Republicans try to pick up more governors' offices

ST. LOUIS (AP) - North Carolina voters elected their first Republican governor in two decades on Tuesday, fanning the party's hope of broadening their hold on more governor's mansions across America.

The victory by former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory came two years after Republicans snatched six governors' offices in the last round of elections, giving the party 29 governorships to 20 for Democrats and one independent entering this year's elections, in which 11 gubernatorial races were to be decided.

When all the ballots are counted, Republicans could have as many as 33 governorships - the most since the 1920s and one more than they had in the 1990s.

Democratic governors are leaving office in North Carolina, Montana, New Hampshire and Washington, raising Republican hopes that at least some of those offices can be flipped to them. But New Hampshire's governor's mansion remained in Democratic hands Tuesday, as did those in Vermont and Delaware.