NEW YORK—With his family flanking his side, a beaming Bill de Blasio greeted a crowd of supporters at the YMCA in Park Slope Tuesday night. The crowd roared as he took the stage after an introduction by his wife Chirlane McCray.
“Today you spoke out loud and clear for a new direction for our city,” de Blasio said with a riser of supporters behind him. “Make no mistake, the people of New York City have chosen a progressive path and tonight we set forth on it as one city.”
De Blasio defeated Republican challenger Joe Lhota in a landslide victory.
The final election night results had de Blasio leading 74 percent to 24 percent with 32 percent of the precincts reporting as of press time.
NY1 announced de Blasio the projected winner at 9 p.m., with thousands of supporters still waiting in line to get into the election night party.
If the results hold, De Blasio could shatter the margin of victory record for a non-incumbent mayor held by Abe Beame, who beat Republican John Marchi by 40 percent. Beame faced tough fiscal times during his tenure and was not re-elected in 1977.
Lhota called de Blasio to concede at 9:29 p.m. and Mayor Michael Bloomberg called de Blasio to congratulate him around the same time, according to campaign spokesman Dan Levitan. Levitan said the conversation with Bloomberg was “cordial” but provided no other details.
De Blasio said he would not forget those who voted for his opponent.
“To every vote I didn’t get,” de Blasio said. “I won’t stop earning your trust.”
The win ended a 20-year drought for Democrats at Gracie Mansion. Despite a divided party in the primary, Democrats united after de Blasio’s victory and brought home the city’s top seat. Mayor David Dinkins, who was elected in 1989 for one term, was the last Democratic mayor in New York City.
The victory ends what was a marathon local election cycle filled with more drama than a Hollywood writer could have imagined. In a primary featuring multiple formidable Democratic candidates, de Blasio emerged from the field after a successful late July surge.
For Rebecca Katz, an aide on the de Blasio campaign, the moment was an emotional one. When approached for logistical information, Katz asked for a moment to absorb the victory. “It has been four long years,” Katz said.
Looking Back
De Blasio has come a long way since the cold January day outside his Park Slope home in Brooklyn when he officially launched his campaign. At the time he was considered a long-shot candidate whose progressive ideals would never jive with the voters of New York.
But having spent four years as the city’s public advocate, de Blasio saw the city differently. He recognized the income disparity gripping the city where some have benefited from Bloomberg’s policies, while the number of the discontented grew each passing year.
With crime at record lows and tourism at record highs, development and the tech industry boomed during the Bloomberg years. A safe bet for a candidate would have been to promise to continue the city on that path, but de Blasio didn’t buy into that approach.
He saw a growing contention aching to break from the Bloomberg policies, which had driven a wedge between rich and poor, black and white.
De Blasio’s campaign message, Tale of Two Cities, gave a voice to that disparity and vowed for change. He would tax the rich to pay for pre-kindergarten for all, overhaul the controversial practices of the police department, and lead the charge in closing the growing gap between the Park Avenue elite and the rest of the city.
The gamble paid off, and de Blasio’s charge to reform the New York Police Department hit at the perfect moment: a federal judge ruled the practice was unconstitutional and City Council passed two landmark measures to reform the city’s approach to policing.
Former Congressman Anthony Weiner, who had taken much of the voters away from de Blasio, self-imploded in late July, and the city latched onto the inequality message. De Blasio’s poll numbers skyrocketed within a matter of weeks and remained high through Election Day.
Looking Forward
The next four years will be no easy task for de Blasio. Unions are hungry for new contracts, the city is aching for police reform, and parents will be looking for de Blasio to deliver on the universal pre-kindergarten promise.
To complicate matters, the city’s fiscal outlook is cloudy. Rising pension and health care costs for municipal workers are continuing to take up larger chunks of the budget, leaving less for current services, let alone new ones de Blasio proposed.
Throughout the campaign, de Blasio’s opponents questioned his ability to lead, and he will surely be tested. Can he stand up to the unions who supported him and reject their requests for retroactive pay if there is no money in the budget? Can he change the course of the NYPD without sacrificing safety? Can he convince the state Legislature to raise taxes in an election year to fund the pre-kindergarten plan?
The weight of a party, dormant in second place for two decades, rests on the lofty shoulders of de Blasio.
Tuesday was a night of celebration. Wednesday, the real work begins.
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