It’s election night in several key states

Republican Glenn Youngkin declared victory in Virginia’s high-stakes governor’s race shortly after CNN projected he would win the state’s highest office, saying he would bring transformation to the state.

Youngkin, a Virginia businessman, then quickly moved on to the topic of education, a hot-button issue which helped propel him to victory over Democrat Terry McAuliffe.

McAuliffe has still not called Youngkin to concede the Virginia governor’s race, a campaign aide tells CNN, and said he is unlikely to do so yet tonight.

“We’re going to restore excellence in our schools,” he said. “We will invest the largest education budget in the history of the commonwealth… We’re going to introduce choice within our public school system.”

“We’re going to embrace our parents, not ignore them,” he said, referencing a comment made by McAuliffe in September in which he suggested parents ought not to tell schools what to teach.

Youngkin then moved on to the cost of living which has worried many Virginians as inflation rises, saying he would lower prices across the state and lower taxes.

“This stopped being a campaign long ago,” he continued. “This is the spirit of Virginia coming together like never before. The spirit of Washington and Jefferson and Madison and Monroe standing up and taking our commonwealth back.”

CNN’s Jeff Zeleny contributed reporting to this post.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is locked in a closer-than-expected race that remains too close to call as he tries to become the first Democratic governor in more than four decades to win reelection in the Garden State.

Like Virginia — where Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin won Tuesday night — New Jersey has trended reliably blue in federal and local contests but has a history of voting in the party out of the White House in its off-year gubernatorial races.

On top of their loss in Virginia, the close race in the Garden State – where President Joe Biden also won by double digits in 2020 — is a warning sign to Democrats looking to maintain their congressional majorities in next year’s midterms.

With 84% of the vote in, Murphy was tied with Republican Jack Ciattarelli.

Murphy’s lead over Ciattarelli in a number of late polls had appeared to be at or near double digits, giving Democrats confidence about the outcome and shifting some focus to the eventual margin – and what it could portend for next year’s midterm elections.

Murphy’s campaign acknowledges it’s been a tougher evening than they had expected, but they maintain that they will pull it out in the end, believing that the outstanding votes will break for them, a Murphy adviser said.

Read more about the New Jersey mayoral race here.

Michelle Wu greets supporters at her election night party on Tuesday in Boston.

City Councilor Michelle Wu will become Boston’s next mayor after her more moderate challenger conceded, making her the first woman and person of color elected to the top post in the city’s history, CNN projects.

Wu is set to succeed acting mayor Kim Janey, Boston’s first Black and female mayor. Janey, then-City Council President, was next in line to lead the city when Boston Mayor Marty Walsh was named President Biden’s Labor secretary in January.

Wu, whose parents came from Taiwan, grew up in Chicago and attended Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where she was a student of then-professor Elizabeth Warren — the Massachusetts senator whom Wu calls one of her personal heroes and her biggest backers.

She was just 28 years old when she was elected to the Boston City Council in 2013, later serving as council president.

CNN’s Maeve Reston contributed reporting to this post. 

The Minneapolis mayor race will head to ranked-choice tabulation after no candidate received a majority of first choice votes, CNN projects. That tabulation will take place tomorrow. Incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey has the lead among first choice votes.

CNN can project that Albuquerque, New Mexico, Mayor Tim Keller will win a second term and avoid a runoff.

CNN can also project that voters have approved Issue 24 in Cleveland, a ballot measure that will restructure police oversight.

Incumbent Mike Duggan will be reelected to a third term in Detroit, CNN projects.

In Seattle, Bruce Harrell will be the next mayor, CNN projects.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan speaks at an election night party in Detroit, Tuesday, November 2.

Bruce Harrell speaks to supporters, Tuesday, November 2, on election night in Seattle.

President Biden boards Marine One after landing at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

President Biden just landed in Washington, DC, from his Europe trip after a rough election night for Democrats.

CNN projected that Republican Glenn Youngkin will win Virginia’s high-stakes governors race, while incumbent Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy is facing a tight race against GOP candidate Jack Ciattarelli.

The election results come while Democrats in Congress are still working to garner enough votes in the Senate to pass Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.

Felicia Moore, Atlanta City Council President, attends The Fight For Fibroids Atlanta Awareness Brunch on May 22, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Atlanta mayoral election will go to a runoff, CNN projects.

Atlanta City Council President Felicia Moore, who currently leads the race against more than a dozen other candidates, will be a candidate for the runoff election on Nov. 30.

She will face either Kasim Reed or Andre Dickens. As of early Wednesday morning, CNN cannot project the second place winner who will face Moore.

icRepun Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin is speaking to supporters now.

CNN has projected he will be the winner of the race.

Earlier this evening before the race was called, Democratic challenger Terry McAuliffe thanked his supporters at his campaign headquarters and said “the fight continues.”

Watch the moment:

Republican Winsome Sears will be Virginia’s first Black, female lieutenant governor, CNN projects.

Moments ago, CNN projected businessman Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, will become Virginia’s next governor.

CNN’s Van Jones reflected on difficult electoral results for Democrats tonight, saying it was a “five-alarm fire” that requires the party to make rapid changes to avoid calamity in the 2022 midterm elections.

“This is a big deal,” said Jones, speaking shortly after CNN projected Republican Glenn Youngkin would win the governor’s office in Virginia, defeating Democrat Terry McAuliffe.

The governor’s race in New Jersey remains undecided but Republican Jack Ciattarelli maintains a lead over Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

“That’s a big deal,” Jones continued. “That is a five-alarm fire.”

Jones went on to urge Democrats to “wake up tomorrow morning and figure out how to run back to regular folks” with the midterm elections around the corner.

Hear from CNN’s Van Jones:

Republican Jack Ciattarelli, who is running for governor of New Jersey against Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, told his supporters that the race has national implications.

CNN has not yet projected a winner in the race.

“Sometime real soon, when we can declare unequivocally a victory, we will begin to fix the state of New Jersey and make this state someplace where everyone feels confident they can live, work, retire, start a business, raise a family,” Ciattarelli said.

Businessman Glenn Youngkin will become Virginia’s next governor, CNN projects. He’s the first Republican to win statewide office there since 2009. 

Youngkin defeated Democratic candidate and former Gov. Terry McAuliffe. The result may be a sign of trouble for Democrats heading into the midterms.

Watch the moment CNN makes the projection:

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy addressed supporters early Wednesday amid a tight gubernatorial race.

Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy is now on his way to the election night event, aides tell CNN.

This is a shift from earlier in the evening when they were not planning on him speaking before the race was called. 

CNN has not yet projected a winner in the race.

The GOP candidates in the two big gubernatorial races tonight are currently leading their races. The New Jersey race is tightening.

CNN is yet to make a projection in the races, but here is where things stand now:

Virginia (with 95% of the estimated vote):

New Jersey (with 74% of the estimated vote in):

The races are being closely watched as a roadmap of what could come in the 2022 midterms.

Boston mayoral candidate and city councilor Michelle Wu spoke Tuesday night declaring her historic victory, moments after City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George conceded in the Boston mayoral race.

“From every corner of our city, Boston has spoken. We are ready to meet this moment. We are ready to become a Boston for everyone,” Wu said to a crowd of supporters Tuesday night.

While CNN has not yet projected a winner in the race, Essaibi George congratulated Wu Tuesday on becoming the first woman and the first Asian American to be mayor of Boston, which has long been led by White men.

Wu, whose parents came from Taiwan, grew up in Chicago and attended Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where she was a student of then-professor Elizabeth Warren — the Massachusetts senator whom Wu calls one of her personal heroes and her biggest backers. She was just 28 years old when she was elected to the Boston City Council in 2013, later serving as council president.

“I want to offer a great big congratulations to Michelle Wu,” Essaibi George said to a crowd of supporters at her election night party.

CNN’s Maeve Reston contributed reporting to this post. 

Justin Bibb will win the Cleveland mayoral race, CNN projects.

With the Minneapolis ballot measure to replace the police department rejected and the more moderate mayoral candidate in Boston remaining in the race, CNN’s Political Director David Chalian said that this election “we are learning a lot about where voters are in the Democratic Party right now and how Democrats are going to, in Washington, start to position themselves around this.”

Chalian said that tonight’s results are making clear of how voters believe the Democratic Party should be positioned.

“We have spent the last several months in Washington observing a battle between moderates and progressives up on Capitol Hill. Voters, I think, are making clear, again, not just tonight, which they are doing that. But in this year’s primary season, in the presidential primary of where they believe the Democratic Party should be positioned,” he said.

CNN is yet to project a winner in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races.

Watch the moment:

Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s campaign assessment right now is that the northern, heavily Democratic New Jersey counties have not yet reported, and they believe that they’ll need another hour or so for those tallies to come in, one aide says. They’ve seen heavily GOP counties come in so far.

Once those Democratic areas come in, they expect the overall numbers to move in their favor, the aide said.

Earlier in the evening, every time New Jersey numbers came on screen, there was cheering — but those cheers have not been heard in a while.

 CNN has not yet made a projection in this race.