WASHINGTON – Despite a high-profile loss in Florida and a question mark in Georgia, Democrats emerged from Election Day with new claims on a range of governors' mansions.

While Andrew Gillum lost to Ron DeSantis in Florida and Stacey Abrams has refused to concede to GOP rival Brian Kemp in Georgia, the party of both African-American contenders took over statehouses in Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada and Wisconsin.

Among the winners: Kansas Democrat Laura Kelly, who beat Trump-backed Republican Kris Kobach; Illinois Democrat J.B. Pritzker, who bested Republican Bruce Rauner; and Nevada Democrat Steve Sisolak, who roundly defeated Republican Adam Laxalt, whose family members even campaigned against him.

In New Mexico, Democrats picked up a win with Michelle Lujan Grisham defeating Republican Steve Pearce; in Michigan, Democrat Gretchen Whitmer defeated Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette; and in Maine, Janet Mills defeated Republican Shawn Moody.

In one of the day's tightest races for governor, Wisconsin Democrat Tony Evers narrowly avoided a recount and edged out Republican incumbent Scott Walker.

Walker was known for breaking unions in his state. AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka issued a pointed six-word statement after the election was over: "Scott Walker was a national disgrace."

In Nevada, Sisolak, chairman of the Clark County Commission since 2013, will become the state's first Democratic governor since 1994.

Experts say the winners of the 36 races for governor being decided Tuesday are bound to play a major role in the next two elections, helping their respective presidential candidates in 2020 and writing House district boundaries for the 2022 midterms.

Going into Election Day, Republicans held 33 governorships to 16 for Democrats. One independent, Gov. Bill Walker of Alaska, withdrew from his re-election race a few weeks ago.

Of the 33 GOP-held seats, 26 were up for election and 13 of those were open. Of the 16 Democratic-held seats, nine were up for election, of which four were open.

In Georgia, voters may have to wait a bit longer to see who their next governor will be.

Democrat Abrams delivered a speech to supporters early Wednesday saying she would not concede despite the apparent lead held by her Republican opponent.

"We are still on the verge of history," Abrams told the crowd, a reference to her candidacy as the first African-American woman running for governor.

Abrams' camp has for days said it would push for a runoff if neither candidate reached 50 percent of the vote.

The voting process itself became a major issue, with Kemp accusing Democrats of trying to hack into the state's voting system and Abrams charging that Kemp, who is secretary of state, was trying to suppress turnout among minority voters.

A group of Georgia voters filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Atlanta to stop Kemp from presiding over the election because of concerns about his fairness.

Common Cause, a member of the Election Protection coalition, said early Tuesday that it had received reports of “voting machines going down in large numbers across the state.”

The technical problems combined with large turnout to create delays of several hours for some voters. Some polling places were held open after normal closing times because of the delays.

In Florida's closely watched race for governor, Gillum conceded defeat to DeSantis.

“I want to encourage you not to give up,” he told supporters Tuesday night. “I still plan to be on the front lines by every single one of you.”

On the verge of tears, Gillum told supporters, “I sincerely regret that I couldn’t bring it home to you.” But, he continued, “I can guarantee you this. I’m not going anywhere.”

Gillum was trying to become the first black governor in Florida history and the first Democratic governor in the Sunshine State since 1994.

The win in Florida was an important one for President Donald Trump, who gave DeSantis an early endorsement and visited Florida in the final week of the campaign.

At his victory party in Orlando, DeSantis thanked Trump for backing his campaign.

“I’d like to thank the president for standing by me when it wasn’t necessarily the smart thing to do,’’ DeSantis said, according to the Orlando Sentinel. “As governor, I will fight the good fight; I will keep the faith.’’

The Republican Governor’s Association touted DeSantis' win.

“The Florida governorship was the biggest prize of the night for Democrats, but despite the national media attention, and millions of dollars pumped into the state by the DGA, Tom Steyer, George Soros and other far-left groups, Florida voters rejected Gillum and his radical policies,” Republican Governor’s Association Executive Director Paul Bennecke said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Republican Kevin Stitt won the governor's race in Oklahoma in another race considered a toss-up, one of dozens of races for governor that did not see a change of political parties at the helm.

Kansas and Oklahoma featured elections to replace term-limited Republican governors – Sam Brownback in Kansas and Mary Fallin in Oklahoma – whose experiments in severe tax cuts left their states reeling.

In Ohio, Republicans maintained state control, with Mike DeWine winning over Democrat Richard Cordray. In Iowa, Republican Kim Reynolds beat Democrat Fred Hubbell.

Democrats are not only hoping to reduce the GOP advantage in governors, but they also are hoping to cut into the large advantage the Republicans have in state legislative seats.

The GOP holds almost 1,000 more state legislative seats than Democrats, 4,101 to 3,118, and controls about two-thirds of state legislative bodies, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Thirty-four states have one-party control of the governor's office and both legislative bodies – 26 are all Republican and eight are all Democratic.

Again, the makeup of state government becomes crucial when the results of the 2020 census are used to draw new maps for the U.S. House seats in each state. Those new maps will first be used in the 2022 election.

The GOP controlled much of the map-drawing after the 2000 census, giving the party a large structural advantage, experts say. The Brennan Center for Justice estimated in a report in March that Democrats would have to win the overall vote for House seats by 11 percentage points to recapture control of the body.

Contributing Naples Daily News’ Ana Ceballos and USA TODAY’s Christal Hayes.