Blasio first Democrat NY mayor in twenty years
8 Nov 2013 4:54 AM IST
With 99 percent of precincts reporting, De Blasio, the city’s public advocate, had 73 percent of the vote Tuesday compared with 24 percent for Republican Joe Lhota, former chief of the metropolitan area’s transit agency.
De Blasio, 52, will take office on 1 January as the 109th mayor of the nation’s largest city.
He ran as the anti-Bloomberg, railing against economic inequality and portraying New York as a ‘tale of two cities’ - one rich, the other working class - under the pro-business, pro-development mayor, who made his fortune from the financial information company that bears his name.
‘Today you spoke loudly and clearly for a new direction for our city,’ de Blasio told a rollicking crowd of supporters at the YMCA in his home neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn, a far cry from the glitzy Manhattan hotel ballrooms that usually host election night parties.
‘We are united in the belief that our city should leave no New Yorker behind,’ he said. ‘The people of this city have chosen a progressive path, and tonight we set forth on it together as one city.’
De Blasio, who held a commanding lead in the polls throughout the post-primary campaign, reached out to New Yorkers he contended were left behind by the often Manhattan-centric Bloomberg administration, and he called for a tax increase on the wealthy to pay for universal pre-kindergarten. He also pledged to improve economic opportunities in minority and working-class neighborhoods.
He decried alleged abuses under the police department’s stop-and-frisk policy and enjoyed a surge when a federal judge ruled that police had unfairly singled out blacks and Hispanics. The candidate, a white man married to a black woman, also received a boost from a campaign ad featuring their son, a 15-year-old with a big Afro.
‘Inequality in New York is not something that only threatens those who are struggling,’ de Blasio said Tuesday night, flanked by his family. ‘We are all at our best when every child, every parent, every New Yorker has a shot. And we reach our greatest height when we all rise together.’
Despite his reputation for idealism, he has also shown a pragmatic side, having worked for both Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and was known for closed-door wheeling-and-dealing while serving on the City Council.
If de Blasio’s margin of victory holds, it will surpass Abe Beame’s 40-point win in 1973 as the largest by a non-incumbent since five-borough elections began in 1897. President Barack Obama called de Blasio to congratulate him, according to the White House.
Lhota called de Blasio to concede about half an hour after polls closed at 9 p.m., according to a spokeswoman for the Democratic candidate.
‘It was a good fight and it was a fight worth having,’ Lhota told a crowd of supporters in a Manhattan hotel before offering a word of caution to de Blasio.
‘Despite what you might have heard, we are all one city,’ Lhota said. ‘We want our city to move forward and not backward, and I hope our mayor-elect understands that before it’s too late.’
Chris Christie is New Jersey’s Mayor
ASBURY PARK, N.J.: The 2016 overtones were clear in this year’s two most high-profile elections.
Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s resounding re-election victory in Democratic-leaning New Jersey sets the opening argument for a possible White House run while Terry McAuliffe’s gubernatorial victory gives fellow Democrats - if not his confidante Hillary Rodham Clinton, herself - a road map for success in the pivotal presidential swing-voting state.
Christie became the first Republican to earn more than 50 percent of the New Jersey vote in a quarter-century. McAuliffe is the first member of the party occupying the White House to become Virginia governor since 1977.
Among a slate of off-year balloting from coast to coast, New York City voters also elected Bill De Blasio, making him the first Democrat to lead the nation’s largest city since 1989.
De Blasio, 52, will take office on 1 January as the 109th mayor of the nation’s largest city.
He ran as the anti-Bloomberg, railing against economic inequality and portraying New York as a ‘tale of two cities’ - one rich, the other working class - under the pro-business, pro-development mayor, who made his fortune from the financial information company that bears his name.
‘Today you spoke loudly and clearly for a new direction for our city,’ de Blasio told a rollicking crowd of supporters at the YMCA in his home neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn, a far cry from the glitzy Manhattan hotel ballrooms that usually host election night parties.
‘We are united in the belief that our city should leave no New Yorker behind,’ he said. ‘The people of this city have chosen a progressive path, and tonight we set forth on it together as one city.’
De Blasio, who held a commanding lead in the polls throughout the post-primary campaign, reached out to New Yorkers he contended were left behind by the often Manhattan-centric Bloomberg administration, and he called for a tax increase on the wealthy to pay for universal pre-kindergarten. He also pledged to improve economic opportunities in minority and working-class neighborhoods.
He decried alleged abuses under the police department’s stop-and-frisk policy and enjoyed a surge when a federal judge ruled that police had unfairly singled out blacks and Hispanics. The candidate, a white man married to a black woman, also received a boost from a campaign ad featuring their son, a 15-year-old with a big Afro.
‘Inequality in New York is not something that only threatens those who are struggling,’ de Blasio said Tuesday night, flanked by his family. ‘We are all at our best when every child, every parent, every New Yorker has a shot. And we reach our greatest height when we all rise together.’
Despite his reputation for idealism, he has also shown a pragmatic side, having worked for both Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and was known for closed-door wheeling-and-dealing while serving on the City Council.
If de Blasio’s margin of victory holds, it will surpass Abe Beame’s 40-point win in 1973 as the largest by a non-incumbent since five-borough elections began in 1897. President Barack Obama called de Blasio to congratulate him, according to the White House.
Lhota called de Blasio to concede about half an hour after polls closed at 9 p.m., according to a spokeswoman for the Democratic candidate.
‘It was a good fight and it was a fight worth having,’ Lhota told a crowd of supporters in a Manhattan hotel before offering a word of caution to de Blasio.
‘Despite what you might have heard, we are all one city,’ Lhota said. ‘We want our city to move forward and not backward, and I hope our mayor-elect understands that before it’s too late.’
Chris Christie is New Jersey’s Mayor
ASBURY PARK, N.J.: The 2016 overtones were clear in this year’s two most high-profile elections.
Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s resounding re-election victory in Democratic-leaning New Jersey sets the opening argument for a possible White House run while Terry McAuliffe’s gubernatorial victory gives fellow Democrats - if not his confidante Hillary Rodham Clinton, herself - a road map for success in the pivotal presidential swing-voting state.
Christie became the first Republican to earn more than 50 percent of the New Jersey vote in a quarter-century. McAuliffe is the first member of the party occupying the White House to become Virginia governor since 1977.
Among a slate of off-year balloting from coast to coast, New York City voters also elected Bill De Blasio, making him the first Democrat to lead the nation’s largest city since 1989.
Next Story
