In a night that saw Republicans across the country win resounding victories, GOP candidate W. Mitt Romney handily defeated Democratic opponent Shannon P. O’Brien to win the hotly contested Massachusetts gubernatorial race.

Romney waged a come-from-behind campaign in the past month, steadily closing the gap in the polls until the two candidates were locked in a statistical dead heat on the eve of the election.

Last night he pushed farther ahead, winning 51 percent of the vote and riding to a comfortable seven-point victory over the current state treasurer.

“Tonight we sent a large and clear message. It is that it’s time for a new era in Massachusetts government,” Romney said in his victory speech. “The message is that people come first, not politicians.”

Romney’s triumph was only one victory in a Republican romp of the midterm elections.

As expected, the GOP held its majority in the House of Representatives, and Republican candidates also clinched control of the U.S. Senate with a key victoryies in Missouri and Georgia.

In the House, Republicans broke even—maintaining a small majority of about 20 seats. But in Massachusetts, all 10 House seats will remain Democratic.

State voters also polled conservatively on three ballot initiatives, overwhelmingly approving Question 2 to end bilingual education in the state for students who are learning English.

Voters rejected Question 3, a non-binding initiative on Clean Elections, by a three-to-one margin. The vote, which effectively urges state legislators to stop funding political campaigns with public money, will likely undo a law that the electorate widely approved in a referendum only four years ago.

And while voters defeated the Question 1 measure that would have repealed the state’s personal income tax, the margin —just six percent—was thinner than recent polls predicted.

Though they lost the governor’s race, Democrats held on to several state-level executive offices, as incumbents Secretary of State William F. Galvin and Auditor A. Joseph DeNucci won re-election. Democrat Timothy P. Cahill will fill the post of state treasurer, left vacant by O’Brien.

U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), often mentioned as a possible 2004 presidential candidate, easily won re-election over Libertarian candidate Michael E. Cloud.

The Gubernatorial Race

Romney’s victory extends the Republicans’ 12-year lease on the Corner Office in a state with almost twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans.

But in the midst of the mudslinging during the campaign’s final month, Romney reached out to independent voters—a bloc almost as large as the combined number of registered partisans.