Voters in the US battleground state of Virginia elected a Democrat as their next governor Tuesday, rejecting President Donald Trump's politics of division and testing his influence ahead of larger battles in 2018 and 2020.

With some 66.6 percent of precincts across the state reporting, Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam was leading his Republican rival Ed Gillespie by 51.82 percent to 46.99 percent, and US media outlets including NBC and CNN projected Northam's victory.

With a Democrat also expected to win the governor's mansion in New Jersey, the results mark a revival of political fortunes for the party, which had failed to win a number of previous special elections in several states this year triggering concern about how to counter Trump's influence in US politics.

Source:AFP