Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Christopher Christie ousted New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine as voters rejected the first-term Democrat’s handling of a recession that left the state with budget deficits and the highest unemployment rate in three decades.

Christie, 47, became the first Republican elected to statewide office in New Jersey in 12 years and promised a crowd of cheering supporters in a Parsippany hotel ballroom that he will “turn Trenton upside down.”

“Times are extraordinarily difficult, but I stand here tonight full of hope for our future, full of hope and dreams,” he told supporters.

Christie received 49 percent of the vote to 45 percent for Corzine with 99 percent of the precincts counted, according to data compiled by the Associated Press.

Republicans, who account for one in five New Jersey voters, last won a statewide election in 1997. Christie, a former U.S. Attorney with a reputation for prosecuting corrupt politicians, campaigned on the back of dissatisfaction with the incumbent’s fiscal performance.

“It’s a scorecard on Jon Corzine, no question about it,” said Christine Todd Whitman, the last New Jersey governor to win re-election and the last Republican to win a statewide race. “Four years ago, he told us, ‘Hold me accountable.’”

Christie started the campaign with a lead in opinion polls that reached 12 percentage points in July and fell as Corzine aired a series of television ads attacking his driving record, ethics and views on abortion and health care.

President Barack Obama traveled to the state to stump for Corzine on three occasions, and Vice President Joseph Biden and former President Bill Clinton also visited.

Close Race

Corzine and Christie were neck-and-neck in a Quinnipiac University poll released on Nov. 2. The survey of 1,533 likely voters showed Christie with 42 percent to Corzine’s 40 percent, within the poll’s error margin of 2.5 percentage points. Independent candidate Christopher Daggett had 12 percent and 6 percent remained undecided.

Republicans monitoring returns first suspected they were headed to victory at about 9 p.m., said State Senator Bill Baroni, a Republican from Mercer County, home of the state capital, Trenton. That’s when poll watchers reported that the blue-collar town of Woodbridge, where former Democratic Governor James E. McGreevey had served as mayor, favored Christie.

Virginia, New York City

In Virginia, Republican Robert McDonnell was elected governor, beating Democrat R. Creigh Deeds, 59 percent to 41 percent, with 99 percent of precincts reporting, according to the Associated Press. Incumbent New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg beat Democratic challenger William Thompson, 51 percent to 46 percent, to win a third term. Bloomberg is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News.

Corzine, 62, the former co-chairman of Goldman, Sachs & Co., was the only incumbent U.S. governor seeking re-election this year. Corzine put at least $28 million of his personal fortune into the campaign, according to state records, and spent the race seeking to persuade voters that he positioned the state to recover early from the U.S. recession and had worked to create jobs. He said he would expand state health-care programs to cover the uninsured and focus on public schools.

Corzine said he telephoned Christie to concede and called the Republican gracious. He said his administration would ensure a smooth transition.

“It’s been an incredible journey together and I’m grateful to all New Jerseyans,” Corzine said. “To have been governor of this great state has been a joy I never could have imagined. We may be retiring from politics, but we’re not retiring from life, and we’ll continue to fight for those things we believe in.”

Corruption Issue

Christie built a reputation as a corruption fighter, winning convictions of about 130 elected officials including former Newark Mayor Sharpe James and former state Senate President John Lynch. Christie campaigned on promises to reduce spending and increase tax cuts, cut pension benefits for new government workers and boost property tax rebates to homeowners with the highest bills in the U.S.

“Tomorrow, starting tomorrow, we are going to pick Trenton up and we are going to turn it upside down,” he told his supporters.

Negative Campaign

The Republican survived a campaign that pollsters characterized as relentlessly negative. Democrats raised questions about a loan made to a subordinate in the U.S. Attorney’s office. Corzine suggested traffic infractions showed Christie held himself above the law.

Those tactics were rejected, Christie said in his acceptance speech.

“The people of New Jersey said no more negative personal campaigning,” he said. “In the face of a $30 million onslaught that consisted almost exclusively of negative campaigning against my family and my friends, the people of New Jersey decided enough is enough.”

Along with Corzine’s advertising blitz, the Republican’s numbers fell as Daggett siphoned votes from the two candidates. The independent ended up with 5.7 percent of the vote, AP said.

Christie’s running mate, Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno, will become New Jersey’s first lieutenant governor.

The New Jersey campaign played out against the backdrop of a troubled state economy, reflected in an unemployment rate of 9.8 percent, the highest in 32 years.

Republican Strength

New Jersey resident Joe Dowling, 81, of Glen Rock, said he voted for Christie because Corzine raised taxes to cope with declining revenue collections, and the Republican promised to lower them. Dowling said when he bought his home in 1948 after serving in the Navy in World War II, property taxes and insurance totaled $75 monthly. Today he pays more than $10,000 per year.

“I’ve lived in Jersey all my life; this is where I was born and it’s getting tough to live here,” said Dowling, a father of seven grown children. “The next governor is going to have to satisfy people like me, by bringing down taxes or at least trying to.”

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, who appeared at the Christie celebration, called the win a boost.

“Right now the Republican Party is getting new strength,” he said. “We can pick up and move on to the next battles that lie ahead.”

Difficult Times

Democrats said Corzine was a victim of the poor economy.

“This says more about the economy than anything else,” said U.S. Representative Albio Sires, a former New Jersey State Assembly Speaker. “The economy was what did him in.”

Only one other sitting New Jersey governor has been defeated in a general election, Democrat James Florio, who lost to Whitman in 1993 after voters revolted against a sales-tax increase. Whitman defeated Democrat McGreevey in 1997 to win a second term.

Florio, sipping wine at Corzine’s gathering at the Hilton in East Brunswick, said losing is “not the greatest feeling.”

“It’s hard to be an incumbent in difficult economic times,” Florio said. “I know with some authority that if you’re in charge in bad economic times, it’s difficult to keep your job.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Dunstan McNichol in Trenton, New Jersey, at dmcnichol@bloomberg.net; Terrence Dopp in Trenton, New Jersey, at tdopp@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 4, 2009 10:00 EST