In 11 governor races, it's about jobs, taxes In Indiana, Mike Pence, a conservative Republican in the House, was running for the seat being vacated by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who is up against term limits. Pence was seen as the favorite over Democrat John Gregg. Eleven states across the nation were selecting governors in Tuesday's elections, with many of the candidates facing off on how to manage troubled state budgets and generate jobs in the long crawl out of the economic slump. Of the 11 states with gubernatorial elections in November, eight are now led by Democrats, and each of the most competitive races is an opportunity for Republicans to gain state houses. The numbers suggests that the GOP soon may claim 30 to 33 governorships after holding just 22 a few years ago. Steven Greene, a professor of political science at North Carolina State University, suspects there isn't necessarily a national tide pushing Republicans in governor's races so much as individual circumstances in the small number of competitive states. The governors" races that were nail-biters heading into Election Day included New Hampshire, Montana and Washington. In Washington, the race was neck-and-neck heading into the final stretch between former Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna, a Republican, and former Rep. Jay Inslee, the Democrat. Although Washington voters had not elected a Republican governor since 1980, the seat being vacated by retiring Gov. Christine Gregoire is hotly contested, and witnessed a large influx of outside money. According to the Seattle Times, the race was expected to cost more than $46 million, with the single biggest share of spending coming from out-of-state interest groups. Both candidates put job creation at the top of their to-do lists. Inslee touted his jobs-creation program based on green energy technology, was pro-choice and favored Obama's health care plan. McKenna ran on creating jobs by cutting red tape and taxes for the state's business owners. The race in Montana was also a toss-up as voting day approached, with a dispute over a $500,000 contribution forcing the two-year battle for governorship into court in the final stretch. Democrat Steve Bullock, the state's Attorney General was vying with Rick Hill, a Republican who served in the U.S. House. Hill argued that Montana needed to lift burdensome state regulations to generate jobs, and supported anti-union, right to work laws. Bullock rejected much of his opponent's criticism of Montana's business and regulatory position and said that outgoing Gov. Brian Schweitzer was leaving the state in a relatively strong position to draw more business. Just weeks before voting day, a legal battle erupted over a $500,000 donation to Hill from the Republican Governors Association, and a judge's order barring him from using it. The donation came after a federal judge ruled that Montana's campaign contribution limits were unconstitutionally low on Oct. 3, and before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked that ruling on Oct. 9, restoring the limits pending appeal. The legal distraction may have diverted attention from Hill's message, according to The Republic. Another source of uncertainty for him was whether Libertarian candidate Ron Vandevender would attract enough Republican votes to undermine Hill. In New Hampshire, taxes and social issues dominated the debate in a close race. Republican Ovide Lamontagne is seeking to retake the governor's seat after eight years under Democratic Gov. John Lynch, who is retiring. Former state Senate Majority Leader Maggie Hassan is campaigning on the Democratic side. The state went for Obama in 2008 by 10 percentage points, but New Hampshire has swung back toward Republicans and is now considered competitive in the White House race. Both Hassan and Lamontagne's campaigns have attempted to portray their competitors as ideological extremists on social issues including abortion and same sex marriage. But both have to court the independent voters who account for 39 percent in that state, according to the Union Leader. Both candidates pledged to veto a broad-based income or sales tax, the Leader said, but Lamontagne questioned the sincerity of Hassan's pledge because she supported an income tax a decade ago running for the state Senate, while renouncing broad-based taxes in later campaigns. She also opposed placing an income tax ban in the state constitution, saying future generations should not be restricted should they face fiscal challenges.. In Indiana, U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, a conservative Republican in the House, was running for the seat being vacated by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who is up against term limits. Pence was seen as the favorite over Democrat John Gregg, a former Indiana House speaker. North Carolina, too, was leaning toward Republican leadership after a period of Democratic tenure. That race pitted Republican Pat McCrory, a former mayor of Charlotte over Lt. Gov Walter Dalton, a Democrat. In that state, a former governor was convicted of a felony in 2010 and the current governor is sullied by an investigation that led to charges against her former campaign aides. The Republican candidate, former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, has cast himself as a pragmatic centrist and is projected to win comfortably even as President Barack Obama tries to compete in the state. Political scientist Greene noted that a bloc of ballots will be cast for Obama and for McCrory. "The candidates matter," Greene said. As political scientists, we have to remind ourselves about that sometimes. Republicans are competing in Missouri and West Virginia, but haven't found as much success. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon entered the final weeks of the race with a substantial cash advantage over businessman Dave Spence, who owns a plastic bottle manufacturing plant. Nixon has highlighted his spending cuts, government job cuts and budgets balanced without tax increases as a reason for re-election in the state that typically favors conservatives. West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is favored, but Republican nominee Bill Maloney, a coal businessman, and the Republican Governors Association have tried to link the incumbent to Obama. Polling suggested that the governors" offices in four states would go with incumbents - North Dakota Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple, Utah Republican Gov. Gary Herbert, Vermont Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin and Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, a Democrat. Kate Hansen, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Governors Association, acknowledged that this is a tough year for Democrats, since they have more seats to defend. "We're pleased with the shape of the more competitive tossup races going into the homestretch - because we have excellent candidates focused on creating jobs and expanding opportunity, and we've made smart and early investments throughout the year," Hansen said. NBC's Kari Huus and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow Kari Huus on Facebook