Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Virginians elected Republican Bob McDonnell governor, delivering a political setback to President Barack Obama, who last year became the first Democrat to carry the state in a presidential race since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

McDonnell, a former attorney general, bested Democratic state Senator Creigh Deeds by 59 percent to 41 percent of the votes counted with 99 percent of precincts reporting, the Associated Press’s election Web site said. Republicans Bill Bolling won the lieutenant governor’s race and Ken Cuccinelli was elected attorney general by similar margins, the AP said.

“Eight months ago I applied for the job of governor of Virginia,” McDonnell told supporters in his victory speech in Richmond. “Today you’ve hired me.”

The wins by Republicans in races for the state’s top three elected jobs may be a sign of the party’s resurgence going into 2010 congressional elections amid voter concerns over the health-system overhaul and costs of economic-recovery programs, said Senator Mark Warner, a former Democratic governor of the state.

The climate in Washington is “making it harder in places like Virginia,” Warner said before the election.

In New Jersey, Republican Christopher Christie, a former federal prosecutor, defeated Democratic Governor Jon Corzine, an ex-U.S. senator and onetime Goldman Sachs & Co. co-chairman, with 49 percent of the vote to the incumbent’s 45 percent. New York’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News owner Bloomberg L.P., won re-election to a third term, beating William Thompson Jr., the city’s comptroller, by a closer-than-forecast 51 percent to 46 percent.

Favorable Polling

In Virginia, which hasn’t elected a governor from the party that holds the White House since 1973, McDonnell, 55, scored favorably among independent-leaning men and suburban women in a Washington Post poll released Oct. 9, the same voters who gave the state to Obama in 2009.

Obama, who campaigned in the state at least 30 times in the presidential campaign, had returned twice to support Deeds, 51. Vice President Joe Biden attended a fundraiser for the Democratic candidate Oct. 8.

Virginia Republicans made the Democratic congressional leadership -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada -- the target of negative ads.

In their first prime-time debate on Oct. 12, McDonnell warned that Deeds would raise taxes to pay for infrastructure improvements. Deeds attacked McDonnell on transportation and women’s issues.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jerry Hart in Miami at jhart@bloomberg.net; To contact the reporter on this story: Heidi Przybyla in Washington at hprzybyla@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 4, 2009 01:06 EST