ST. LOUIS — Republicans poured tens of millions of dollars into an effort to gain control of more governors’ offices across the country, but the party saw limited results, managing only to wrest North Carolina from Democrats for the first time in two decades.
Democrats fended off GOP challengers in governorship races in Missouri, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Delaware and Vermont.
Votes in Washington and Montana — two states with open races for governor now occupied by outgoing Democrats — were still being tallied early Wednesday.
Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory’s victory Tuesday in North Carolina came two years after Republicans snatched six governors’ offices in the midterm elections. Those victories gave the party 29 governorships to 20 for Democrats and one independent going into the latest elections.
Republicans remained at the top of state government in North Dakota, Utah and Indiana.
When all the ballots are counted, Republicans could have as many as 32 governorships — a number the party has not achieved since the 1990s.
But the GOP’s successes remained somewhat muted early Wednesday, despite the victory by McCrory, who defeated Democratic Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton to become North Carolina’s first GOP chief executive since early 1993. McCrory narrowly lost his gubernatorial bid in 2008 to Democrat Beverly Perdue, who opted not to run this year.
To the Republican Governors Association’s chairman, Bob McDonnell, that modest gain was notable.
“There’s no doubt that the Republican Party’s strength comes from the states, and the RGA’s ability to expand our majority provides optimism for the future,” McDonnell said.
