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(AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie addresses a gathering at a campaign stop Monday, Nov. 2, 2009, in Tinton Falls, N.J. Christie will face Gov. Jon S. Corzine and Independent candidate Chris Daggett in Tuesday's election.
TRENTON, N.J.— Republican Chris Christie, a former corruption-busting prosecutor, tapped into deep voter discontent over stubbornly high taxes and chronic financial problems to unseat New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine on Tuesday, despite being outspent by $12 million in a heavily Democratic state.
Christie, 47, is the first Republican to win a statewide race in New Jersey in a dozen years. His convincing victory was particularly satisfying for Republicans who earlier Tuesday had captured the country's only other governor's race, in Virginia. The New Jersey race was a tossup heading into Election Day.
"Tomorrow, starting tomorrow, we are going to pick Trenton up and turn it upside down," Christie told cheering supporters at a hotel in Parsippany.
Many voters expressed dissatisfaction with all the candidates, saying they were disappointed with Corzine, unsure Christie would do better and unconvinced that Chris Daggett, a third-party candidate who at one point had been feared as a potential spoiler, could win.
Craig Royer, 46, of Woodbridge in central New Jersey, typified voters' discontent.
"I'm tired of the Democrats," Royer said. "I voted for Chris Christie because he's not Jon Corzine."
Christie made a reputation for himself by locking up 130 officials without losing a single corruption case. Augusta Przygoda, who said she became a Republican after she moved to Hoboken in 1970, praised Christie's record as U.S. attorney.
"I admire how he cleaned up New Jersey, or at least tried to," she said. "It still needs cleaning up, but no one else seems to have the courage to do it."
The results were a troubling sign for President Barack Obama heading into next year's midterm elections. Obama invested heavily in the New Jersey race, campaigning with Corzine five times on three separate visits.
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, who was at Christie headquarters in Parsippany, said Christie's win sends a message that voters are demanding change.
