Democrats rode to victory in the hotly contested gubernatorial  elections in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday, as Ralph Northam  defeated Republican Ed Gillespie in Virginia and Phil Murphy beat  Republican Kim Guadagno in New Jersey, according to Fox News  projections.

The victories -- especially the win in Virginia -- are a  shot in the arm to the beleaguered Democratic Party, which has lost  four special congressional elections to Republicans since Donald Trump  was elected president a year ago.

Northam won with the support of federal government employees and non-white voters, according to the Fox News Voter Analysis.

"Tonight we proved that we're stronger when we value  and fight for one another," Northam tweeted Tuesday evening. "Onward to  Richmond!" 

Tonight we proved that we're stronger when we value and fight for one another. Onward to Richmond! pic.twitter.com/QIKjRzPHqG

— Ralph Northam (@RalphNortham) November 8, 2017

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez  celebrated the wins by saying voters in Virginia and New Jersey  “rejected a Trump-Pence agenda” -- though the voter analysis suggested  Trump was not a major factor at the ballot box. 

Meanwhile, President Trump reacted to the results by  saying Gillespie, whom he supported, did not adequately embrace him  during the race.

"Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or  what I stand for," the president tweeted. "Don’t forget, Republicans won  4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy doing record numbers, we  will continue to win, even bigger than before!"

Ahead of Tuesday’s elections, the president repeatedly  tweeted his support for Gillespie in the race to replace Democratic Gov.  Terry McAuliffe in Virginia, while staying quiet about Guadagno in New  Jersey. Polling in recent weeks had shown Gillespie gaining ground on  Northam in Virginia, the only southern state lost by Trump in 2016. 

Ed  Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for. Don’t  forget, Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy  doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2017

FULL ELECTION DAY COVERAGE

Gillespie, a former chairman of the Republican National  Committee, has been campaigning on some issues embraced by Trump during  the presidential campaign, vowing to crack down on sanctuary cities and  the MS-13 gang.

“Ralph Northam will allow crime to be rampant in  Virginia,” Trump tweeted earlier in the day from Asia, where he’s on a  foreign trip. “He’s weak on crime, weak on our GREAT VETS, Anti-Second  Amendment and has been horrible on Virginia economy. Vote @EdWGillespie  today!”

The race between Gillespie and Northam has gotten  particularly nasty in recent weeks, with each side accusing the other of  running ads that are out of line and racially tinged. 

VIRGINIA GUBERNATORIAL RACE GUIDE

Last week, a liberal group called the Latino Victory  Fund released a television ad showing immigrant and minority children in  Virginia being chased down the road by a man in a pickup truck with a  Confederate flag and a Gillespie bumper sticker. Republicans decried the  ad, accusing Democrats of fear-mongering. The group behind it  eventually took the ad down after last week’s terrorist attack by truck  in New York.

Meanwhile, Democrats have repeatedly protested ads from  Gillespie accusing Northam of voting for bills that would lead to  sanctuary cities and a threat increase from the MS-13 gang. In a video  posted on Twitter after he voted Tuesday, McAuliffe warned about a  possible Republican upset and called on voters to reject the “bigoted,  racist ads that Ed Gillespie has run against Ralph Northam”

“I do not want you waking up like you did after the  presidential election last November and saying, ‘how could this possibly  happen?’” McAuliffe said.

VIRGINIA, NEW JERSEY GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES SPAR OVER SANCTUARY CITIES

I just voted here in Richmond for @RalphNortham, @FairfaxJustin, and @MarkHerringVA...get out there and vote, Virginia!! #GameOnVA pic.twitter.com/m1fouH8S7k

— Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) November 7, 2017

Gillespie and Northam have also sparred over the highly  charged issue of removing Confederate monuments in the state. Northam's  campaign attempted to tie Gillespie to the white supremacist violence  this summer in Charlottesville, something Gillespie's campaign called an  "ugly character smear." 

Northam’s team has tried to portray the race as a  referendum against Trump, labeling Gillespie “Trump's chief lobbyist”  because of his former lobbying career. But the so-called liberal  “resistance” against Trump failed to successfully use that strategy in a  series of special House elections this year that Republicans have won.

The gubernatorial elections come as the national  Democratic Party finds itself in disarray over former DNC interim  chairman Donna Brazile’s new book claiming the DNC rigged the nomination  for Hillary Clinton over rival Bernie Sanders in 2016.

In New Jersey, Murphy will succeed outgoing Republican  Gov. Chris Christie, who has seen his approval numbers take a drastic  hit and is term-limited after eight years in office.

Christie's deep unpopularity made Lt. Gov. Guadagno's campaign an uphill climb from the start. 

Democratic nominee Phil Murphy, right, has been polling ahead of Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, left, in New Jersey.  (AP)        

Like Gillespie, Guadagno spent the campaign railing  against sanctuary cities, releasing an ad drawing attention to Murphy’s  comments in support of New Jersey being a “sanctuary state” and telling  the story of an illegal immigrant who was convicted of killing several  students in 2007.

“Murphy doesn’t have our backs,” the ad’s narrator  says. Referencing criminal illegal immigrants, the narrator continues:  “He has theirs.”

Like Northam in Virginia, Murphy responded by accusing Guadagno of channeling Trump.

“Kim Guadagno should be ashamed of herself for the way  she’s politicizing the deaths of three children and painting a community  with the broad brush of a murderer, a tactic she must have gleaned from  President Trump,” Murphy said in response to the ad. “To say the least,  these are not New Jersey’s values.”