WASHINGTON: The re-election victory of New Jersey's pragmatic Republican governor and the defeat of an ideological Republican firebrand in the Virginia gubernatorial contest are being studied for indications that US voters, in at least two critical states, may be turning away from the radical, anti-government tea party vision for the country's future.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, widely expected to seek the Republican nomination for president in 2016, rolled up a landslide in his Democratic-leaning state.

In Virginia, tea party favorite Ken Cuccinelli lost a close contest with Democrat Terry McAuliffe, a close friend of former President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former secretary of state who is also widely seen as a possible 2016 presidential contender.

The two races were the most closely watched of many state and local elections that took place across the country Tuesday. Nationwide, turnout was relatively light, even in the most hard-fought races.

Without presidential or congressional elections on the books, voters were primarily hard-core partisans. But to win, both gubernatorial victors sounded a tone of pragmatic bipartisanship at a time of dysfunctional divided, government in Washington.

With that pitch, they cobbled together a diverse cross-section of voters.

The off-year vote will be scrutinized for clues to the mood of Americans ahead of next year's congressional elections, given that Christie became the first Republican to earn more than 50 per cent of the New Jersey vote in a quarter-century.

It was the first time Virginia elected a governor from the same party as the sitting US president since 1977, a possible good sign for the Democrats in the battleground state.

It was also a boost for Hillary Rodham Clinton, who campaigned for her friend, along with her husband and Obama.

But it may be too early to know the wider implications of Virginia's race. McAuliffe's margin of victory was smaller than expected. Exit polls found Cuccinelli fared well among core right-flank constituents, tea partyers, gun owners and rural voters.

McAuliffe, held advantages among unmarried women, voters who called abortion a top issue and the vote-rich Washington suburbs.

''Over the next four years most Democrats and Republicans want to make Virginia a model of pragmatic leadership,'' said McAuliffe, a Democrat taking the helm in a state where Republicans control the Legislature.

''This is only possible if Virginia is the model for bipartisan cooperation.''

Christie assembled a winning coalition with broad support among constituencies that don't reliably vote Republican. Exit polls showed he carried a majority of women and split the Hispanic vote.

He improved on his share of the vote among blacks in 2009 by more than 10 per centage points.

Christie's advisers saw his ability to draw support from Democrats, independents and minorities as a winning argument ahead of 2016, pitching him as the most electable candidate in what could be a crowded presidential primary field.

Elsewhere, New Yorkers elected Bill de Blasio, head of the city's public watchdog agency, to replace billionaire Michael Bloomberg, the Republican-turned-independent who has been the city's mayor for 12 years and wasn't seeking re-election.

Though New York is overwhelmingly Democratic, it hasn't had a Democratic mayor in 20 years, after Bloomberg's three terms and two by his Republican predecessor, Rudolph Giuliani.

In Colorado, voters agreed to tax marijuana at 25 per cent.

In Alabama, Republican party internal squabbles played out in the special congressional runoff primary election.

Byrne, a veteran politician and the choice of the party establishment, won against tea party favorite Dean Young. The race was the first test of the US Chamber of Commerce's promise to try to influence primaries. The group had pumped at least $200,000 into supporting Byrne.

Taken together, the results in individual states and cities yielded no broad judgments on how the American public feels about today's two biggest national political debates, government spending and health care, which are more likely to shape next fall's midterm elections.