Two candidates with law enforcement backgrounds fought for Eric Adams, Democrat, to become the next mayor in New York City.
The race for Adams was dubbed by the Associated Press At 9:20 p.m. shortly after the polls close.
With 62% of the vote counted as of 10:42 p.m., Adams held a commanding lead with 66% of the vote to Sliwa’s 28%, with four other candidates and write-ins garnering a combined total of 6%, according to New York City’s WABC-TV Channel 7.
Adams, a former New York Police Department captain, will be just the second black mayor in the history of the nation’s largest city. David Dinkins, the first black mayor of New York, was elected in 1989. He lost his reelection bid to Republican Rudy Giuliani, in 1993.
Sliwa, who founded the Guardian Angels in 1979, an unarmed crime-fighting organization, was well-known in the city but was inexperienced as a politician.
After eight years of far-left policies by Mayor Bill de Blasio (a fellow Democrat), Adams ran as a moderate prolaw enforcement candidate. He was often seen as hostile towards police.
Adams strongly opposes defunding the police and supports bringing back some form of stop-and-frisk, which he calls “stop, question and frisk.” The stop-and-frisk policy backed by the mayoral administrations of Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg was credited with curbing crime, but de Blasio’s administration did away with it, claiming it was discriminatory.
Adams frequently said during the campaign, “The prerequisite to prosperity is public safety.”
Adams supports police reforms and believes in firing police officers who abuse their authority. He made appeals to the New York business community and described himself as a “pragmatic moderate,” although he also described himself as the “original progressive” to appease his party’s left flank.
Sliwa conceded the race around 9:30 p.m. and congratulated Adams while attacking de Blasio.
“I’ve known Eric Adams for 40 years. We’ve been friends for most of that time. Until recently. It got quite heated, quite vitriolic, but I will tell you this: In the aftermath of Bill de Blasio, who has singlehandedly destroyed the city that we love, I am pledging my support to the new mayor, Eric Adams, because we’re all going to have to coalesce together in harmony and solidarity if we’re going to save the city that we love,” Sliwa said, according to WABC-TV.
Adams was also a former senator from the state. He served from 2006 to 2014, before being elected as the borough president for Brooklyn in 2013. The Adams campaign pitched the mayor-elect’s personal storyThe dyslexic child of one mother was arrested before she entered law enforcement and later politics.
Adams was a strong favorite to win the Tuesday general elections in a city where Democrats have a 7-1 advantage over Republicans. But his victory in the June Democratic primary over more left-leaning candidates signaled that city voters sought a departure from de Blasio’s policies.
The New York City primaries were notable for being the city’s first ranked-choice voting primary, allowing voters to choose multiple candidates by rank, with several rounds of vote-counting to determine the winner. The general election was conducted according to traditional voting procedures.
After you have completed the following: 3.4% early-voting turnoutThe two candidates ran for office in the city, hoping that they would turn out voters on Election Day.
Former Republican New York Gov. George Pataki voted for Sliwa while Democrats Sen. Kirsten Gilbrand, Lt. Governor, voted for Pataki. Adams was supported by Brian Benjamin and Latisha James, the state attorney general.
Sliwa strongly opposed the de Blasio COVID-19 mandates for municipal workers that went into effect Monday. This resulted in the suspension of about 10,000 city workers without pay—including police officers and firefighters, the New York Daily News reported.
Sliwa claimed that workers being suspended posed a greater threat to public safety then those who were not vaccinated. She pledged to reinstate workers with back pay and to end the mandate.
Adams said he supported de Blasio’s mandate, but claimed that the outgoing mayor didn’t show enough respect for municipal worker unions.
Sliwa, who is also known for her animal love and more than a dozen cats herself, also campaigned to ensure the city has only no-kill shelters. He also promised he would take his trademark red beret off As the Guardian Angels founder, Sliwa has been identified with his headgear, if elected. Sliwa has described himself as a “never Trump” Republican and said it’s difficult to get Republicans to vote in New York City.
Adams will assume office January 1.