Governors races

Republicans captured from Democrats governorships in at least 10 states, making them better positioned in the 2012 presidential election.

U.S. mid-term elections

Republican candidates won governorships in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Tennessee, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Wyoming, all toss-up states that currently governed by Democrats.

In Ohio, a wing state that Obama has visited 12 times since taking office and is widely seen by both parties as crucial to the 2012 presidential election, incumbent Governor Ted Strickland lost his race with Republican opponent John Kasich.

But in California, Democrat Jerry Brown defeated former eBay CEO Meg Whitman to reclaim the governorship he held three decades ago. He will replace Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Holding governors' mansions will have significant implications in the next presidential election, as it will no doubt benefit their party's president or presidential nominee by steering resources to a presidential campaign that the out-of-power party may have trouble matching.

The governors' races also have big implications for House elections in the next 10 years. The House's 435 districts are reapportioned every decade and states will redraw their districts next year. In this process, governors have extensive power including the right to veto plans they dislike.