Chris Christie says he will restore hope and dreams to New Jersey as its next governor.

The Republican former prosecutor said Tuesday in his acceptance speech that "tomorrow, we are going to pick Trenton up and turn it upside down."

The state has been battered by the economic recession and plagued by political corruption.

Christie received a concession call from Gov. Jon Corzine before taking the stage in Parsippany just after 11 p.m.

Christie unseated the deep-pocketed but unpopular governor after a bruising contest that focused on New Jersey's ailing economy and its highest-in-the-nation property taxes.

The 47-year-old Christie is the first member of his party in a dozen years to win a statewide contest in heavily Democratic New Jersey.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)