DeSantis holds off Dem Gillum in tight Florida governor race

Illinois, Michigan elect Dems; GOP businessman wins in Tennessee.

Republicans are in control more often than not in state capitols across the country, but Democrats tried to pull a little closer in elections Tuesday for governor and state legislature.

Democrats were hoping enthusiasm among their voters would flip governor’s seats in Florida, Iowa, Illinois and Kansas as well as traditional battleground states Michigan, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Florida

Democrat Andrew Gillum conceded an extremely tight Florida governor’s race to Republican former U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis. The Tallahassee mayor had sought to energize his party’s voters as an unabashed liberal.

Gillum was trying to become Florida’s first African-American governor and end his party’s 24-year losing streak.

Gillum had been a surprise winner in August’s Democratic primary — of the five major candidates, he spent the least and had little presence on television. DeSantis also began the race as a relative unknown but built his name recognition with more than 100 appearances on Fox News, then won the primary over Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam by 20 points.

In the general election, Gillum ran a positive campaign, rarely mentioning DeSantis while staking out unabashedly liberal positions on health care, guns and the environment. He also called for an increase in taxes for the state’s largest corporations to pay for increased spending on schools.

DeSantis spent much of the campaign accusing Gillum of corruption and being a failed mayor.

Michigan

Democrat Gretchen Whitmer won the Michigan governor’s race to break a Republican power bloc that had been a top target for Democrats.

Whitmer is a former state legislative leader and defeated Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette in Tuesday’s election. She will succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Rick Snyder.

Republicans had controlled the governor’s office and both chambers of the Michigan Legislature since racking up big victories in the 2010 midterm elections during Democratic President Barack Obama’s tenure. The GOP used that trifecta of power to enact congressional and state legislative maps that favored Republicans.

Illinois

A Democrat will be back in charge of Illinois now that billionaire J.B. Pritzker has defeated Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner in one of the nation’s most expensive gubernatorial races ever.

Pritzker put more than $150 million of his own money into the race against Rauner, who also spent tens of millions of dollars of his own wealth.

Pritzker’s victory could restore a solid grip on government for Democrats, who already controlled both chambers of the state Legislature heading into Tuesday’s election. Rauner’s four-year term as governor had interrupted a Democratic trifecta that began in 2003.

Tennessee

Republican businessman Bill Lee has won Tennessee’s gubernatorial election over his Democratic challenger, former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean.

Lee’s election Tuesday to a four-year term means Republicans are in a good position to retain their trifecta of power through the next round of congressional and state legislative redistricting after the 2020 census.

SCOTT MCINTYRE / NYT FLORIDA: Republican Ron DeSantis narrowly defeated Democrat Andrew Gillum, who would have been the state’s first black governor.