New York votes for new mayor
Print Edition
New Yorkers went to the polls yesterday to elect a new mayor, with progressive Democrat Bill de Blasio tipped for a landslide victory to replace billionaire Michael Bloomberg.
The 52-year-old public advocate and his black formerly lesbian wife promise a new style in a city transformed by 12 years of tough love under Bloomberg, who is stepping down after a record three terms.
De Blasio’s campaign has left Republican rival Joe Lhota trailing in the dust, addressing the concerns of the economically vulnerable middle class and tapping into a far larger Democratic electorate.
He went into the election with an historic 41-point lead over Lhota, putting him on course to be the first Democrat elected mayor of the biggest US city since 1989.
“I think the people of this city know that so many New Yorkers are struggling just to make ends meet,” he said after voting with wife Chirlane in his gentrified Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope, accompanied by their teenage children Chiara and Dante.
“We need to make very serious progressive change and move away from Bloomberg-era policies and I’m ready to do it and I need the support of New Yorkers to get it done.”
The city of 8.3 million has six times as many Democrat voters as Republicans, yet David Dinkins was the last Democrat to win the race in 1989.
De Blasio has focused on the yawning gulf between rich and poor in a city with more than 440,000 millionaires but where 21 percent live in poverty on US$30,944 a year for a family of four.
He promises to raise taxes to fund universal pre-kindergarten education and after school programs, and build 200,000 affordable housing units.
His family has featured prominently in his campaign, an effort to connect to ordinary people and a diverse electorate with 33.3 percent of New York white, 25.5 percent black, 28.6 percent Hispanic and 12.7 percent Asian.
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