Democratic candidate Eric Adams won the New York City mayoralty on Tuesday.
Adams, who will become only the second black mayor of America’s largest city, is the Brooklyn borough president and a former state senator who spent more than 20 years as a city police officer.
The Associated Press called Adams’s victory within minutes after the polls closed at 9 p.m. in the Empire State. The outcome of the race was largely predicted during the September primary, in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans 7 to 1.
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Adams told supporters at an election night party that his campaign is for “the underserved, the marginalized, the abandoned.”
“The campaign was not just for them, it was by them,” Adams said, adding, “This is your victory.”
It’s official — our five-borough, knock-every-door, reach-every-voter campaign was successful: We have won the race for Mayor of New York City!
This is my dream come true, and I couldn’t be more proud to represent the City that we all love as your Mayor-elect ??
— Eric Adams (@ericadamsfornyc) November 3, 2021
Adams soundly defeated Curtis Sliwa, the Republican mayoral nominee and founder and CEO of the Guardian Angels, a nonprofit organization for unarmed and volunteer crime prevention.
Sliwa conceded the race at an election night party, the Associated Press reported.
“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 this city that we love,” Sliwa said.
The lengthy and contentious mayoral campaign often devolved into personal attacks on both sides: Adams has described Sliwa as racist and a “Mini-Me of Donald Trump” and said he was campaigning on “buffoonery.” Sliwa has called Adams an elitist and characterized him as the second iteration of Bill de Blasio, the city’s outgoing and unpopular mayor.
The campaign also centered on issues such as New York’s recovery from issues stemming from the pandemic, including vaccine requirements for some workers and mass transit and other transportation needs as some office workers return.
Adams, who has long had his eye on the mayor’s office, billed himself as an example of the American dream, overcoming poverty to run for public office.
At a recent debate, Adams said America is “the only country on the globe where ‘dream’ is attached to our name.”
“And when I think about overcoming poverty and injustices and becoming a police officer, a state senator, and now Brooklyn borough president, I know and you know that far too many people leave the nightmarish realities of somewhere else to come here to experience that American dream,” he said. “The only place that you can have a dollar in your pocket and then own banks. The only place where you could not understand the language and open English-speaking schools all over. Where you can work in the mail run and then run for mayor.”
On the final day of the campaign, Adams brought a framed photograph of his late mother to the polls, while Sliwa tried to bring one of his many rescue cats before being told his cat Gizmo had to wait outside with a staffer.
Sliwa made putting an end to kill shelters a part of his platform, telling voters, “Gandhi said a society that does not treat its animals well will not treat its human beings well.”
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In the final days of the race, Sliwa wasn’t just sporting his signature red beret — he also wore a sling because he was hit by a taxi on Friday.
