Democratic candidate Eliot Spitzer was swept into the governor's office on Tuesday night, leading a charge of Democrats into New York State's four top elected offices.

"Today was a victory, not of one candidate or one party, but of all those irrepressible optimists who have hoped and dreamed of a resurgent New York," Spitzer said in his victory speech in Midtown Manhattan.

With more than half the statewide precincts reporting, Spitzer had a lead of more than 40 percentage points over former Republican state Assemblyman John Faso.

Hillary Clinton easily won re-election as New York's junior U.S. Senator over former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer, while former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo won the attorney general's race over former Westchester District Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

In the year's most closely-watched race, incumbent Comptroller Alan Hevesi survived a political scandal over his use of a state-paid chauffeur for his wife to win a second four-year term. The Queens Democrat beat back Republican challenger Christopher Callaghan with a 20-point victory based on 65 percent of precincts reporting.

Observers here said the key victories in upstate New York had helped Democrats take control of the state House of Representatives for the first time in 12 years.

New York's elder statesman Charles Rangel, who won his 19th term in office, said a Democratic majority means that for the first time, there is going to be a voice other than the Republicans.

Based on votes counted by Wednesday morning, however, Democrats were expected to pick up three seats in the Senate, short of the six needed to take control of that chamber.

Source: Xinhua