Photos: McAuliffe Victory Party in Tysons Corner

The crowd at the Sheraton Premier Tysons Corner erupted in cheers when CNN called the 2013 Virginia governor's race for Democrat Terry McAullife at about 10 p.m. Tuesday.

"I'm great!" said an exuberant Stacey Bridges, a McLean woman who said McAuliffe lives "just around the corner" from her. "I am so glad we got that criminal (Ken) Cuccinelli out of office."

A little bit of dancing broke out in the ballroom when the Steve Miller Band's "Jet Airliner" began blaring over the sound system. One of the dancers was 5-year-old Rose Lehane.

"She's only been to protests before," said mom Erin Lehane. "She was handing out leaflets at George Mason today."

Elizabeth Bagley, a DC resident who has been a family friend of the McAuliffes for 35 years, said she felt "elated" and "vindicated."

"I knew he'd be successful," she told Patch. "The governorship didn't occur to me. But he's going to be a great governor. He's got all the right traits."

Cuccinelli's concession speech was broadcast on the ballroom's big screens, though toward the end parts of it were drowned out by chants of "Terry! Terry! Terry!"

When the big winners eventually came out, their speeches were laden with talk of bipartisanship and pragmatism.

Ralph Northam, who unofficial results cast as the next lieutenant governor of Virginia, got cheers when he said a mostly male Legislature shouldn't tell women what to do with their bodies.

And McAuliffe said one line that probably will be repeated today: "I think every single person in Virginia is glad the TV ads are now over."

Patch asked Senate Democratic Leader Dick Saslaw if Northam and McAuliffe's election was a repudiation of tea party politics.

"It probably isn't a plus for them," he said.