The team of Lt. Gov. Lemanu Palepoi Sialega Mauga, candidate for governor, and running mate, Talauega Eleasalo Va’alele Ale, candidate for lieutenant governor, won the gubernatorial race during the general election according to the unofficial results.

The unofficial results were released with a total of 11,861 ballots counted with Lemanu and Talauega receiving almost 61% of the votes.

Local law states a special or run-off election is held two weeks after the general election if none of the candidates received 50% plus one vote.

There is a seven-day waiting period before the chief election officer certifies the results as official.

Incumbent Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb was reelected in the biggest statewide race on the ballot this year.

Holcomb defeated Democrat Dr. Woodrow A. Myers by roughly 28 percentage points, and third-party Libertarian candidate Donald Rainwater by over 45 percentage points as of Wednesday morning.

At the time of this post, 74% of votes are counted.

Voters across Puerto Rico await final results on November 4 following elections that saw long lines and produced a tight gubernatorial race.

Candidate Pedro Pierluisi holds a slight lead over Carlos Delgado Altieri and several other candidates in the race for governor.

Pierluisi, the candidate for the pro-statehood New Progressive Party, is the territory’s former non-voting representative in Congress.

He also briefly served as governor following huge street protests last year that led to the resignation of former Gov. Ricardo Rosselló.

Rosselló was forced out of office in August 2019 amid mass street protests and corruption allegations.

His successor, Wanda Vázquez Garced, battled the pandemic and earthquakes until Pierluisi won the gubernatorial primary earlier this year.

Pierluisi also trailed gubernatorial opponents Juan Dalmau of the Puerto Rican Independence Party, Alexandra Lúgaro of Citizen Victory Movement, César Vázquez of the Dignity Project, and independent candidate Eliezer Molina.

With more than 95% of the votes counted, Pierluisi leads Altieri 32.40% to 31.36%.

Incumbent Lt. Gov. and Republican Spencer Cox defeated candidate Chris Peterson 64% to 30% in Utah’s gubernatorial race.

Cox, the top finisher among state Republican convention delegates, beat three GOP candidates in the June 30 party primary.

Those are former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., former Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes, and former Utah Chairman Thomas Wright.

Peterson, a University of Utah law professor who worked on consumer issues in the Obama administration, won the Democratic nomination outright at his party’s state convention and did not face a primary in his first run for public office.

Cox will succeed Republican Gov. Gary Herbert.

Herbert chose not to run for reelection after more than a decade in office and endorsed Cox in the hotly contested GOP gubernatorial primary.

Republican Henry McMaster defeated Democrat James Smith to become governor of South Carolina.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, McMaster beat Smith 54 percent to 45 percent.

McMaster is the former Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina.

He became governor of South Carolina in 2017 when Nikki Haley was appointed Ambassador to the United Nations.

Democratic Congresswoman and former state health secretary Michelle Lujan Grisham won last night’s New Mexico gubernatorial election with 56.91 percent of the vote. Lujan Grisham became the first Democratic Latina governor, taking over a seat held by Republicans for two terms.

Lujan Grisham’s win will mark the first time a Democratic candidate has won the gubernatorial seat since 2002, according to Vox.

She focused her platform on an expansion of preschool education, lowering crime rates, economic expansion, and investments in solar and wind energy.

Lujan Grisham has an extensive political tenure—she is a three-term U.S. congresswoman currently serving New Mexico’s first district. Prior to her federal service, she served as cabinet secretary for three different New Mexico governors.

Upon taking office, her current U.S. seat will be filled by Debra Haaland.

Democratic candidates won at least seven gubernatorial races in Republican-held states on Tuesday.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker narrowly lost to Tony Evers in his bid for a third term, and Gov. Bruce Rauner lost big to billionaire J.B. Pritzker in deep-blue Illinois.

In addition to these victories, Democrats also picked up open seats in Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, and New Mexico.

Races yet to be called include Alaska, Connecticut, and Georgia.

The battle to be Georgia’s next governor continues as Democrat Stacey Abrams refuses to concede to Republican Brian Kemp. Kemp holds a small margin of less than 70,000 votes with 99 percent of precincts reporting. Democrats believe there are enough votes submitted by mail still left uncounted to close the gap.

Abrams, a former state legislator, is the first female African-American to be a major party’s nominee for governor. Brian Kemp, Georgia’s Secretary of State, is attempting to break a 20-year slump for Republicans running for governor.

The race took an ugly turn this past weekend as Kemp’s office opened an investigation into the state’s Democratic Party for an alleged attempt to hack the state’s voter registration system. No evidence was cited and the Democrats denied the allegations.

State Republicans are celebrating a victory today following a successful gubernatorial election. Matt Bevin, a Louisville businessman and favorite among Tea Party members, was elected governor, defeating Democrat and current Attorney General Jack Conway. This is an unusual change in a state where Democrats have held the governor’s office for all but four of the last 44 years.

Additionally, by capitalizing on the overwhelming unpopularity of President Obama within the state, Republicans will go from holding just one statewide office to four.

Kentucky is the last southern state where Democrats hold a chamber of the legislature, but without the support of the governor, the state’s House is likely to fall as well.

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Attorney General Gary King received more than 33 percent of the vote in a field of five candidates to win the Democratic nomination for governor. King will face a general election match-up with Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, who ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

Martinez, a former district attorney from Las Cruces, was elected the state’s first female governor and the nation’s first female Hispanic governor in 2010.

King, a former state legislator and son of former Gov. Bruce King, raised about $476,000 for his gubernatorial bid since October. More than half of the contributions were in the form of King’s personal loans to the campaign.

During the same period, Martinez raised more than $2.4 million in campaign contributions.