New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg spent more than $2 million heavily pushing gun control in two state senate races in Virginia. As the dust of yesterday’s settle, it’s abundantly clear that he was nothing to show for his effort except defeat:

In a closely watched Richmond-area open seat, Republican Glen Sturtevant narrowly defeated Democrat Dan Gecker to hold a seat currently held by retiring GOP Sen. John Watkins.

Thomas A. Shearer, a retiree in Chesterfield County, said he was supporting Sturtevant in part because of the large financial assistance Gecker had received from out-of-state interests like Bloomberg’s gun control group.

“I’m not going to vote for anyone financed that way,” Shearer said.

Sturtevant beat Gecker 50 percent to 47 percent with 100 percent of the vote counted. Sturtevant said he won because he ran a positive campaign focused on key issues like improving Virginia’s business climate and schools.

“You saw that resonate with voters today,” Sturtevant said.

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Election Day was a test for McAuliffe’s efforts to build a lasting advantage over Republicans in terms of campaign field work. The governor has often touted his heavy investment in data-driven voter identification and get-out-the-vote efforts that could be used to strengthen Democratic efforts in future contests. Virginia is expected to be a key swing state, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, a close friend of McAuliffe, is the favorite to be the Democratic nominee in the 2016 presidential contest.

McAuliffe was able to tap his rolodex of wealthy donors from his days as a prominent national Democratic fundraiser with close ties to Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

In a statement, the governor said he is “confident that every man and woman elected tonight will come to Richmond ready to join our bipartisan efforts to build a new Virginia economy.”

Virginia’s legislative contest also became a spending war between well-funded national gun control and gun rights groups.

Bloomberg’s gun control group entered the race in the final weeks, announcing it was going to spend $2.2 million helping Democrats in two key Senate races. Bloomberg-backed candidates went one for two in Virginia, with Gecker losing and Democrat Jeremy McPike winning another closely watched and hard-fought race in northern Virginia.