Eric Adams was elected New York’s 110th mayor on Tuesday, following a campaign in which he won the support of New Yorkers with promises to restore the pandemic-ravaged city to its former glory.
The Associated Press declared the 61-year-old Democratic President of Brooklyn County the winner over Republican activist Curtis Sliwa shortly after the polls closed at 9 p.m.
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
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Choosing Adams for what is known as “America’s second-hardest job” catapults him to a national political figure at the center of some of the nation’s most intractable debates.
Adams is a former police officer who is committed to reforming the NYPD, but at the same time believes in a strong hand against crime, this at a time of growing concern for public safety and the deteriorating relationship between the police and the community.
He is a moderate Democrat in an increasingly progressive party. And he has proclaimed an end to “anti-business” rhetoric while demanding that city businesses better address income inequality and other social ills.
Tuesday’s victory over Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels crime patrol, was fated in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans by roughly 7 to 1. Sliwa tried to capture the city’s attention with videos of TikTok and publicity stunts focused on a platform for public safety, tax reform and animal rights. However, Adams called his challenger’s campaign “buffoonery.”
The June primary election results showed Adams won on the strength of black, Hispanic and low-income voters in the city’s outer districts. After his victory, he was quick to proclaim himself the “face of the new Democratic party.”
When Adams is sworn in on January 1, he will replace Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose eight-year mayor was defined by the coronavirus crisis, clashes over police surveillance and an ill-fated run for the presidency.
But other incoming New York mayors have faced big challenges. Ed Koch inherited a crime-ridden city on the brink of bankruptcy in 1978. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg was nominated in a primary election scheduled for September 11, 2001, and had to rebuild a city devastated by terrorist attacks.
Now Adams will inherit his own set of problems that plague New York: violent crime, economic instability, an exodus of professionals who work from home and a series of union contracts that are under negotiation.
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