12th-poorest city endeared him to voters, edged out incumbent Jane Campbell, the first woman to lead Cleveland.

Detroit: Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick overcame doubts about his leadership and judgment as voters gave him the second chance he asked for in a come-from-behind victory.

Houston: Mayor Bill White was re-elected with 91 percent of the vote, his popularity soaring after the city absorbed refugees from Hurricane Katrina and took strong measures to protect residents from Hurricane Rita.

Minneapolis: Mayor R.T. Rybak won a second term despite a challenge from fellow Democrat Peter McLaughlin, a county commissioner and union favorite who accused Rybak of failing to protect the city's poorer neighborhoods.

New York City: Billionaire Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg routed former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer in this heavily Democratic city and was on pace to surpass his 2001 spending record of $74 million.

Pittsburgh: Former City Councilman Bob O'Connor, a Democrat, defeated GOP lawyer Joe Weinroth in a city that has not elected a Republican mayor since the Depression. Incumbent Tom Murphy decided not to seek a fourth term.

Seattle: Mayor Greg Nickels cruised to a second term. Although Nickels' critics accused him of heavy-handed leadership and disregarding neighborhood concerns in favor of property developers, they were unable to recruit a high-profile challenger, settling on former professor Al Runte.

St. Paul, Minn.: Randy Kelly was voted out after one term in this heavily Democratic city, largely because he endorsed President Bush last year. Challenger Chris Coleman, a former City Council member, had led 2-to-1 in polls; most voters said they wanted to punish Kelly.

San Diego: Republican Jerry Sanders, a former police chief backed by the city's business establishment, handily defeated Donna Frye, a maverick Democratic councilwoman and surf-shop owner. Sanders inherits a $1.37-billion pension shortfall that has led to a federal investigation and threatened the city with bankruptcy.

CITY COUNCILS

Detroit: Motown singer Martha Reeves was eighth out of 18 candidates vying for nine seats on the Detroit City Council with 99 percent of the precincts reporting early Wednesday. She says Detroit is missing the love it had in the 1960s, when she belted out such hits as "Dancing in the Street" and "Heat Wave."

Prescott, Ariz.: Howard Mechanic, who spent nearly three decades as a fugitive before being unmasked during a run for public office in 2000, lost his bid for a seat on the Prescott City Council. Mechanic went to prison for his part in a Vietnam War protest and served nearly a year before he was pardoned by President Clinton.

SCHOOL BOARD

Dover, Pa.: Voters ousted eight GOP school board members who backed a controversial policy to introduce high school students to "intelligent design," replacing them with a slate of Democratic candidates opposed to the requirement, which critics said promoted a form of creationism.

JUDGES

Pennsylvania: Supreme Court Justice Russell M. Nigro was denied a second 10-year term amid voter backlash over a new state law that gave lawmakers and judges big raises. No statewide judge in Pennsylvania has ever been ousted in a retention vote. Justice Sandra Schultz Newman won another term only narrowly.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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