In Ohio, where incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine (R) was defeated, voters approved an initiative to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $6.85 and index future raises to inflation. It was backed by labor unions, faith groups and liberal activists. Polls in recent days showed that the minimum wage measures had strong support in every state where they appeared on the ballot.

It was land-use regulation, though, that appeared to be the preeminent ballot issue, with measures in 12 states.

Concerns about property rights have been driven by the populist backlash against a Supreme Court decision last year on eminent domain. In Kelo v. New London , the court upheld the right of local governments to condemn private property and then hand it over to someone else for commercial development. The court said then that states could tighten eminent domain laws.

Eight measures are designed to do exactly that, and they appeared to be winning in Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Dakota, Oregon and South Carolina.

Measures in Arizona, California, Idaho and Washington reached much further. They would compel state and local governments to pay property owners when land-use rules, such as zoning regulations, reduce the value of their property.

The measure appeared likely to win in Arizona. In Idaho the measure lost, in California the vote was too close to call, and in Washington it appeared to be losing.

Much of the funding for these measures on regulatory takings has come from libertarians and land developers, trying to harness anger over the Kelo decision. Howard Rich, a wealthy libertarian real estate developer from Manhattan, has spent as much as $11 million to support ballot initiatives in the West.

Courts removed land-use measures from ballots in Montana, where a judge found a "pervasive and general pattern of fraud" in the gathering of signatures, and in Nevada, where the measure was disqualified on technical grounds.

The land-use measures echo an initiative approved two years ago in Oregon. Passage there of Measure 37 gutted the nation's strongest laws against sprawl.

There is concern among elected officials in Arizona, California, Idaho and Washington that passage of the land-use measures in their states could trigger tax increases, slow growth and scuttle efforts to manage development.

Farmers and developers support the measures, arguing that their property rights have been stolen in the name of growth management.

Staff writer Kari Lydersen in Chicago contributed to this report.