Donald Trump distances himself from losing Republican candidate on anniversary of presidential election victory

Donald Trump’s party has suffered a series of damaging defeats that overshadowed his one-year election anniversary and raised hopes of a Democrat fightback. The Republicans lost two high-profile governor races and a series of smaller battles in the first statewide elections since Mr Trump took office.

Ralph Northam was elected Virginian governor – a key swing state in presidential races – while Phil Murphy was voted New Jersey governor. They are both Democrats.

Mr Northam’s victory is significant as his Republican opponent Ed Gillespie ran a “Trumpism without Trump” campaign that focused on immigration and race.

Other results saw the left-leaning Bill de Blasio re-elected as New York mayor and a surge in turnout among Democrat voters in some key local wards.

The victors said their wins were a rebuke of Mr Trump’s presidency that has seen him sink to deep unpopularity, according to polls. Just one in three Americans approves of the job he is doing.

Mr Northam said in his victory speech: "Virginia has told us to end this divisiveness, that we will not condone hatred and bigotry - and to end the politics that have torn this country apart".

Mr Murphy declared: "Tonight, New Jersey sent an unmistakable message to the entire nation: we are better than this".

However Mr Trump himself played down the significance of the results, saying that Mr Gillespie, who lost in Virginia, “did not embrace me or what I stand for”.

He also reminded the country of his “massive” election victory, tweeting thanks to the “deplorables” who backed him – a reference to a Hilary Clinton comment about his supporters.

Statewide elections in America can provide an insight into the voters' thinking – but also risk over-analysis given they are shaped by unique local factors.

Tuesday’s vote was no different, but the results left leading figures in the Democratic Party – Mr Trump's political rivals – celebrating and forecasting a turnaround in their fortunes.

The most closely watched race was in Virginia, a state that voted for Ms Clinton last year but historically has been a Republican stronghold.

Mr Gillespie, the Republican candidate for governor, was a former lobbyist and Washington insider who had adopted Mr Trump’s policy agenda in an attempt to win votes.

During the campaign he had focused on immigration, criticsed NFL players who kneeled during the US anthem and supported keeping Confederate-era statues.

His campaign was seen a bell-weather for Republicans contesting swing states at next year’s mid-term elections to see if they could adopt Mr Trump’s rhetoric and win.

However on the night Mr Gillespie lost by nine percentage points – a far bigger margin than the five-point defeat Mr Trump suffered last year.

Tom Perez, the Democratic National Committee Chairman, said: “The America that Donald Trump comes back to in a few days is far different than the America he left. It's an America where we are regaining our values.”

Mike Murphy, a Republican strategist and critics of the president, told The New York Times: “We now know what a lot of us in the party already knew: The Trump message is a big loser in swing states and he hurts the [Republicans] far more than he helps in those states.”

However others played down the result's significance, noting that Mr Trump did not campaign alongside Mr Gillespie.