Democrat Terry McAuliffe eked out a narrow victory Tuesday night over Republican Ken Cuccinelli to become Virginia’s next governor.
With 99.1 percent of the vote counted, McAuliffe was leading, 47.6 to 45.8 percent.
Both Fox News and MSNBC projected him the winner.
President Obama and both Bill and Hillary Clinton put their political prestige on the line to campaign for McAuliffe, turning the race into one with national implications if he lost. On Monday, Vice President Joe Biden turned up at McAuliffe’s side.
Turnout for Tuesday’s election was low, and both candidates worked through Election Day to reach as many potential voters as possible.
McAuliffe, who once led the Democratic National Committee and is a Clinton confidant, said he would expand Medicaid to provide health coverage for 400,000 people under the federal health care law.
By contrast, Cuccinelli, the current attorney general, vehemently opposed the law and tried to cast the election as a referendum on Obama’s signature national health plan.
The McAuliffe-Cuccinelli race was widely considered a bellwether for the 2014 midterm elections, when control of Congress is up for grabs.
McAuliffe enjoyed a sizable lead in polls leading up to the election and raised millions more than his opponent, allowing him to buy far more TV ad time.
At campaign stops and on television ads, the Democrat cast Cuccinelli as an extremist whose staunch anti-abortion stance would reverse years of progress in expanding abortion rights.
Cuccinelli, a Tea Party favorite, enlisted the help of big names like Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky to turn out his conservative base.
Biden warned Democrats not to underestimate the Tea Party’s ability to get out the vote, telling supporters on Monday, “Don’t take this for granted, man.”
Obama won the state in 2008 and 2012, but Virginia is evenly split among Republicans and Democrats and far fewer people turn out in off-year elections.