Welcome to the NewsHour. On this election day, voters cast ballots in key races across the country.

In Virginia, Democrat Abigail Spanberger will be the first woman to serve as governor.

With more than 70 percent of the vote counted, the former three-term Congresswoman leads her Republican challenger, Winsome Earl Sears, with 55 percent of the vote.

Spamberger spoke just moments ago.

We are built on the things we share, not the things that pull us apart. And I am proud

that our campaign earned votes from Democrats, Republicans, independence, and everyone in

between.

In New Jersey, Democrat Mikey Cheryl leads her Republican challenger Jack Chittarelli in the governor's race,

though the Associated Press has not yet called that race.

Meantime, the polls have just closed in New York City, where Democrat Zohran Mandani is hoping to fend off

a challenge from former Democratic governor turned independent

Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. Our team has been following all of the races today.

Liz Landers and William Brigham, join me now with the latest. So Liz, let's talk about Virginia.

Former Congressman Spamberger there elected the first female governor flipping the office

to Democratic control. How did she do it? She mentioned this a little bit in those remarks that we

just played there, that she was appealing to people across all political spectrums. She managed

to get a decent number of independents to vote for her in this race. We have some of this from just some

exit polls that came out within the last few hours. Fifty-six percent of independent voters

broke for Spanberger. Only 41 percent broke for Winsome Earl Sears, the current lieutenant

governor. If you are a political candidate, you are always trying to win over those independent voters.

You're looking at suburban moms.

You're looking at people who may be wanting to have changed their vote in the last few months

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