Election 2010: Republicans take 6 of 11 key governor races

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Thirty-seven governorships are up for grabs this election — three-quarters of all governorships in the nation. The outcome of the races will have a huge impact on how states address energy and climate issues, as we’ve been reporting in our Gubernatorial Tutorial series. Below we list the winners (who get a red check mark) and the losers who’ve been announced so far. Check back soon for more results and green analysis. And weigh in yourself in the comments section below.

[Update Tues 11:30 p.m. PDT: Big exciting news -- a tie! Sort of! Democrats are getting trounced in the House and in governor races overall (losing all but 14 or so guv races). But you already knew that. In the 11 governor races that are especially competitive and consequential on the climate front -- the 11 for which we did deep-dive profiles -- things are tighter.

Dems have won three of those races (California, Massachusetts, and Colorado) and look strong in two others (Illinois and Minnesota). Republicans took five (Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Tennessee). And Florida's a tossup. That puts things at 5 and 5 plus the Florida wild card.

The biggest news is California, where Jerry Brown brings perhaps the beefiest green agenda in the country to the most populous state. (Joe Romm has more on Cali's clean-energy trifecta of reelecting Brown and Sen. Barbara Boxer and smacking down the Big-Oil-backed Proposition 23.)

Rick Perry's reelection in Texas is big too, because Texas is big. The state's raging wind industry will keep growing; Perry has been supportive of wind, but don't talk to him about a broader climate plan, high-speed rail investment, or non-sprawling forms of development -- he's not interested.

The biggest gubernatorial disappointment for climate hawks could be Ohio, where former Lehman Brothers executive/Fox News commentator/Gingrich-era House Republican John Kasich sailed into office with intentions to gut the state's nascent cleantech investment and refuse federal passenger-rail dollars. Outgoing Gov. Ted Strickland tallied some decent green achievements; he might have tried running on them sooner.

High-speed rail hater Scott Walker (R) won Wisconsin, meaning the passenger line from Chicago to Minneapolis may need to find a creative route through, say, Ontario. Or not: Wisconsin and federal officials signed an agreement days before the election committing the state to the project, the Journal Sentinel reports.

More coming up, including a look at what the election means for the nation's three regional cap-and-trade systems.

[Update Weds 9 a.m. PDT: Florida goes Republican too. If incoming Gov. Rick Scott supports a solar industry in the Sunshine state, he hasn't indicated it so far. Democrats are hanging on to Illinois and Minnesota.]