Eric Adams was declared the winner of the chaotic Democratic primary in the New York City mayoral race on Tuesday.
The final round of results for the June 22 contest, which counted absentee ballots, showed Adams with 50.5% support and his next-closed rival in the ranked-choice election, Kathryn Garcia, with 49.5% support.
“While there are still some very small amounts of votes to be counted, the results are clear: an historic, diverse, five-borough coalition led by working-class New Yorkers has led us to victory in the Democratic primary for Mayor of New York City,” Adams said in a statement after the Associated Press made the call.
MANHATTAN DA CANDIDATE WHO BOASTED OF SUING TRUMP 100 TIMES POISED TO WIN PRIMARY
Garcia, a former New York City sanitation commissioner, conceded the race on Wednesday, expressing regret that her campaign fell short in its bid to give the city its first female mayor.
“For 400 years, no woman has held the top seat at City Hall,” Garcia said. “This campaign has come closer than any other moment in history to breaking that glass ceiling in selecting New York City’s first female mayor. We cracked the hell out of it, and it’s ready to be broken, but we have not cracked that glass ceiling.”
Adams, 60, is bureau president of Brooklyn and a former police captain who would become New York’s second black mayor if he prevails in the general election to succeed Bill de Blasio. The odds at becoming mayor are in Adams’s favor against the Republican nominee, Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, as Democrats outnumber Republicans 7-to-1 in the Big Apple.
“Now we must focus on winning in November so that we can deliver on the promise of this great city for those who are struggling, who are underserved, and who are committed to a safe, fair, affordable future for all New Yorkers,” Adams said.
The race was beset by controversy last week when the city’s board of elections acknowledged releasing erroneous preliminary results from its new ranked-choice voting system. Adams even filed a lawsuit asking a judge to review the ballots after the snafu.
Maya Wiley, another candidate in the Democratic primary, focused on the Board of Elections blunder in a statement Tuesday evening.
“It would be an understatement to express dismay at the BOE’s administration of this election … Today we simply must recommit ourselves to a reformed Board of Elections and build new confidence in how we administer voting in New York City,” she said.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat representing parts of the Bronx and Queens who supported Wiley’s candidacy, stood among a host of other New York Democrats who criticized the election board for its handling of the election following errors in tabulation.
“The incompetence of the New York City [board of elections] far predates ranked-choice voting,” Ocasio-Cortez told the Washington Examiner. New Yorkers have been “blowing the whistle on the BoE for a few years now,” she added.
Wiley congratulated Adams on Wednesday and insisted that she and Garcia made history despite their loss.
“We did shatter the glass ceiling,” she said. “The glass ceiling that said that women could not be top-tier candidates. The glass ceiling that said women would be discounted. The glass ceiling that we can’t be seen as leaders.”
Adams’s campaign established a distinctly different tone compared to the more liberal candidates on issues related to policing, as there have been spikes in robberies and shootings in the city this year.
“If we don’t get gun violence under control, it’s going to stop our economic recovery,” Adams said at the final mayoral debate among Democratic primary candidates, during which he also expressed support for a targeted expansion of the city’s police force to combat crime.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who dropped out of the race after a poor election night performance, also sought to woo voters by touting a pro-law enforcement message.
“They think I’m a better choice than Eric [Adams] to keep us and our families safe,” Yang said during the final debate, referring to the endorsement he received from Captains Endowment Association, a union representing police captains. “They want someone honest as a partner who will actually follow through.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Wiley, by contrast, supported a $1 billion cut to the NYPD budget, arguing the city is “hiring police officers to do the jobs of social workers.”
