De Blasio ‘satisfied’ with early NYC mayor’s race results
Michael Gartland
Mayor de Blasio still hasn’t shared who he voted for to replace him, but said Wednesday he’s “satisfied” with early results for the mayor’s race — which have Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams ahead by about 10%.
For weeks, rumors have swirled that behind the scenes de Blasio has quietly supported Adams’ run, and Hizzoner did little to dispel that notion Wednesday now that it appears Adams has a strong chance of emerging victorious.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, left, and mayoral candidate Eric Adams.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, left, and mayoral candidate Eric Adams. (Mayors Office/Barry Williams/)
As of Wednesday morning, city Board of Elections returns show Adams leading the pack with 31% of the vote. Maya Wiley, de Blasio’s former legal counsel, is trailing with 22% and his former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia has 19%.
The results most likely won’t be finalized until early July after the Board tabulates ranked-choice votes, which could shift the preliminary results.
Mayor de Blasio casts his vote in the New York City primary, at the Park Slope Library in Brooklyn on Tuesday, June 22.
Mayor de Blasio casts his vote in the New York City primary, at the Park Slope Library in Brooklyn on Tuesday, June 22.
“I feel satisfied,” de Blasio said. “I’m not going to go into a lot of detail. I want to respect the fact there’s still a lot of process to play out, but now it really appears to come down to three people. They’re all good people. They’re people that I’ve had close working relationships with. I think one way or another New York City will be in good hands.”
De Blasio reserved special praise for Adams though, saying that the BP appears to have come closest to recreating the coalition of outer-borough voters that elevated him to City Hall in the 2013 election.
“I give credit to Eric Adams — the strength he created in Brooklyn, in Queens and the Bronx,” he said. “Eric obviously had an outer borough-focused, working class-focused strategy. That’s a lot of what we did in 2013. We wanted a multi-racial, working class coalition with a heavy focus on the outer boroughs. It worked in 2013. It appears to have worked for him here.”
Eric Adams speaks to supporters at his primary election night party in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York on Tuesday, June 22.
Eric Adams speaks to supporters at his primary election night party in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York on Tuesday, June 22. (Gardiner Anderson/)
The city Board of Elections will release it’s first report on ranked-choice voting tabulations next Tuesday, which is also the deadline for absentee and affidavit ballots to be received by the Board. Once those are in, the Board will begin factoring in the mail-in ballots — so far about 91,000 out of 221,000 have been received — and it then plans to release another comprehensive tabulation of the results on July 6.
But even then, mail-in ballots that are contested by campaign attorneys may delay the final results even further. Those ballot issues would need to resolved by July9.
“It is possible that we will then have to run another report,” said Board of Elections spokeswoman Valerie Diaz, referring to ranked-choice tabulations.
Voter turnout was relatively strong in the city on Tuesday, but de Blasio suggested a day later that there’s still room for improvement.
Residents vote during the New York City mayoral primary election at the Brooklyn Museum polling station on June 22, 2021, in New York City. New York City residents cast ballots in a Democratic primary on June 22, 2021, that will select the candidate almost certain to take over as mayor tasked with shaping the post-pandemic future of America's largest metropolis. Registered Democrats will choose from a diverse group of 13 candidates for the job, often called "the second-most difficult" in the United States after that of the president.
Democratic mayoral candidate Maya Wiley pets a voter's dog during a campaign stop near a polling place in the West Village neighborhood of New York on Tuesday, June 22, 2021.
Democratic mayoral candidate Maya Wiley, center, is joined by New York State Assemblymember Deborah Glick, left, as she greets voters during a campaign stop near a polling place in the West Village neighborhood of New York on Tuesday, June 22, 2021.
A voter receives her ballot at Frank McCourt High School in New York on Tuesday, June 22, 2021. The final votes are set to be cast Tuesday in New York's party primaries, where mayors, prosecutors, judges and city and county legislators will be on the ballot, along with other municipal offices.
Republican candidate for New York mayor Curtis Sliwa signs in to vote at Frank McCourt High School, in New York on Tuesday, June 22, 2021. The final votes are set to be cast Tuesday in New York's party primaries, where mayors, prosecutors, judges and city and county legislators will be on the ballot, along with other municipal offices.
Republican candidate for New York mayor Curtis Sliwa waits to vote at Frank McCourt High School, in New York on Tuesday, June 22, 2021.
Residents vote during the New York City mayoral primary election at the Brooklyn Museum polling station on June 22, 2021, in New York City.
Voters wait to mark their ballots at Frank McCourt High School, in New York on Tuesday, June 22, 2021.
A resident checks in to vote during the New York City mayoral primary election at the Brooklyn Museum polling station on June 22, 2021, in New York City.
Voters sign in at Frank McCourt High School, in New York on Tuesday, June 22, 2021.
Residents arrive to vote during the New York City mayoral primary election at the Brooklyn Museum polling station on June 22, 2021 in New York City.
Signs alert people to a voting site in Manhattan as voters head to the polls for the Democratic primary for mayor and other elected positions on June 22, 2021, in New York City. Ranked-choice voting is being used for the first time, a system that lets voters prioritize more than one candidate on their ballot. The winner of the Democratic primary will face off against the Republican candidate in the fall.
Residents vote during the New York City mayoral primary election at the Brooklyn Museum polling station on June 22, 2021, in New York City.
Eric Adams votes at P.S. 81 on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, in Brooklyn, New York.
Eric Adams votes at P.S. 81 on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, in Brooklyn, New York.
Eric Adams gets emotional when talking about the death of his mother while talking to the media after voting at P.S. 81 on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, in Brooklyn, New York.
Voters receive their ballots at Frank McCourt High School, in New York on Tuesday, June 22, 2021.
People prepare to vote during the Primary Election Day at P.S. 81 on June 22, 2021, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.
A poll worker assembles a ballot at Frank McCourt High School in New York on Tuesday, June 22, 2021.
A voter files her voting ballot during the Primary Election Day at P.S. 81 on June 22, 2021, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Voters place their marked ballots in scanners at Frank McCourt High School, in New York on Tuesday, June 22, 2021. The final votes are set to be cast Tuesday in New York's party primaries, where mayors, prosecutors, judges and city and county legislators will be on the ballot, along with other municipal offices.
Eric Adams takes selfies with supporters after voting at P.S. 81 on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, in Brooklyn, New York.
Corey Johnson, Candidate for Comptroller, arrives to vote on Tuesday, June 22, 2021 in Manhattan.
Corey Johnson, Candidate for Comptroller, arrives to vote on Tuesday, June 22, 2021 in Manhattan.
People vote during the Primary Election Day at P.S. 81 on June 22, 2021, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Manhattan District Attorney Candidate Tali Farhadian Weinstein is pictured greeting potential voters while campaigning on the corner of 72nd Street and Columbus Avenue on Tuesday, June 22, 2021.
People vote during the Primary Election Day at P.S. 81 on June 22, 2021, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.
A poll worker hangs up a voting sign during the Primary Election Day at P.S. 81 on June 22, 2021, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. This is the first year in the city for ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to rank their top five candidates.
A poll worker hangs up a voting sign during the Primary Election Day at P.S. 81 on June 22, 2021, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.
He praised New Yorkers for the fact that more than 944,000 voters cast ballots.
“That’s encouraging,” he said. “We know things like early voting helps — absolutely. We’ve got to go farther. We need same-day registration and other reforms. It should be much easier to get an absentee ballot. We need online registration. There’s so many things we’re still not doing.”
