New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was re-elected with ease Tuesday, demonstrating the kind of broad, bipartisan appeal that will serve as his opening argument should he seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

With 23 percent of precincts reporting, Christie had 58 percent of the vote to Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono’s 41 percent.

He was expected to become the first Republican in a quarter-century to receive more than 50 percent of the New Jersey vote. This is in a state that President Barack Obama carried a year ago by more than 17 points, his biggest margin in the nation.

Buono told supporters in her hometown of Metuchen, on the fringes of the New York area, shortly after polls closed that she had called Christie to congratulate him. She noted they had their differences but added, “When it comes down to it, we’re just two parents who want to see the best for our children’s future.”

Christie performed strongly across the political spectrum. Interviews with voters as they left polling places found Christie re-elected with broad support among whites, independents, moderates, voters over 40 and those opposing the health care law, among others.

The interviews were conducted for the AP and television networks ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox News by Edison Research.

Backed by soaring approval ratings for his leadership after Superstorm Sandy, the tell-it-like-it-is governor built a winning coalition by aggressively courting constituencies that often shun the GOP: minorities, women and even Democrats, who outnumber Republicans among registered voters by more than three to two.

Christie, who is openly considering running for president, has said his success offers a template for broadening the GOP’s appeal after the disastrous 2012 election cycle and the party’s record-low approval ratings following the recent government shutdown.

In New York, Bill de Blasio was elected New York City’s first Democratic mayor in two decades Tuesday, running on an unabashedly liberal, tax-the-rich platform that contrasted sharply with billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s record during 12 years in office.

De Blasio, the city’s public advocate, defeated Republican Joe Lhota, former chief of the metropolitan area’s transit agency.

De Blasio, 52, will take office on Jan. 1 as the 109th mayor of the nation’s largest city. He had been heavily favored, holding an overwhelming lead in the polls for weeks.

Bloomberg, who first ran as a Republican and later became an independent, guided the city through the financial meltdown and the aftermath of 9/11. He is leaving office after three terms.

De Blasio ran as the anti-Bloomberg, railing against economic inequality and portraying New York as a “tale of two cities” — one rich, the other working class — under the pro-business, pro-development mayor, who made his fortune from the financial information company that bears his name.

De Blasio, who hails from Brooklyn, reached out to New Yorkers he contended were left behind by the often Manhattan-centric Bloomberg administration, and he called for a tax increase on the wealthy to pay for universal pre-kindergarten. He also pledged to improve economic opportunities in minority and working-class neighborhoods.

He decried alleged abuses under the police department’s stop-and-frisk policy and enjoyed a surge when a federal judge ruled that police had unfairly singled out blacks and Hispanics. The candidate, a white man married to a black woman, also received a boost from a campaign ad featuring their son, a 15-year-old with a big Afro.

Despite his reputation for idealism, he has also shown a pragmatic side, having worked for both Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and was known for closed-door wheeling-and-dealing while serving on the City Council.

In Virginia, Democrat Terry McAuliffe has been elected the state’s next governor, defeating Republican Ken Cuccinelli after pledging to expand the state’s Medicaid rolls and portraying his rival as someone who would turn back years of progress.

Turnout for Tuesday’s election was low, and both candidates worked through Election Day to reach as many potential voters as possible.

McAuliffe, who once led the Democratic National Committee and is a confidant of former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton, said he would expand Medicaid to provide health coverage for 400,000 people under the federal health care law. By contrast, Cuccinelli, the current attorney general, vehemently opposed the law and tried to cast the election as a referendum on President Barack Obama’s signature legislation.

The McAuliffe-Cuccinelli race was widely considered a bellwether for the 2014 midterm elections, when control of Congress is up for grabs.

McAuliffe enjoyed a sizable lead in polls leading up to the election and raised millions more than his GOP opponent, allowing him to buy far more TV airtime for ads. At campaign stops and on television ads, the Democrat cast Cuccinelli as an extremist whose staunch anti-abortion stance would reverse years of progress in expanding abortion rights.

Cuccinelli, a tea party favorite, enlisted the help of big names like Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky to turn out his loyal conservative base. Even Vice President Joe Biden warned Democrats not to underestimate the tea party’s ability to get out the vote, telling supporters on Monday: “Don’t take this for granted, man.”

Obama won the state in 2008 and 2012, but Virginia is evenly split among Republicans and Democrats and far fewer people turn out in off-year elections.

— Associated Press