N.C. Elects 1st GOP Gov Since 1988 North Carolina elected a Republican governor for the first time in more than two decades tonight. GOP candidate Pat McCrory, a former Charlotte mayor who had been leading in local polls in the final days leading up to the election, defeated Democratic candidate Walter Dalton, the state's lieutenant governor. It's the first time North Carolina has elected a Republican governor since 1988. CLICK HERE for ABCNews.com's livestreaming Election Day coverage starting at 7 p.m. Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue, who narrowly beat McCrory in 2008, served one term but was not seeking re-election. North Carolina was a big target for Republicans in winning gubernatorial seats. The Republican Governors Association spent nearly $6 million in advertising buys to support McCrory and link Dalton to Perdue after a grand jury indicted one of Perdue's top aides for allegedly scheming to pay a staff member off the books in violation of state election laws. Jennifer Duffy, a political analyst for Cook Political Report, a non-partisan election analyst group, said state Democrats made a mistake putting up Dalton against McCrory. However, a big gubernatorial win for Democrats came in New Hampshire, one of three statehouse races that were considered toss-ups in the final days leading up to the election. Democratic candidate Maggie Hassan, a former state Senate majority leader who had kept a slight lead in a tight race over the past few days, beat Republican challenger Ovide Lamontagne, despite the Republican Governors Association dumping a reportedly $6 million advertising buy into Lamontagne's campaign over the weekend. Current New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat who has been in office for eight years, is retiring after his term. It's an important win in the Democrats' column because New Hampshire, despite its meager four electoral votes, is considered a key battleground state in the presidential election. Both President Obama and Mitt Romney made last-minute campaign stops there before Election Day, and ABC News is projecting that the Granite state will go to Obama. Eleven states are voting for governors today, and Republicans are aiming for a historic election night in statehouse races. The GOP now holds a total of 30 gubernatorial seats to the Democrats' 19. Duffy said the significance of Republicans winning the majority of statehouse seats during a presidential election cycle is "bragging rights." If you have two-thirds of the nation's governors on the same policy and that share similarities, then you have something that has a combined larger effect... [Republicans] would argue they have all these governors implementing the same kinds of policy, that's only good for Republicans. Six incumbent governors face re-election, four Democrats and two Republicans. Democrats grabbed the first two gubernatorial wins of the night with incumbent victories in Vermont and Delaware, two states that ABC News projects will also go to President Obama. In those states, both of which were expected to remain blue, Democratic incumbents Gov. Jack Markell of Delaware and Gov. Peter Shumlin of Vermont were elected to second terms. In the presidential race, Obama picked up three electoral votes in each state. The two Republican incumbents, North Dakota's Jack Dalrymple and Utah's Gary Herbert, cruised to a second term. ABC News also projected that both states will go to Romney, giving him six electoral votes from Utah and three from North Dakota. But there are other statehouse races that were too close to call heading into today. The Indiana governor's race was expected to be an easy lock for Republican candidate Mike Pence, a six-term congressman, in a state that is traditionally red.