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New York City mayoral elections facts for kids

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The mayor of New York City is elected in early November every four years, in the year immediately following a United States presidential election year, and takes office at the beginning of the following year. The city, which elects the mayor as its chief executive, consists of the five boroughs (Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island), which consolidated to form "Greater" New York on January 1, 1898.

The consolidated city's first mayor, Robert A. Van Wyck, was elected with other municipal officers in November 1897. Mayoral elections previously had been held since 1834 by the City of Brooklyn and the smaller, unconsolidated City of New York (Manhattan, later expanded into the Bronx).

Eric Adams took office 12:01 AM on January 1, 2022, at a private swearing-in, followed by a public ceremony later in the day. He is the second Black mayor in the history of the city. He follows Bill de Blasio, who served two consecutive terms after being elected in 2013 and for a second term in 2017.

Overview

Scope of this article

The vast bulk of this page's contents is statistical: the main results, citywide and by borough, of each of the 32 elections to the Mayoralty of the City of New York since Greater New York was consolidated from the five boroughs in 1897-1898.

For many years, but not all, there are also results for minor candidates and for the different parties nominating the same major candidate. (Because minor parties' votes are not uniformly available, totals and thus percentages can be slightly inconsistent, either between different elections or between individual boroughs and the entire city in the same election.)

There are brief comments about some of the elections, and separate articles have been written for those of 1917, 1977, 1997, 2001, 2005, and 2009. Different elections are compared in many of the individual notes, in two summary tables and in one specialized table.

New York City's Mayoral elections have been marked by an interplay of factors that are magnified by the size of the population. There was a history of a large socialist vote, there is a history of tension between 'regular' and 'reform' politicians, and there has been electoral fusion, a factor not seen in most of the rest of the United States, with a resulting plethora of smaller, yet influential, third parties.

Terms and term limits (since 1834)

Direct elections to the mayoralty of the unconsolidated City of New York began in 1834 for a term of one year, extended to two years after 1849. The 1897 Charter of the consolidated City doubled the term to four years which could not be renewed. In 1901, the term limit was removed, but the term halved to two years. In 1905, the four-year term, without limit, was restored. (Mayors Fiorello La Guardia, Robert F. Wagner, Jr. and Ed Koch were later able to serve for twelve years each.) In 1993, the voters approved a two-term (eight-year) limit, and reconfirmed this limit when the issue was submitted to referendum in 1996. In 2008, the New York City Council voted to change the two-term limit to three terms (without submitting the issue to the voters). Legal challenges to the Council's action were rejected by Federal courts in January and April, 2009. However, in 2010, yet another referendum, reverting the limit to two terms, passed overwhelmingly.

year
term
term
limit
years
Mayor(s) affected 1
Unconsolidated City
1834 1 year (no limit) (unlimited) all from Cornelius Van Wyck Lawrence to Caleb S. Woodhull
1849 2 years (no limit) (unlimited) all from Ambrose Kingsland to William L. Strong 2
Greater New York (The Five Boroughs)
1897 4 years
1 term
4 years
Robert A. Van Wyck
1901 2 years (no limit) (unlimited) Seth Low and George B. McClellan, Jr.3
1905 4 years (no limit) (unlimited) all from George B. McClellan, Jr.3 to David Dinkins 4
1993 4 years
2 terms
8 years
Rudolph Giuliani 5
2008 4 years
3 terms
12 years
Michael Bloomberg 6 only 7
2010 4 years
2 terms
8 years
Bill de Blasio and his successors 7

Principal source: The Encyclopedia of New York City (see Sources below), entries for "charter" and "mayoralty".

  1. See List of mayors of New York City.
  2. Mayor Strong, elected in 1894, served an extra year because no municipal election was held in 1896, in anticipation of the consolidated City's switch to odd-year elections.
  3. George B. McClellan, Jr. was elected to one two-year term (1904–1905) and one four-year term (1906–1909)
  4. David Dinkins was not affected by the term limit enacted in 1993 because he had served only one term by 1993 and failed to win re-election.
  5. The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in Manhattan coincided with the primary elections for a successor to Mayor Giuliani, who was completing his second and final term of office. Many were so impressed by both the urgency of the situation and Giuliani's response that they wanted to keep him in office beyond December 31, 2001, either by removing the term limit or by extending his service for a few months. However, neither happened, the primary elections (with the same candidates) were re-run on September 25, the general election was held as scheduled on November 6, and Michael Bloomberg took office on the regularly appointed date of January 1, 2002.
  6. On October 2, 2008, Michael Bloomberg announced that he would ask the city council to extend the limit for mayor, council and other officers from two terms to three, and that, should such an extended limit prevail, he himself would seek re-election as mayor. On October 23, the New York City Council voted 29-22 to extend the two-term limit to three terms. (A proposed amendment to submit the vote to a public referendum had failed earlier the same day by a vote of 22-28 with one abstention.)
  7. In November 2010, yet another popular referendum, limiting mayoral terms to two, passed overwhelmingly.

Interrupted terms

Mayors John T. Hoffman (1866–68, elected Governor 1868), William Havemeyer (1845–46, 1848–49, and 1873–74), William Jay Gaynor (1910–13), Jimmy Walker (1926–32), and William O'Dwyer (1946–50) failed to complete the final terms to which they were elected. The uncompleted mayoral terms of Hoffman, Walker, and O'Dwyer were added to the other offices elected in (respectively) 1868, 1932, and 1950 [those three elections are listed as "special" in the table below because they occurred before the next regularly scheduled mayoral election; the "regular" mayoral elections of 1874 and 1913, on the other hand, were held on the same day that they would have happened had the mayoralty not become vacant.]

Interrupted Terms of New York City's Elected Mayors since 1834
Elected Mayor
Last Elected
End of Service
Interim Successor2, 3
Election
Elected Successor 4
John T. Hoffman (D)
Dec. 1867
resigned 30 Nov. 1868
Thomas Coman (D)
Dec. 1868 (special) A. Oakey Hall (D)
1 Wm Havemeyer (R)
Nov. 1872
died 30 Nov. 1874
Samuel B. H. Vance (R)
Nov. 1874 (regular) William H. Wickham (D)
William Gaynor (D)
Nov. 1909
died 10 Sept. 1913
Ardolph L. Kline (R)
Nov. 1913 (regular) John P. Mitchel (Fusion)
Jimmy Walker (D)
Nov. 1929
resigned 1 Sept. 1932
Joseph V. McKee (D)
Nov. 1932 (special) John P. O'Brien (D)
Nov. 1949
resigned 31 Aug. 1950
Vincent Impellitteri (D)
Nov. 1950 (special) Vincent Impellitteri
(Experience)

† Became acting mayor as the president of the board of aldermen or (in 1950) city council.

(D) = (Democratic)

(R) = (Republican)

  1. Mayor Havemeyer was a Democrat who ran as a Republican against the Democratic Tweed Ring in 1872.
  2. Acting Mayors Coman, Vance and Kline did not seek election as mayor.
  3. Acting Mayors McKee and Impellitteri were Democrats who lost the Democratic primary to succeed themselves, but still ran in the general election as independents.
  4. Elected Mayor Oakey Hall won re-election, while Mayor Wickham did not seek it. Mayors Mitchel and O'Brien lost attempts at re-election, while Mayor Impellitteri did not run for a full term in the 1953 regular general election after losing the Democratic primary.

Summary tables

Principal candidates' City-wide vote since 1897

This chart has several purposes. One is to provide ordinary readers with simple, basic information from a very detailed page. Another is to provide a handy index for those looking for a particular candidate or campaign. (Just click on the year, the candidate's name, or the party name or abbreviation for more details.)

A slightly more sophisticated purpose is to sketch out on one screen the flow of votes across parties and candidates, as affected by fusion, splitting, cross-endorsement and the emergence of new movements or personalities.

Votes in thousands for principal candidates only, generally those winning more than 4.0% (1/25) of the total vote. (Therefore, low votes may not be shown in a particular year for an otherwise significant party, such as Socialist or Conservative. For some of the lesser left-wing candidates before 1945, see #Collapse of the Socialist Party vote below.) Total vote includes that for all candidates and parties, major and minor.

Winner in bold-face in a colored box. Sitting mayor (elected or acting) at the time of the election in italics.

To determine the meaning of abbreviations, click the link or check the list below this table. (Different first names, initials and nicknames may be used for the same person purely to fit the available space.)

year Total
'000
Democratic '000 Fusion, Liberal, Independent, etc. '000 Republican '000 other major candidates '000
1897 532 Robert A. Van Wyck
234
Seth Low, Citizens Union
152
Benjamin F. Tracy
102
Henry George, Jeff'n D
22
1901 562 Edward M. Shepard
265
Seth Low, Fusion
297
1903 595 George B. McClellan, Jr.
315
Seth Low, Fusion
252
1905 606 George B. McClellan, Jr.
228
Wm Randolph Hearst, Municipal Ownership League
225
William M. Ivins (Senior)
137
1909 604 William Jay Gaynor
250
Wm R. Hearst, Civic All'ce
154
Otto Bannard, R-Fusion
177
1913 627 Edward E. McCall
234
John P. Mitchel, Fusion
358
Chas E. Russell, Soc
32
1917 692 John Francis Hylan
314
John P. Mitchel, Fusion
155
William M. Bennett
56
Morris Hillquit, Soc.
145
[The State of New York granted the vote to women in 1917, doubling the potential total vote.]
1921 1,196 John Francis Hylan
750
Henry Curran, R-Coalition
333
Jacob Panken, Soc.
83
1925 1,161 Jimmy Walker
749
Frank D. Waterman
347
Norman Thomas, Soc
40
1929 1,465 Jimmy Walker
868
Fiorello H. La Guardia
368
Norman Thomas, Soc
176
1932 2,254 John P. O'Brien 1,054 Joseph McKee, Ind write-in
234
Lewis H. Pounds
443
Morris Hillquit, Soc.
252
1933 2,205 John P. O'Brien
587
Jos.V. McKee, Recovery
609
F.H. La Guardia, R-Fusion
869
Chas Solomon, Soc.
60
1937 2,300 Jeremiah Mahoney, D-Trades Union-Anticommunist
891
Fiorello H. La Guardia, R-ALP-Fusion-Progressive 1,345
1941 2,294 William O'Dwyer 1,054 Fiorello H. La Guardia, R-ALP-Fusion-United City 1,187
1945 2,037 William O'Dwyer, D-ALP 1,125 Newbold Morris, No Deal
408
Jonah Goldstein, R-Lib.-Fus.
432
1949 2,663 William O'Dwyer 1,267 Newbold Morris, R-Lib.-Fusion
956
Vito Marcantonio ALP
357
1950 2,697 Ferdinand Pecora, D-Lib.
935
Vincent Impellitteri, Exp 1,161 Edward Corsi
382
Paul Ross, ALP
148
1953 2,224 Robert F. Wagner, Jr. 1,023 Rudolph Halley, Lib.-Ind.
467
Harold Riegelman
662
1957 2,224 Robt Wagner, D-Lib-Fus 1,509 Robert Christenberry
586
1961 2,467 Robert F. Wagner, Jr., D-Liberal-Brotherhood 1,237 Lawrence Gerosa, Ind.- Citizens Party
322
Louis Lefkowitz, R-Nonpartisan-Civic Action
836
1965 2,652 Abraham Beame, D-Civil Service Fusion 1,046 John V. Lindsay, R-Liberal-Independent Citizens 1,149 Wm F. Buckley, Jr, Conservative
341
1969 2,458 Mario Procaccino, D-Nonpartisan-Civil Service Ind
832
John V. Lindsay, Liberal 1,013 John Marchi, R-Conservative
543
1973 1,701 Abraham Beame
961
Albert Blumenthal, Lib.
265
John Marchi
277
Mario Biaggi, Cons.
190
1977 1,370 Edward Koch
717
Mario Cuomo, Liberal
588
Roy M. Goodman
59
Barry Farber, Cons.
57
1981 1,223 Edward Koch, D-R
913
Frank Barbaro, Unity
163
1985 1,107 Edward Koch, D-Ind.
868
Carol Bellamy, Liberal
113
Diane McGrath, R-Cons.
102
1989 1,900 David Dinkins
917
Rudolph Giuliani, R-L.-Ind Fu.
870
1993 1,889 David Dinkins
877
Rudolph Giuliani, R-L
930
1997 1,117 Ruth Messinger
479
Rudolph Giuliani, R-L
616
2001 1,481 Mark Green,
D-Working Families
709
Michael Bloomberg, R–Independence Party
744
2005 1,290 Fernando Ferrer
503
Michael Bloomberg, R/Lib. – Independence Party
753
2009 1,155 Bill Thompson,
D-Working Families
535
Michael Bloomberg, Indep'ce/Jobs & Educ. – R
585
2013 1,102 Bill de Blasio,
D-Working Families
796
Joe Lhota,
R-Conservative
264

Abbreviations used in this table: Fu. or Fus = Fusion, Ind. = Independent, Ind Fu. = Independent Fusion (1989), Independence or Indep'ce = Independence Party of New York, L or Lib. = Liberal Party of New York, Cons. = Conservative Party of New York, ALP = American Labor Party, Soc. = Socialist Party of America, Jeff'n D = The Democracy of Thomas Jefferson (Henry George, 1897), Civic All'ce = Civic Alliance (Hearst 1909), Exp = Experience party (Impellitteri's label for his independent campaign in 1950), Jobs & Educ. = Independent Jobs & Education party (Bloomberg's personal label sharing a ballot line with Independence Party in 2009)

How the boroughs voted

See the table above for more information about the candidates and parties involved. Blue indicates a candidate endorsed by the Democratic Party; pink one endorsed by the Republicans; and buff (or beige) one endorsed by neither party. (Darker shades indicate where a borough voted for a candidate who lost the citywide vote.) In 1981, Edward Koch ran on the tickets of both the Democrats and the Republicans.

Click a year to see the table or tables for that particular election (# indicates a link devoted to one specific election rather than to a set of two to six.)

Although separate boroughs since 1898, the Bronx and Manhattan shared New York County and reported elections together until the separate Bronx County was formed in April 1912 and started her separate existence on January 1, 1914. The borough of Richmond changed its name to Staten Island in 1975, although the co-extensive Richmond County still retains that name.

borough Manhattan and The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [S.I.] City of New York
county
[ New York ]
[ Kings ]
[ Queens ]
[ Richmond ]
 
1897 Van Wyck 48% Van Wyck 40% Van Wyck 41% Van Wyck 44% Van Wyck 45%
1901 Low 49% Low 55% Shepard 49% Low 52% Low 51%
1903 McClellan 56% McClellan 49% McClellan 56% Low 48% McClellan 53%
1905 McClellan 42% Hearst 39% Hearst 39% McClellan 44% McClellan 38%
1909 Gaynor 43% Gaynor 42% Gaynor 38% Gaynor 47% Gaynor 42%
borough Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [S.I.] City of New York
county
[ New York ]
[ Bronx ]
[ Kings ]
[ Queens ]
[ Richmond ]
 
1913 Mitchel Mitchel Mitchel 60% Mitchel 60% Mitchel 54% Mitchel 57%
#1917 Hylan 46% Hylan 43% Hylan 47% Hylan 52% Hylan 58% Hylan 47%
#1921 Hylan 63% Hylan 68% Hylan 62% Hylan 69% Hylan 71% Hylan 64%
#1925 Walker 70% Walker 72% Walker 61% Walker 63% Walker 67% Walker 66%
#1929 Walker 64% Walker 63% Walker 58% Walker 62% Walker 58% Walker 61%
#1932 O'Brien 61% O'Brien 52% O'Brien 51% O'Brien 48% O'Brien 54% O'Brien 53%
#1933 La Guardia 38% La Guardia 39% La Guardia 44% La Guardia 39% La Guardia 44% La Guardia 40%
#1937 La Guardia 58% La Guardia 62% La Guardia 63% La Guardia 55% La Guardia 56% La Guardia 60%
#1941 La Guardia 56% La Guardia 58% La Guardia 55% O'Dwyer 60% O'Dwyer 60% La Guardia 52%
#1945 O'Dwyer 56% O'Dwyer 55% O'Dwyer 57% O'Dwyer 61% O'Dwyer 66% O'Dwyer 55%
#1949 O'Dwyer 45% O'Dwyer 49% O'Dwyer 49% O'Dwyer 53% O'Dwyer 65% O'Dwyer 48%
#1950 Impellitteri 40% Pecora 42% Pecora 41% Impellitteri 55% Impellitteri 60% Impellitteri 44%
#1953 Wagner 48% Wagner 46% Wagner 47% Wagner 41% Wagner 52% Wagner 46%
#1957 Wagner 74% Wagner 77% Wagner 75% Wagner 64% Wagner 65% Wagner 68%
#1961 Wagner 56% Wagner 56% Wagner 53% Wagner 46% Lefkowitz 42% Wagner 50.1%
#1965 Lindsay 56% Beame 47% Beame 47% Lindsay 47% Lindsay 46% Lindsay 43%
#1969 Lindsay 67% Procaccino 41% Procaccino 42% Lindsay 36% Marchi 62% Lindsay 41%
#1973 Beame 49% Beame 57% Beame 63% Beame 57% Beame 47% Beame 57%
borough Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island City of New York
county
[ New York ]
[ Bronx ]
[ Kings ]
[ Queens ]
[ Richmond ]
 
#1977 Koch Koch Koch Cuomo Cuomo Koch 52%
#1981 Koch Koch Koch Koch Koch Koch 75%
#1985 Koch Koch Koch Koch Koch Koch 78%
#1989 Dinkins Dinkins Dinkins Giuliani Giuliani Dinkins 48%
#1993 Dinkins Dinkins Dinkins Giuliani Giuliani Giuliani 49%
#1997 Giuliani Messinger Giuliani Giuliani Giuliani Giuliani 55%
#2001 Green 52% Green 55% Green 52% Bloomberg 55% Bloomberg 77% Bloomberg 50.3%
#2005 Bloomberg 60% Ferrer 60% Bloomberg 58% Bloomberg 64% Bloomberg 77% Bloomberg 58.4%
#2009 Bloomberg 56% Thompson 61% Thompson 52% Bloomberg 54% Bloomberg 66% Bloomberg 50.7%
#2013 de Blasio 71.7% de Blasio 86.1% de Blasio 77.5% de Blasio 70.3% Lhota 52.8% de Blasio 73.2%

Although it was not uncommon for a candidate to carry all five boroughs in the same election, variations in voting patterns are noticeable. Since it started reporting separate returns in 1913, the Bronx has supported only one Republican (Fiorello La Guardia) and Manhattan has opposed only two successful candidates (Giuliani in 1993 and Bloomberg in 2001). On the other hand, in the eleven elections since 1965 that were contested between Democratic and Republican candidates (i.e. excluding 1981, when Ed Koch was endorsed by both parties), Queens and Staten Island have voted for only two Democratic candidates, Abe Beame in 1973 and Koch in 1985. The City as a whole elected four of the Democratic candidates in those same eleven elections from 1965 to 2009. The Bronx supported all eleven, Brooklyn nine, and Manhattan six.

Some basic patterns of mayoral elections in New York City

Democrats, Republicans, and reformers

One pattern, stretching back well before consolidation and lasting into the 1960s, is the conflict between, on one side, Tammany Hall, the Democratic political organization largely built on political patronage with a consequent deep skepticism about Civil Service, the merit system of assigning government jobs, and competitive bidding for city contracts, and on the other hand, its various opponents, including Republicans, businessmen opposed to taxation or extorted bribes, middle-class reformers and labor union activists.

Until the election of Fiorello H. La Guardia in 1933, it was almost never possible to unite the disparate anti-Tammany elements in a coalition strong enough to prevail for more than one election. (This was not only for negative reasons: Tammany could listen to and satisfy some of its opponents' needs, and could on occasion run candidates of undoubted quality, such as Abram Hewitt to oppose Henry George's United Labor Party in 1886. ) In the reported words of the Tammany leader George Washington Plunkitt, reformers were only "mornin' glories —- looked lovely in the mornin' and withered up in a short time, while the regular machines went on flourishin' forever, like fine old oaks.".

Quite apart from Tammany Hall itself, both Republicans and left-wing reform parties have always had to deal with the overwhelmingly Democratic sympathies of New York City's voters. Neither the various Socialist and labor parties nor the Republicans were ever strong enough to elect a Mayor alone without the support, or at least the benign non-hostility, of other parties and independents.

Fusion, second ballot lines, and third parties

The local term for uniting several constituencies or movements against Tammany was Fusion, which usually required the Republicans to abstain from competing with a non-Republican reform candidate (as in the elections of Seth Low in 1901 and John P. Mitchel in 1913). Later the unusual ability of New York candidates to combine (fuse) votes from several different parties allowed Republicans and Democrats to run their own reform candidates on third party lines, such as "Fusion", American Labor, Liberal, Conservative and Independence. In fact, no Republican has ever been elected Mayor of consolidated New York without the support of at least one other significant party, from LaGuardia to the ex-Democrat Michael Bloomberg.

Even when a candidate could not gain another party's support, they often found it expedient to create a separate line or party name for independent voters to support him, such as "Recovery" (Joseph V. McKee in 1933), "Anticommunist" (Jeremiah T. Mahoney in 1937), "Experience" (Vincent Impellitteri in 1950) or "Brotherhood" (Robert F. Wagner Jr. in 1961). In 1965, Rep. John Lindsay (R-Liberal) won votes on the "Independent Citizens" line, while his opponent Comptroller Abe Beame (D) won additional votes for "Civil Service Fusion".

Although granting or withholding endorsement was an effective tool for a minor party to influence a candidate's policies and actions, it could sometimes lead to counter-pressure from those who felt that candidates were being swayed too far in the wrong direction. This was one of the main reasons for founding the Conservative Party of New York in 1962 by those upset at the liberalism of Republican Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller and (later) Lindsay, against whose 1965 Mayoral campaign the Conservatives ran William F. Buckley, Jr.

More recently, there has been a trend of reformers working not through third parties (such as the now-dormant Liberals) but through Reform Democratic clubs, leading to lively internal contests such as the 1989 Democratic primary where David Dinkins unseated incumbent Mayor Ed Koch who started his own political career in a Reform Democratic Club. On the other side, however, dissatisfied conservatives have created their own new parties outside the Republican Party, such as the New York State Right to Life Party and the Independence Party of New York.

Recent elections

2021

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams of the Democratic Party defeated Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, who ran on the Republican and Independent lines by a margin of 441,416 votes or 66.99% against 27.76%. Notable third party candidates included teacher Cathy Rojas of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (2.49%/27,982 votes) and retired police officer Bill Pepitone of the Conservative Party (1.12%/12,575 votes). However, this was ultimately a fairly partisan election by New York City standards with 94% of voters voting on the Democratic and Republican lines. This was likely due to the absence of the Working Families Party from the ballot, who elected not to endorse a candidate and the standalone candidacy of the Conservative Party, who typically garner votes by endorsing the Republican candidate.

2017

Bill de Blasio, the incumbent mayor, won re-election to a second term, on Democratic and Working Families Party lines, over challengers Nicole Malliotakis on the Republican and Conservative party lines, Sal Albanese on the Reform Party line, Akeem Browder on the Green Party line, independent candidates Mike Tolkin and Bo Dietl, and Libertarian Party candidate Aaron Commey.

2013

The principal candidates were Joe Lhota on the Republican and Conservative lines, Bill de Blasio on the Democratic and Working Families lines, and some independents. Bill de Blasio won the election in a landslide

2013 results by borough

General election
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Democratic-Working Families Bill de Blasio 195,317 (71.69%) 121,511 (86.08%) 263,823 (77.52%) 181,921 (70.28%) 33,107 (44.20%) 795,679 (73.15%)
Republican-Conservative Joe Lhota 69,434 (25.48%) 15,559 (11.02%) 68,543 (20.14%) 71,306 (27.55%) 39,538 (52.79%) 264,420 (24.31%)
Independence Adolfo Carrión Jr. 2,161 (0.79%) 2,595 (1.84%) 1,463 (0.43%) 1,754 (0.68%) 702 (0.94%) 8,675 (0.80%)
Green Anthony Gronowicz 1,655 (0.61%) 324 (0.23%) 1,507 (0.44%) 1,177 (0.45%) 320 (0.43%) 4,983 (0.46%)
Jobs & Education-Common Sense Jack Hidary 1,081 (0.40%) 151 (0.11%) 1,630 (0.48%) 541 (0.21%) 237 (0.32%) 3,640 (0.33%)
Rent Is Too ... High Jimmy McMillan 579 (0.21%) 154 (0.11%) 608 (0.18%) 480 (0.19%) 169 (0.23%) 1,990 (0.18%)
School Choice Erick Salgado 267 (0.10%) 342 (0.24%) 932 (0.27%) 324 (0.13%) 81 (0.11%) 1,946 (0.18%)
Libertarian Michael Sanchez 446 (0.16%) 128 (0.09%) 485 (0.14%) 449 (0.17%) 238 (0.32%) 1,746 (0.16%)
Socialist Workers Daniel B. Fein 230 (0.08%) 59 (0.04%) 253 (0.07%) 177 (0.07%) 39 (0.05%) 758 (0.07%)
Tax Wall Street Randy Credico 317 (0.12%) 47 (0.03%) 155 (0.05%) 128 (0.05%) 43 (0.06%) 690 (0.06%)
Freedom Party Michael K. Greys 161 (0.06%) 65 (0.05%) 241 (0.07%) 89 (0.03%) 19 (0.03%) 575 (0.05%)
Reform Party Carl E. Person 86 (0.03%) 20 (0.01%) 85 (0.02%) 83 (0.03%) 32 (0.04%) 306 (0.03%)
Affordable Tomorrow Joseph Melaragno 55 (0.02%) 26 (0.02%) 92 (0.03%) 85 (0.03%) 31 (0.04%) 289 (0.03%)
War Veterans Sam Sloan 19 (0.01%) 23 (0.02%) 44 (0.01%) 43 (0.02%) 37 (0.05%) 166 (0.02%)
Flourish Every Person Michael J. Dilger 12 (0.00%) 4 (0.00%) 29 (0.01%) 4 (0.00%) 6 (0.01%) 55 (0.01%)
N/A Write-ins 639 (0.23%) 149 (0.11%) 440 (0.13%) 304 (0.12%) 300 (0.40%) 1,792 (0.16%)
Total 272,459 (25.05%) 141,157 (12.98%) 340,330 (31.29%) 258,865 (23.80%) 74,899 (6.89%) 1,087,710 (100.00%)

Democratic primary election, Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Bill de Blasio, the city's elected Public Advocate, won 40.8% of the total Democratic primary vote and, by exceeding 40.0%, avoided an October 1 primary runoff with Bill Thompson, who won the second-highest number of primary votes, or 26.1%. (In 2009, Thompson had won the Democratic primary only to lose a close general election to Mayor Michael Bloomberg.) Christine Quinn, the Speaker of the New York City Council, came in third, with 15.7%, while none of the other candidates, including City Comptroller John Liu and former Congressman Anthony Weiner, won as much as 10%. De Blasio carried all five boroughs and Thompson came in second in every borough except Manhattan, where he finished third behind Quinn.

From the Board of Elections in the City of New York, September 27, 2013

2013 Democratic primary Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total %
Bill de Blasio 81,197 36,896 104,703 52,190 7,358 282,344  
40.9% 38.1% 46.4% 35.0% 34.3%   40.8%
Bill Thompson 42,720 31,617 61,471 38,162 6,871 180,841  
21.5% 32.7% 27.2% 25.6% 32.1% 26.1%
Christine C. Quinn 52,102 10,392 23,007 19,847 3,545 108,893  
26.3% 10.7% 10.2% 13.3% 16.5% 15.7%
John C. Liu 10,191 4,753 13,927 16,977 1,438 47,286  
5.1% 4.9% 6.2% 11.4% 6.7% 6.8%
Anthony D. Weiner 6,858 5,726 10,950 9,438 1,220 34,192  
3.5% 5.9% 4.8% 6.3% 5.7% 4.9%
Erick J. Salgado 2,296 3,855 5,793 3,735 235 15,914 2.3%
Randy Credico 1,588 2,301 2,351 5,129 161 11,530 1.7%
Sal F. Albanese 821 581 2,346 1,648 447 5,843 0.8%
Neil V. Grimaldi 634 640 1,108 2,157 138 4,677 0.7%
All write-ins 50 18 172 21 20 281 0.04%
T O T A L 198,458 96,780 225,829 149,305 21,434 691,801 100.0%
Borough percentage of city-wide Democratic vote 29% 14% 33% 22% 3% 100%  

Republican primary election, Tuesday, September 10, 2013

In the Republican primary, Joe Lhota, a former deputy mayor and former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority carried every borough but Staten Island, which was won by John Catsimatidis, a businessman, publisher and property developer. Catsimatidis, in losing, won nearly as large a percentage of his own party's vote (40.69%) as the Democratic winner, Bill de Blasio won of his (40.81%). The 61,111 valid votes cast in the Republican primary were less than one-eleventh of the 691,801 cast in the Democratic one held on the same day in the same polling places.

From the Board of Elections in the City of New York, September 27, 2013

2013 Republican primary Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total %
Joe Lhota 9,211 1,860 6,995 8,758 5,412 32,236 52.7%
70.5% 52.9% 47.6% 51.0% 42.8%
John Catsimatidis 3,139 1,281 6,723 6,945 6,776 24,864 40.7%
24.0% 36.4% 45.7% 40.5% 53.5%
George McDonald 683 369 940 1,456 451 3,899 6.4%
5.2% 10.5% 6.4% 8.5% 3.6%
All write-in votes 34 8 42 9 19 112 0.2%
T O T A L 13,067 3,518 14,700 17,168 12,658 61,111 100.0%
Borough percentage of city-wide Republican vote 21% 6% 24% 28% 21% 100%  

2009

The principal candidates were Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent running for the third time on the Republican and Independence Party lines, and New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson, running for the Democratic and Working Families Parties. Bloomberg had enjoyed pluralities of about 9% to 16% in most independent published pre-election polls and on Tuesday, November 3, he won his third term with 50.7% of votes over Thompson's 46%.

Other candidates included:

General election, Tuesday, November 3, 2009

2009 general election Party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total %
Bloomberg's margin over Mark Green (2001) – 22,777 – 21,683 – 28,182 + 46,904 + 61,227 + 35,489 + 2.4%
change in Bloomberg's margin of victory, 2001–2005 + 98,973 – 19,634 + 97,622 + 48,125 – 10,705 + 214,381 + 17.0%
Bloomberg's margin over Fernando Ferrer (2005) + 76,196 – 41,317 + 69,440 + 95,029 + 50,522 + 249,870 + 19.4%
change in Bloomberg's margin of victory, 2005–2009 – 35,010 + 6,268 – 91,392 – 59,742 – 19,397 – 199,273 – 15.0%
Bloomberg's margin over Bill Thompson (2009) + 41,186 – 35,049 – 21,952 + 35,287 + 31,125 + 50,597 + 4.4%
net change in Bloomberg's margin, 2001–2009 + 63,963 – 13,366 + 6,230 – 11,617 – 30,102 + 15,108 + 2.0%
Michael Bloomberg Republican 102,903 42,066 117,706 126,569 46,149 435,393 37.7%
35.9% 29.0% 34.6% 42.3% 55.4%
Independence/Jobs and Education 56,934 11,730 36,033 36,364 9,012 150,073 13.0%
19.9% 8.1% 10.6% 12.2% 10.8%
Total 159,837 53,796 153,739 162,933 55,161 585,466 50.7%
55.8% 37.0% 45.1% 54.5% 66.2%
Bill Thompson Democratic 110,975 86,899 163,230 122,935 22,956 506,995 43.9%
38.7% 59.8% 47.9% 41.1% 27.5%
Working Families 7,676 1,946 12,461 4,711 1,080 27,874 2.4%
2.7% 1.3% 3.7% 1.6% 1.3%
Total 118,651 88,845 175,691 127,646 24,036 534,869 46.3%
41.4% 61.2% 51.6% 42.7% 28.8%
Stephen Christopher Conservative 2,217 1,480 5,690 5,267 3,359 18,013 1.6%
0.8% 1.0% 1.7% 1.8% 4.0%
Billy Talen Green 3,083 434 3,338 1,680 367 8,902 0.8%
1.1% 0.3% 1.0% 0.6% 0.4%
Jimmy McMillan Rent Is Too High 823 217 764 404 124 2,332 0.2%
Francisca Villar Socialism and Liberation 674 253 577 420 72 1,996 0.2%
Joseph Dobrian Libertarian 556 104 413 388 155 1,616 0.1%
Dan Fein Socialist Workers 493 120 376 263 59 1,311 0.1%
Write-ins † 100 30 77 60 30 297 .03%
Total recorded votes 286,434 145,279 340,665 299,061 83,363 1,154,802 100.00%
unrecorded ballots 5,172 3,659 6,645 6,254 1,525 23,255  
Total ballots cast 291,606 148,938 347,310 305,315 84,888 1,178,057
The three candidates who received more than seven write-in votes each were C. Montgomery Burns (Homer Simpson's fictional boss), 27;
City Councilman Tony Avella (who lost the Democratic mayoral primary), 13; and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani (Republican), 11.
Source: Board of Elections in the City of New York , November 24, 2009

Democratic primary, Tuesday, September 15, 2009

From the Board of Elections in the City of New York, September 26, 2009

2009 Democratic primary Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total %
Bill Thompson 70,881 31,950 75,519 49,063 7,484 234,897 71.0%
73.7% 73.5% 73.9% 63.2% 67.0%
Tony Avella 18,213 7,754 17,945 22,903 2,959 69,774 21.1%
18.9% 17.8% 17.6% 29.5% 26.5%
Roland Rogers 6,975 3,751 8,612 5,553 700 25,591 7.7%
7.3% 8.6% 8.4% 7.2% 6.3%
all write-in votes 127 10 153 81 26 397 0.1%
0.1% 0.02% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2%
T O T A L 96,196 43,465 102,229 77,600 11,169 330,659  

Tony Avella represents a Queens district on the New York City Council. Out of the nearly 400 write-in votes, almost half or 184 (representing about one Democratic voter in 2,000) were some form or spelling of Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

2005

In 2005, Mayor Bloomberg won every borough but The Bronx (of which his Democratic opponent was the former Borough President) against a Democratic Party split by a divisive primary, in contrast to his first victory in 2001, when Bloomberg carried only Queens and Staten Island.

2005 Party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total %
change in Bloomberg's margin of victory, 2001–2005 + 98,973 – 19,634 + 97,622 + 48,125 – 10,705 + 214,381 + 17.0%
Bloomberg's margin over Mark Green (2001) – 22,777 – 21,683 – 28,182 + 46,904 + 61,227 + 35,489 + 2.4%
Bloomberg's margin over Ferrer (2005) + 76,196 – 41,317 + 69,440 + 95,029 + 50,522 + 249,870 + 19.4%
Michael Bloomberg Republican/Liberal 171,593 69,577 189,581 184,426 63,267 678,444 52.6%
52.6% 35.3% 52.7% 57.9% 71.5%
Independence 25,416 6,840 20,141 17,689 4,559 74,645 5.8%
7.8% 3.5% 5.6% 5.6% 5.2%
Total 197,010 76,417 209,723 202,116 67,827 753,089 58.4%
60.4% 38.8% 58.2% 63.5% 76.7%
Fernando Ferrer Democratic 120,813 117,734 140,282 107,086 17,304 503,219 39.0%
37.0% 59.8% 39.0% 33.6% 19.6%
Thomas V. Ognibene Conservative 1,729 1,185 3,573 5,645 2,498 14,630 1.1%
Anthony Gronowicz Green 3,195 466 3,112 1,285 239 8,297 0.6%
Jimmy McMillan Rent Is Too ... High 1,369 474 1,293 799 176 4,111 0.3%
Audrey Silk Libertarian 991 234 841 617 205 2,888 0.2%
Martin Koppel Socialist Workers 758 231 766 384 117 2,256 0.2%
Seth A Blum Education 322 131 382 264 77 1,176 0.1%
Write-ins 109 1 90 57 12 269 .02%
TOTAL 326,295 196,873 360,061 318,252 88,454 1,289,935

Source: Board of Elections in the City of New York http://www.vote.nyc.ny.us/results.html

2001

The 2001 mayoral election was held on Tuesday, November 6.

Republican incumbent Rudy Giuliani could not run again due to term limits. As Democrats outnumber Republicans by 5 to 1 in the city, it was widely believed that a Democrat would succeed him in City Hall. However, billionaire Michael Bloomberg, a lifelong Democrat, changed his party affiliation a few months before the election in order to avoid a crowded primary, and ran as a Republican. The Democratic primary was meant to be held on September 11 but was postponed due to the September 11 attacks; it was instead held on September 25. The primary opened the way to a bitter run-off between the Bronx-born Puerto Rican Fernando Ferrer, and Mark Green, a non-Hispanic who attacked Ferrer's close ties to Rev. Al Sharpton, leaving the party divided along racial lines.

Bloomberg spent $74 million on his election campaign, which was a record amount at the time for a non-presidential election (Bloomberg would break his own record in 2005). [1] Thanks also in part to active support from Giuliani, whose approval ratings shot up after the September 11 attacks, Bloomberg won a very close general election.

2001 general election Party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total %
Bloomberg's margin over Green – 22,777 – 21,683 – 28,182 + 46,904 + 61,227 + 35,489 + 2.4%
Michael Bloomberg Republican 162,096 72,551 174,053 196,241 80,725 685,666 46.3%
Independence 17,701 8,046 14,987 14,191 4,166 59,091 4.0%
Total 179,797 80,597 189,040 210,432 84,891 744,757 50.3%
46.1% 43.1% 45.7% 55.3% 77.1%
Mark Green Democratic 193,372 97,087 206,005 157,897 22,356 676,717 45.7%
Working Families 9,202 5,193 11,217 5,631 1,308 32,551 2.2%
Total 202,574 102,280 217,222 163,528 23,664 709,268 47.9%
52.0% 54.7% 52.5% 43.0% 21.5%
Alan G. Hevesi Liberal 2,684 847 2,124 1,886 486 8,027 0.5%
Better Schools 416 772 628 407 81 2,304 0.2%
Total 3,100 1,619 2,752 2,293 567 10,331 0.7%
Julia Willebrand Green 2,241 670 2,456 1,579 209 7,155 0.5%
Terrance M. Gray Conservative 507 642 844 1,219 365 3,577 0.2%
Thomas K. Leighton ... Reform 791 529 680 418 145 2,563 0.2%
Kenny Kramer Libertarian 368 296 338 306 100 1,408 0.1%
Bernhard H. Goetz Fusion 203 201 333 253 59 1,049 0.1%
Kenneth B. Golding American Dream 96 112 163 81 22 474 .03%
scattered votes 114 57 26 106 29 332 .02%
TOTAL RECORDED VOTE 389,791 187,003 413,854 380,215 110,051 1,480,914 (100.0%)
(unrecorded votes) 9,186 6,125 12,097 10,285 1,836 39,529
Total vote 398,977 193,128 425,951 390,500 111,887 1,520,443
Democratic Primary Runoff
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Mark Green 131,438 38,256 120,781 94,342 18,183 403,000
Fernando Ferrer 86,579 106,086 109,831 77,330 7,193 387,019
790,019
Democratic Primary
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Fernando Ferrer 60,839 86,571 77,516 49,441 5,084 279,451
Mark Green 83,856 26,125 77,805 49,692 5,704 243,182
Peter F. Vallone (Sr.) 25,296 18,268 51,210 48,576 11,842 155,192
Alan G. Hevesi 32,925 6,066 25,110 27,163 3,504 94,768
George N. Spitz 1,558 1,264 2,923 2,489 283 8,517
785,365
Republican Primary
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Michael Bloomberg 10,959 3,230 10,168 14,543 9,155 48,055
Herman Badillo 4,161 1,838 4,153 5,700 2,624 18,476
72,961


1997

1997 general election Party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total %
Rudy Giuliani Republican-Liberal 171,080 84,440 207,277 234,851 86,167 783,815 57.7%
50.9% 43.6% 53.3% 64.6% 78.6%
Ruth Messinger Democratic 149,009 104,787 165,699 115,175 14,665 549,335 40.5%
47.1% 54.8% 44.7% 33.7% 17.9%
All others 5,696 2,773 7,062 5,764 3,003 24,398 1.9%
1.7% 1.4% 1.9% 1.6% 2.9%
T O T A L
325,785 192,000 380,038 355,790 103,835 1,357,448 100%

Notes: Giuliani vote was 748,277 Republican and 35,538 Liberal. Other vote was Sal Albanese -Independence-14,316 1.1%; Peter Gaffney-Right to Life-5,304 0.5%; Olga Rodriguez-Socialist Workers-3,753 0.3%; Dominick Fusco-Fusion- 632; Scattered 293

  • In the Democratic Primary, Messinger defeated Rev. Al Sharpton, Sal Albanese and 2 others, avoiding a runoff election.

The vote was: Messenger-165,377 40.2%; Sharpton-131,848 32.0%; Albanese-86,485 21.0%; Eric Melendez-17,633 4.3%; Roland Rogers-10,086 2.5%

Past elections

1993

General election
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
change in Giuliani margin   + 21,433 + 8,256 + 27,786 + 16,428 + 26,517 + 100,447
Giuliani – Dinkins, 1989   – 97,600 – 72,471 – 39,071 + 94,670 + 67,392 – 47,080
Giuliani – Dinkins, 1993   – 76,167 64,215 – 11,285 + 111,098 + 93,909 + 53,367
Republican - Liberal Rudy Giuliani 166,357 98,780 258,058 291,625 115,416 930,236
Democratic David N. Dinkins 242,524 162,995 269,343 180,527 21,507 876,869
Conservative - Right to Life George J. Marlin 2462 2098 3995 5258 2113 15,926
1,827,465

Giuliani vote included 867,767 Republican and 62,469 Liberal. Marlin vote included 9,433 Conservative and 6,493 Right to Life. In addition, there were 2,229 votes for J. Brennan-Libertarian; 2,061 votes for M. Bockman - Socialist Workers and 117 Scattered votes.

Dinkins won Democratic Primary with 336,285 votes to 126,449 for Roy Innis and 35,492 for Eric Melendez

1989

General election
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Dinkins' lead over Giuliani   + 97,600 + 72,471 + 39,071 – 94,670 – 67,392 + 47,080
Democratic David N. Dinkins 255,286 172,271 276,903 190,096 22,988 917,544
Republican - Liberal - Independent Rudy Giuliani 157,686 99,800 237,832 284,766 90,380 870,464
Right to Life Henry Hewes 3,025 2,571 4,140 5,647 2,077 17,460
Conservative Ronald S. Lauder 1,701 1,139 2,328 3,062 1,041 9,271
Others 1,904 714 1,197 947 194 4,956
1,819,695

Giuliani vote was 815,387 Republican and 55,077 Liberal.

Other vote was 1,732 Lenora Fulani-New Alliance; 1,671-James Harris-Socialist Workers; 1,118 Warren Raum-Libertarian; 435 Mazelis-Workers League.

Democratic Primary
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
David N. Dinkins 151,113 101,274 170,440 113,952 11,122 547,901
Ed Koch 96,923 66,600 139,268 129,262 24,260 456,313
Harrison J. Goldin 6,889 4,951 9,619 5,857 1,493 28,809
Richard Ravitch 17,499 5,946 13,214 9,443 1,432 47,534

Giuliani won the Republican Primary, defeating Ron Lauder 77,150 (67.0%) to 37,960 (33.0%)

1985

General election
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Democratic - Independent Ed Koch 171,582 137,472 248,585 248,041 62,580 868,260
Liberal Carol Bellamy 41,190 14,092 29,256 25,098 3,835 113,471
Republican - Conservative Diane McGrath 17,491 12,358 25,738 36,032 10,049 101,668
others 29,397
1,112,796

The Koch vote include 862,226 Democratic and 6,034 Independent votes. The McGrath vote was 79,508 Republican and 22,160 Conservative. Other vote was: Yehuda Levin - Right to Life - 14,517; Lenora Fulani - New Alliance - 7,597;Jarvis Tyner - People Before Profits - 3,370; Andrea Gonzalez - Socialist Workers - 1,677; Gilbert DiLucia - Coalition - 1,135; Marjorie Stanberg - Spartacist - 1,101; Scattered - 9

Koch won the Democratic Primary: Koch-436,151 64.0%; Bellamy - 127,690 18.7%; Denny Farrell - 89,845 13.2%; DiLucia - 11, 627 1.7%; Fred Newman - 8,584 1.2%; Judah Rubenstein - 8,057 1.2%

1981

General election
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Democratic - Republican Ed Koch 189,631 132,421 261,292 275,812 53,466 912,622
Unity Frank J. Barbaro 56,702 22,074 48,812 31,225 3,906 162,719
Liberal Mary Codd 14,228 5,902 7,958 8,795 4,835 41,718
Conservative John Esposito 6,682 7,634 15,388 26,515 3,881 60,100
1,222,644

Koch had 738,288 Democratic votes and 174,334 Republican votes. Others = 45,485. Jeronimo Dominguez - Right to Life - 32,790 2.7%; Judith Jones - Libertarian - 6,902 0.6%; Wells Todd - Socialist Workers - 5,793 0.5% Koch won the Democratic Primary with 347,351 votes (59.8%), defeating Barbaro who had 209,369 votes (36.0%) and Melvin Klenetsky who had 24,352 votes (4.2%). Koch also won the Republican Primary, defeating Esposito by 44,724 to 22,354.

1977

In his 2005 book Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx Is Burning, historian Jonathan Mahler argues that the New York City blackout of 1977, with its accompanying rioting, enabled the law-and-order advocate Ed Koch to beat out his more left-wing opponents, including incumbent mayor Abe Beame, in the 1977 election.

General election
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Democratic Ed Koch 184,842 116,436 204,934 191,894 19,270 717,376
Liberal -
Neighborhood Government
Mario M. Cuomo 77,531 87,421 173,321 208,748 40,932 587,913
Republican Roy M. Goodman 19,321 6,102 11,491 18,460 3,229 58,606
Conservative Barry M. Farber 9,070 7,624 16,576 20,453 3,714 57,437
others   4,281 1,731 3,752 3,256 761 13,781
1,435,113

Other vote was: Kenneth F. Newcombe - Communist - 5,300; Catarino Garza - Socialist Workers - 3,294; Vito Battista - United Taxpayers Party - 2,119; Louis Wein - Independent - 1,127; William Lawry - Free Libertarian - 1,068; Elijah Boyd - Labor - 873. Cuomo's total vote included 522,942 Liberal and 64,971 Neighborhood Government.

1977 Democratic Primary Runoff
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Ed Koch 115,251 69,612 131,271 107,033 9,835 433,002
Mario M. Cuomo 61,570 55,355 112,587 105,522 19,799 354,833
'
1977 Democratic Primary
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Ed Koch 50,806 23,453 49,470 52,002 5,812 181,544
Mario M. Cuomo 25,331 23,028 54,845 56,698 10,430 170,332
Abraham D. Beame 23,758 25,747 63,304 44,607 7,337 164,753
Bella Abzug 56,045 20,435 37,236 33,883 4,314 151,913
Percy Sutton 35,012 24,801 42,903 28,525 1,399 132,640
Herman Badillo 27,193 35,007 28,909 9,051 876 101,036
'


Runoff-Koch-433,002 55.0%; Cuomo-354,833 45.0% Total vote 787,835 Manhattan-Koch-115,251 65.2%; Cuomo—61,570 34.8% Bronx-----Koch-69,612 55.7%; Cuomo—55,355 44.3% Brooklyn—Koch-131,271 53.8%; Cuomo—112,587 46.2% Queens----Koch-107,033 50.4%; Cuomo—105,522 49.6% Staten----Koch-9,835 33.1%; Cuomo—19,799 66.9%

Note that the eventual winner, Rep. Ed Koch, could not win a plurality in any of the Five Boroughs for the initial Democratic primary. Rep. Bella Abzug took Manhattan, Mayor Abe Beame Brooklyn, Rep. Herman Badillo the Bronx, and NY Sec. of State Mario Cuomo Queens & Staten Island. In the Democratic run-off with Cuomo, Koch took Queens and three other boroughs, leaving Cuomo with only Staten Island. In the general election, Cuomo kept Staten Island and won back Queens, but lost the other three boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn and The Bronx) to Koch.

In the Republican primary, Roy M. Goodman, a member of the New York State Senate, defeated Barry Farber, a radio commentator, by a vote of 41,131 to 31,078(57.0% to 43.0%). Farber, however, won the nomination of the Conservative Party of New York and won almost as many votes in the general election (57,437 or 4.0%) as Goodman did as the Republican nominee (58,606 or 4.1%).

1929 to 1973

Some figures and anecdotes courtesy James Trager's New York Chronology (HarperCollins: 2003). Other numbers are from The World Almanac and Book of Facts, then published by The New York World-Telegram (Scripps-Howard), for 1943 (page 412) and 1957 (page 299), and from The Encyclopedia of New York City (see Sources below).

Before 1975, the present Borough of Staten Island was formally known as The Borough of Richmond.

1973

1973 General Election party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
Abraham Beame Democratic - Civil Service & Fusion 159,531 161,156 322,141 283,145 37,569 963,542 56.5%
49.8% 57.3% 63.6% 56.7% 47.1%
John Marchi Republican -Integrity 44,200 37,287 73,328 90,860 28,377 274,052 16.1%
13.8% 13.3% 14.5% 18.2% 35.6%
Albert H. Blumenthal Liberal - Good Government 99,816 32,305 59,417 66,056 5,006 262,600 15.4%
31.2% 11.5% 11.7% 13.2% 6.3%
Mario Biaggi Conservative - Safe City 16,662 50,440 51,391 59,691 8,793 186,977 11.0%
5.2% 17.9% 10.2% 11.9% 11.0%
subtotal 320,209 281,188 506,277 499,752 79,745 1,687,171 98.9
others 18,463 1.1%
T O T A L
  1,705,634  

note: All the candidates except Marchi had run in the Democratic primary. Candidates votes on their second ballot lines included above were: Beame-Civil Service & Fusion -67,277; Marchi-Integrity - 14,271; Blumenthal - Good Government - 29, 335; Biaggi - Safe City - 8,010. Other vote includes 8,818 Fran Youngstein - Free Libertarian Party; 3,601 Rasheed Storey - Communist; 2,282 Norman Oliver - Socialist Workers; 2,000 Anton Chaiken -Labor; 1,762 John Emanuel - Socialist Labor

1973 Democratic initial primary Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
Abraham Beame 46,519 42,537 98,121 74,223 9,021 270,421 34%
26% 27% 41% 40% 42%
Herman Badillo 74,496 57,258 58,546 34,742 2,977 228,019 29%
41% 36% 25% 19% 14%
Albert H. Blumenthal 41,794 18,713 32,412 29,173 1,814 123,906 16%
23% 12% 14% 16% 8%
Mario Biaggi 18,218 39,893 48,952 45,949 7,775 160,787 21%
10% 25% 21% 25% 36%
[100%]
1973 Democratic run-off primary Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
Abraham Beame 78,760 96,590 200,945 153,377 17,844 54,616 60.8%
41% 53% 69% 73% 79%
Herman Badillo 113,738 85,827 91,628 56,933 4,796 352,912 39.2%
59% 47% 32% 27% 21%
T O T A L 192,598 182,417 292,573 210,310 22,640 900.538  

1969

Note: In one of the most unusual primary seasons since the conglomeration of greater New York, the incumbent Mayor (Lindsay) and a former incumbent (Robert F. Wagner, Jr.) both lost their parties' primaries. Procaccino won with less than 33% of the vote against four opponents, which inspired the use of runoffs in future primaries. In the general election, Lindsay carried Manhattan (the only borough he had carried in losing the Republican primary to Marchi, 107,000 to 113,000) as he did in 1965, but he was only 4,000 votes ahead of giving first place in Queens to Procaccino. Turnout dropped to 2.4 million from 2.6 million in 1965. (In the same election, Lindsay's 1965 opponent Abe Beame was easily returned to his old job of comptroller.)

1969 General Election party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
John V. Lindsay Liberal - Independent 328,564 161,953 256,046 249,330 16,740 1,012,633 42.4%
67.1% 40.1% 36.0% 36.3% 17.5%
Mario Procaccino Democratic - Civil Service Fusion 99,460 165,647 301,324 245,783 19,558 831,772 34.8%
20.3% 41.0% 42.4% 35.8% 20.5%
John Marchi Republican - Conservative 61,539 76,711 152,933 192,008 59,220 542,411 22.7%
12.6% 19.0% 21.5% 27.9% 62.0%
subtotal
489,563 404,311 710,303 687,121 95,518 2,386,816 99.8%
Rasheed Storey Communist 4,018 0.2%
T O T A L
2,390,834 100.0%
  • The Lindsay vote was 872,660 Liberal (36.5%) and 139,973 Independent (5.9%).
  • Procaccino's vote was 774,708 Democratic (32.4%) and 57,064 Civil Service Fusion (2.4%).
  • The Marchi vote was 329,506 Republican (13.8%) and 212,905 Conservative (8.9%).
  • By themselves, the straight Democratic and Republican lines added up to less than 50% of the mayoral vote (1,104,214 or 46.2%), but more than the total vote for Lindsay (1,012,633 or 42.4%).
  • Procaccino's general election votes on the Democratic line alone (774,708) were slightly fewer than the total votes received by all candidates in the Democratic primary (777,796).
  • Lindsay's general election votes on the Liberal line alone (872,660) exceeded Procaccino's total votes on all lines (831,772).
1969 Republican primary
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
[Lindsay minus Marchi] + 31,779 – 3,910 – 13,119 – 13,811 – 7,271 – 6,332
John V. Lindsay 44,236 12,222 20,575 26,658 3,675 107,366
John J. Marchi 12,457 16,132 33,694 40,649 10,946 113,698
221,064
1969 Democratic primary
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Mario Procaccino 26,804 50,465 87,650 79,002 11,628 255,529
percentage
16% 34% 36% 40% 52% 33%
Robert F. Wagner, Jr. 40,978 33,442 81,833 61,244 6,967 224,464
percentage
25% 23% 33% 31% 31% 29%
Herman Badillo 74,809 48,841 52,866 37,880 2,769 217,165
percentage
45% 33% 22% 19% 12% 28%
Norman Mailer 17,372 4,214 10,299 8,700 703 41,288
percentage
10% 3% 4% 4% 3% 5%
James H. Scheuer 7,117 10,788 11,942 8,994 509 39,350
percentage
4% 7% 5% 5% 2% 5%
777,796


1965

1965 General Election party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
John V. Lindsay Republican - Liberal - Independent Citizens 291,326 181,072 308,398 331,162 37,148 1,149,106 45.0%
55.8% 39.5% 40.0% 47.1% 45.8%
Abraham Beame Democratic - Civil Service Fusion 193,230 213,980 365,360 250,662 23,467 1,046,699 41.0%
37.0% 46.6% 47.4% 35.6% 28.9%
William F. Buckley, Jr. Conservative 37,694 63,858 97,679 121,544 20,451 341,226 13.4%
7.2% 13.9% 12.7% 17.3% 25.2%
subtotal
522,250 458,910 771,437 703,368 81,066 2,537,031 99.4%
others   17,168 0.6%
T O T A L
  2,554,199

Almost a quarter of Lindsay's vote (281,796) was on the Liberal Party line, while 63,590 of Beame's votes were on the Civil Service Fusion line. John Lindsay, a Republican Congressman from the "Silk-Stocking" District on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, carried Manhattan, Queens, and traditionally Republican Staten Island (Richmond), while Abe Beame, the city comptroller, carried The Bronx and his home borough of Brooklyn, both of which he had also won in the Democratic primary. However, while Beame had also carried Queens in the primary, he lost it to Lindsay in the general election. (Five years later, Bill Buckley's brother James L. Buckley would win the 1970 New York state election for U.S. Senator on the Conservative Party line against divided opposition.) The Other vote was 11,104- Vito Battista - United Taxpayer Party; 3,977- Clifton DeBerry - Socialist Workers; 2,087 - Eric Haas - Socialist Labor

1965 Democratic primary
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Abraham D. Beame 53,386 66,064 128,146 82,601 6,148 336,345
Paul R. Screvane 66,444 54,260 79,485 63,680 7,512 271,381
William F. Ryan 48,744 16,632 24,588 22,570 1,204 113,738
Paul O'Dwyer 6,771 5,976 8,332 6,895 697 28,675
750,139


1961

Mayor Wagner broke with the regular Democratic organization which had supported him in 1953 and 1957, defeating their candidate, Arthur Levitt, in the Democratic primary 61% to 39%. At the same time, after running successfully with Lawrence Gerosa for Comptroller in the previous two elections, Wagner chose to run instead with Abraham Beame in 1961. Gerosa ran against Wagner for mayor as the "real Democrat" on a pro-taxpayer platform. 211,000 of Wagner's 1,237,000 votes came on the Liberal Party line, and 55,000 on the purpose-built Brotherhood line.

1961 General Election party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Democratic - Liberal - Brotherhood 265,015 255,528 396,539 290,194 30,145 1,237,421 51.03%
55.6% 55.8% 52.7% 45.8% 41.0%
Louis Lefkowitz Republican - Nonpartisan - Civic Action 174,471 134,964 251,258 243,836 31,162 835,691 34.46%
36.6% 29.5% 33.4% 38.5% 42.3%
Lawrence E. Gerosa Independent - Citizens' Party 36,893 67,213 105,232 99,987 12,279 321,604 13.26%
7.7% 14.7% 14.0% 15.8% 16.7%
subtotal 476,379 457,705 753,029 634,017 73,586 2,394,716 98.75%
others   30,269 1.25%
T O T A L   2,424,985  

Other vote was: Vito Battista - United Taxpayers Party - 19,960; Richard Garza - Socialist Workers - 7,037; Eric Haas - Socialist Labor - 3,272

1961 Democratic primary Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
Robert F. Wagner, Jr. 122,607 78,626 136,440 102,845 15,498 456,016 60.9%
65% 62% 57% 62% 60%
Arthur Levitt 66,917 47,885 103,296 64,157 10,471 292,726 39.1%
35% 38% 43% 38% 40%
subtotal (for Wagner and Levitt only) 189,524 126,511 239,736 167,002 25,969 748,742 [100%]

1957

1957 party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Democratic - Liberal - Fusion 316,203 316,299 495,078 341,212 40,983 1,509,775 69.2%
73.8% 76.6% 75.1% 64.1% 64.7%
Robert Christenberry Republican 112,173 96,726 163,427 191,061 22,381 585,768 26.9%
26.2% 23.4% 24.9% 35.9% 35.3%
Vito Battista United Taxpayers]] 7,976 11,417 28,921 17,757 1,205 67,266 3.1%
T O T A L
  2,179,878

The Wagner-Christenberry campaign has left us one of the great campaign anecdotes: Christenberry was railing against Wagner's police department for not doing enough to fight corruption and vice, so the cops raided Christenberry's illegal casino in the basement of the hotel he was manager of. Other vote was:

1953

1953 party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Democratic 236,960 206,771 339,970 207,918 31,007 1,022,626 46.3%
47.9% 46.2% 46.6% 40.6% 51.8%
Harold Riegelman Republican 147,876 97,224 183,968 208,829 23,694 661,591 30.0%
29.9% 21.7% 25.2% 40.8% 39.6%
Rudolph Halley Liberal 76,884 112,825 162,275 73,192 3,514 428,690 19.4%
Independent 7,648 9,853 13,264 7,356 295 38,416 1.7%
Total 84,532 122,678 175,539 80,548 3,809 467,106 21.1%
17.1% 27.4% 24.1% 15.7% 6.4%
Clifford T. McAvoy American Labor Party 14,904 13,290 17,337 7,182 332 53,045 2.4%

Total vote was 2,207,516 Other vote was David L. Weiss-Socialist Workers-2,054 (0.1%);Nathan Karp-Industrial Government-916; Scattered-180. "Industrial Government" is a ballot title sometimes used, to avoid confusion or to meet election laws, by the Socialist Labor Party. The Liberal Party of New York won over five times as many votes as the American Labor Party in Manhattan, and eight-to-ten times as many in the other boroughs. The ALP lost its ballot status after the 1954 Governor's race, and voted to dissolve itself in 1956.

1950

1950 party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
Vincent Impellitteri Experience 246,608 215,913 357,322 303,448 37,884 1,161,175 44.2%
40.4% 41.3% 40.5% 55.5% 60.0%
Ferdinand Pecora Democratic 166,240 157,537 271,670 104,734 11,177 711,358 27.1%
Liberal 48,370 59,717 90,576 24,489 841 223,993 8.5%
Total 214,610 217,254 362,246 129,223 12,018 935,351 35.6%
35.1% 41.6% 41.0% 23.6% 19.0%
Edward Corsi Republican 102,575 54,796 113,392 99,225 12,384 382,372 14.6%
16.8% 10.5% 12.8% 18.1% 19.6%
Paul Ross American Labor Party 47,201 34,575 49,999 14,904 899 147,578 5.6%
T O T A L 610,994 522,538 882,959 546,800 63,185 2,626,476

Vincent Impellitteri, the mayor who succeeded mid-term after William O'Dwyer resigned on August 31, 1950, swept Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island in this special election, while Ferdinand Pecora (aided by the Liberal Party) took very narrow leads in The Bronx and Brooklyn. In this election, the Liberals heavily outpolled the American Labor Party in every borough but Manhattan and Staten Island, where the two parties' votes were almost equal.

1949

1949 party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
William O'Dwyer Democratic 278,343 254,014 425,225 270,062 38,868 1,266,512 48.9%
44.8% 48.7% 48.8% 53.4% 64.5%
Newbold Morris Republican - Liberal - Fusion 219,430 185,248 332,433 200,552 18,406 956,069 36.9%
35.3% 35.5% 38.2% 39.7% 30.6%
Vito Marcantonio American Labor 123,128 82,386 113,478 34,677 2,957 356,626 13.8%
19.8% 15.8% 13.0% 6.9% 4.9%
subtotal
620,901 521,648 871,136 505,291 60,231 2,579,207 99.6%
others   12,477 0.4%
T O T A L
  2,591,684

Other vote was: Eric Haas - Industrial Government - 7,857; Joseph G. Glass - Socialist - 3,396; Michael Bartell - Socialist Workers - 1,224

1945

1945 party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
William O'Dwyer Democratic -
American Labor
253,371 227,818 386,335 228,275 29,558 1,125,357 55.3%
55.8% 55.3% 56.8% 61.5% 66.3%
Jonah J. Goldstein Republican - Liberal -
Fusion
100,591 95,582 161,119 65,240 9,069 431,601 21.2%
22.2% 23.2% 23.6% 17.6% 21.8%
Newbold Morris No Deal 100,064 88,404 136,262 77,687 5,931 408,348 20.6%
22.0% 21.5% 19.9% 20.9% 13.3%
subtotal
454,026 411,804 683,716 371,202 44,558 1,965,306 99.1%
others   17,055 0.9%
T O T A L
  1,982,361

O'Dwyer received 867,426 Democratic votes and 257,929 on the American Labor Party line. The Goldstein vote was 301,144 Republican, 122,316 Liberal and 8,141 City Fusion. The No Deal Party (according to Chris McNickle in The Encyclopedia of New York City) was founded by the retiring maverick Republican Mayor Fiorello La Guardia to draw Republican votes towards Newbold Morris and away from the official Republican Party with whom La Guardia was having a dispute. The No Deal Party dissolved soon after the 1945 election. Newbold Morris was a Republican, while Jonah Goldstein was a Democrat until nomination day. Other vote was: Joseph G. Glass - Socialist - 9,304; Farrell Dobbs - Trotskyist Anti-War - 3,656; Eric Hass - Socialist Labor - 3,465; Max Shactman - Workers - 585; Scattered - 45.

1941

As in 1937, more voters in every borough voted on the Democratic line than on any other single line; but this time (unlike 1937) the Democrat carried Queens and Staten Island over La Guardia, shrinking the Mayor's overall citywide percentage lead from 20% to 6%. As in 1937, La Guardia's overall margin of victory depended on the American Labor Party, which again won more votes than the Republicans in The Bronx. While the total vote and Republican vote were almost identical in 1937 and 1941, the ALP line lost 47,000 votes (2.4%), almost entirely from Manhattan (-18,000) and Brooklyn (-26,000), as the vote on La Guardia's other lines (Fusion, Progressive and United City) dropped from 187,000 (8.3%) to 86,000 (3.7%). The Democratic Party gained about 160,000 votes lost by La Guardia (and about 7½% of the total). In both Queens and Richmond (Staten Island), the swing was even greater: La Guardia lost over 15% of the total vote (and the Democrats gained over 15%) from 1937, as his lead there flipped from roughly 56%-44% to 39%-60%.

1941 party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
change in La Guardia's margin of victory, 1937-1941 – 21,481 – 31,205 –116,061 –133,684 – 19,160 – 321,591 – 14.5%
La Guardia's margin over Jeremiah Mahoney (1937) + 91,989 +105,517 +207,869 + 40,966 + 7,533 + 453,874 + 20.3%
La Guardia's margin over O'Dwyer (1941) + 70,508 + 74,312 + 91,808 – 92,718 – 11,627 + 132,283 + 5.8%
Fiorello H. La Guardia Republican 188,851 103,420 242,537 116,359 17,318 668,485 29.5%
35.6% 22.9% 30.5% 27.1% 30.7%
American Labor Party 81,642 135,900 174,601 39,693 3,538 435,374 19.2%
15.4% 30.1% 21.9% 9.3% 6.3%
City Fusion 21,642 14,719 17,024 8,759 1,223 63,367 2.8%
United City 6,090 5,568 5,694 1,770 170 19,292 0.9%
Total 298,225 259,607 439,856 166,581 22,249 1,186,518 52.4%
56.2% 57.6% 55.2% 38.8% 39.4%
William O'Dwyer Democratic 227,717 185,295 348,048 259,299 33,876 1,054,235 46.6%
42.9% 41.1% 43.7% 60.5% 60.1%
George W. Hartmann Socialist 4,790 6,005 8,574 2,973 274 22,616 1.0%
T O T A L 530,732 450,907 796,478 428,853 56,399 2,263,369

1937

1937 party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
La Guardia's margin over Mahoney + 91,989 +105,517 + 207,869 + 40,966 + 7,533 + 453,874 + 20.3%
Fiorello H. La Guardia Republican 181,518 96,468 228,313 144,433 23,879 674,611 30.2%
32.1% 22.0% 29.2% 37.3% 38.4%
American Labor Party 99,735 138,756 200,783 40,153 3,363 482,790 21.6%
17.6% 31.6% 25.7% 10.4% 5.4%
Fusion 39,959 30,677 55,423 26,217 7,280 159,556 7.1%
7.1% 7.0% 7.1% 6.8% 11.7%
Progressive 7,783 6,421 9,997 3,136 336 27,673 1.2%
Total
328,995 272,322 494,516 213,939 34,858 1,344,630 60.2%
58.1% 62.0% 63.3% 55.3% 56.1%
Jeremiah T. Mahoney Democratic 233,120 163,856 282,137 171,002 27,100 877,215 39.2%
41.2% 37.3% 36.1% 44.2% 43.6%
Trades Union 2,044 1,378 2,490 1,014 122 7,048 0.3%
Anti-Communist 1,842 1,571 2,020 957 103 6,493 0.3%
Total
237,006 166,805 286,647 172,973 27,325 890,756 39.8%
41.9% 38.0% 36.7% 44.7% 43.9%
T O T A L
566,001 439,127 781,163 386,912 62,183 2,235,386

Note that the leading line in every borough, and in the City as a whole, is the Democratic line for Judge Mahoney. Running on the Republican line alone (as he did when losing the election of 1929), Mayor La Guardia would have lost every borough, but he carried all five when the American Labor Party line was added. The ALP line did better than the Republican line in The Bronx, although worse than the Democratic one. There were also 2,307 votes for Emil Teichert on the Industrial Government line.

1933

1933 party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
Fiorello H. La Guardia Republican - Fusion 203,479 151,669 331,920 154,369 27,085 868,522 40.4%
38.4% 38.8% 44.4% 39.3% 43.7%
Joseph V. McKee Recovery 123,707 131,280 194,558 141,296 18,212 609,053 28.3%
23.3% 33.6% 26.0% 36.0% 29.4%
John P. O'Brien Democratic 192,649 93,403 194,335 90,501 15,784 586,672 27.3%
36.3% 23.9% 26.0% 23.0% 25.4%
Charles Solomon Socialist 10,525 14,758 26,941 6,669 953 59,846 3.0%
Robert Minor Communist 5,143 8,674 10,802 1,248 177 26,044 1.3%
T O T A L 536,100 400,297 759,399 394,393 62,316 2,152,505

While opposed by Tammany Hall, McKee enjoyed the support of Democratic President (and former Governor) Franklin D. Roosevelt, who declared neutrality when his ally Mayor La Guardia was running for reelection in #1937. (See Ed Flynn's comments about FDR's 1936 contribution to starting the American Labor Party in the #References below.) According to Michael Tomasky, La Guardia, who had lost the #1921 Republican Mayoral primary to Manhattan Borough President Henry Curran, did not enjoy the support of a united Republican Party when he won the party's nomination and lost the general election in #1929, but was able to win over Republican organizational support in 1933. The 1933 LaGuardia vote was 446,833 Republican and 421,689 City Fusion. There were also 1,778 votes for Henry Klein-Five Cent Fare & Taxpayers; 472 for Aaron Orange - Socialist Labor; and 118 for Adolph Silver - Independent Union.

Collapse of the Socialist Party vote

In 1933, a year that might otherwise have favored the Socialist Party's chances, the New Deal began, Morris Hillquit died, Norman Thomas refused to run again for mayor, and the Socialist vote (previously as high as one-eighth to one-fifth of the total) collapsed irretrievably from a quarter of a million to sixty thousand (one-thirtieth of the total). Many supporters of Thomas's 1929 campaign defected (some, like Paul Blanshard, also leaving the Party) to support Fiorello La Guardia. By the time of the next mayoral election in 1937, which the Socialist Party decided by internal referendum not to contest, many reformers and trade-unionists who wanted to support major-party progressives like La Guardia (R-ALP-Fusion), Gov. Herbert Lehman (D-ALP) and Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt (D-ALP) from outside the two-party structure backed the American Labor Party (ALP), the Social Democratic Federation and later the Liberal Party of New York. After a disastrous gubernatorial campaign in 1938 (where Thomas and George Hartmann won only 25,000 votes out of over 4.7 million), the Socialist Party lost its separate line on the New York ballot, allowed its members to join the ALP, and indeed encouraged them to do so. In 1939, the Socialist Harry W. Laidler, a co-founder of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society and League for Industrial Democracy, was elected (with the help of proportional representation) to the New York City Council on the ALP's ticket, but lost its renomination two years later because of rivalry with the Communists.

  • [Although not apparent from the table below, the Communist Party's vote for other municipal offices, such as City Council and President of the Board of Aldermen, was increasing at the same time that the Socialist Party's was declining below the Communists'. But in 1936, when the foundation of the ALP coincided with world Communism's shift from independent action towards the Popular Front, New York City Communists redirected much of their own energy towards supporting the ALP.]
The Rise and Fall of the Socialist Vote for Mayor of the City of New York
year Social-Democratic Party & Socialist Party of America votes % Socialist Labor Party votes % other left, labor & reform votes %
1897 Lucien Sanial † 14,467 2.8% Henry George, Jefferson Dem. 21,693 4.1%
1901 Ben Hanford [SDP] 9,834 1.7% Benjamin F. Keinard 6,213 1.1%
1903 Charles Forman [SDP] 16,956 2.9% James Hunter 5,205 0.9%
1905 Algernon Lee 11,817 2.0% John Kinneally 2,276 0.4% W.R. Hearst, Muni. Own'ship 224,989 37.2%
1909 Joseph Cassidy 11,768 2.0% James Hunter 1,256 0.2% Wm R. Hearst, Civic Alliance 154,187 25.9%
1913 Charles Edward Russell 32,057 5.1% William Walters 1,647 0.3%
1917 Morris Hillquit 145,332 21.7% Edmund Seidel 858 0.1% George Wallace, Single Tax 258 0.04%
1921 Jacob Panken 82,607 7.1% John P. Quinn 1,049 0.1% Jerome De Hunt, Farmer-Lab. 1,008 0.1%
1925 Norman Thomas 39,574 3.5% Joseph Brandon 1,643 0.1% Warren Fisher, Progressive 1,498 0.1%
1929 Norman Thomas 175,697 12.0% Olive M. Johnson 6,401 0.4% Richard Enright, Square Deal 5,965 0.4%
1932 Morris Hillquit 251,656 12.6% Olive M. Johnson 11,379 0.5% Wm. Patterson, Communist 24,014 1.2%
1933 Charles Solomon 59,846 3.0% Robert Minor, Communist 26,044 1.3%
1937 [no candidate] Emil Teichert 2,367 0.1% F.H. La Guardia, ALP line only 482,790 21.6%
1941 George W. Hartmann 22,616 1.0% F.H. La Guardia, ALP line only 435,374 19.2%

[Click on the year for fuller details. ALP = American Labor Party (see commentary above). Socialist Labor Party candidates and votes not retrievable for every year from the sources used for this article. Readers are encouraged to supply any missing details.]

In 1894 and in 1897, Lucien Sanial was the mayoral candidate of the Socialist Labor Party before both the SLP and the Social Democratic Party each split in two. In 1901, one faction of the SLP, led by Morris Hillquit, and one faction of the SDP, led by Eugene V. Debs, united to form the Socialist Party of America, which soon drew away many votes formerly cast for the SLP. For further details, see Hillquit's History of Socialism in the United States (1910) and Howard Quint's Forging of American Socialism (1964), both cited in the #References at the end of this article.

1932

Totals after a court-ordered recount:

Year Candidate Party Total percent
1932 (after recount) John P. O'Brien Democratic
1,054,324
(53.0%)
Lewis H. Pounds Republican
443,020
(22.3%)
Morris Hillquit Socialist
251,656
(12.6%)
Joseph V. McKee Independent/Write-in
241,899
(12.2%)

Joseph V. McKee, as the (popularly elected) President of the Board of Aldermen, became Acting Mayor upon the resignation of elected Mayor Jimmy Walker on September 1, 1932. McKee's write-in total is, in fact, the highest any New York City election would ever see. For the election after the next one, voting machines which would make write-in voting much more difficult were introduced. Machines of this basic design are still being used.

Lewis Humphrey Pounds was President of the Borough of Brooklyn from June 1913 to December 1917.

This was the last of many campaigns for different offices by Morris Hillquit, a co-founder of the Socialist Party of America, who died in 1933. Hillquit had won over 21% of the vote for mayor in 1917.

  • Borough returns before the recount (which did not significantly affect the outcome):
1932 (before recount) party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
John P. O'Brien Democratic 308,944 181,639 358,945 176,070 30,517 1,056,115 53.2%
60.0% 50.2% 50.1% 47.6% 54.1%
Lewis H. Pounds Republican 116,729 48,366 157,152 105,068 16,586 443,901 22.0%
22.7% 13.4% 21.9% 28.4% 29.4%
Morris Hillquit Socialist 40,011 68,980 113,622 24,981 2,293 249,887 12.4%
7.8% 19.1% 15.8% 6.8% 4.1%
Joseph V. McKee Independent (write-in) 42,299 50,212 73,431 61,648 6,782 234,372 11.6%
8.2% 13.9% 10.2% 16.7% 12.0%
T O T A L 514,661 361,612 716,963 370,018 56,414 2,019,668

|} There were also 24,014 votes 1.2% for William Patterson - Communist and 11,379 0.5% for Olive Johnson - Socialist Labor

1929

1929 party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
Jimmy Walker Democratic 232,370 159,948 283,432 166,188 25,584 867,522 60.7%
63.8% 62.9% 57.7% 61.7% 60.7%
Fiorello H. La Guardia Republican 91,944 52,646 132,095 75,911 15,079 367,675 25.7%
25.3% 20.7% 26.9% 28.2% 34.0%
Norman Thomas Socialist 37,316 39,181 71,145 24,897 3,248 175,697 12.3%
10.3% 15.4% 14.5% 9.2% 7.3%
Olive M. Johnson Socialist Labor 1,238 1,577 2,585 906 95 6,401 0.4%
Richard Edward Enright Square Deal 1,121 845 2,361 1,354 284 5,965 0.4%
subtotal
363,989 254,197 491,618 269,256 44,290 1,423,260 99.6%
others   6,125 0.4%
T O T A L
  1,429,385

There were also 5,805 votes for William Weinstone - Communist and 320 votes for Lawrence Tracy - Commonwealth Land. The great stock market crash hit Wall Street on October 24–29, 1929, less than two weeks before Election Day. Richard Edward Enright was New York City Police Commissioner from 1918 to 1925.

1897 to 1925

¶ Basic numbers for the elections of 1897 to 1925 come from The World Almanac and Book of Facts for 1929 and 1943. Percentages and borough totals calculated independently. (Because of some anomalies, not all columns and rows add precisely.) First names and informational links gathered from Wikipedia and several external sources, including the free public archive of The New York Times.

1925

Mayor Hylan, an ally of the newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, was unseated in a venomous Democratic primary by "Gentleman" Jimmy Walker, the Democratic party leader in the New York State Senate, who had been recruited to oppose Hylan by Hearst's inveterate enemy, Democratic Governor Al Smith. After the death of Tammany Hall leader Charles F. Murphy in 1924, the regular Democratic organizations also split their allegiances, with Hylan receiving support from John McCooey, the leader in Brooklyn, and Walker from Ed Flynn of the Bronx. (Hearst had run for mayor on third-party tickets in 1909 and 1913, while Al Smith had lost a bid for the Democratic nomination for mayor in 1917, instead winning the presidency of the New York City Council as Hylan's running-mate.)

1925 General Election party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
Jimmy Walker Democratic 247,079 131,226 244,029 103,629 22,724 748,687 65.8%
69.4% 71.8% 60.9% 63.0% 67.3%
Frank D. Waterman Republican 98,617 39,615 139,060 58,478 10,794 346,564 30.5%
27.7% 21.7% 34.7% 35.6% 32.0%
Norman Thomas Socialist 9,482 11,133 16,809 1,943 207 39,574 3.5%
Joseph Brandon Socialist Labor 388 488 591 155 21 1,643 0.1%
Warren Fisher Progressive 387 262 528 284 37 1,498 0.1%
TOTAL 355,953 182,724 401,017 164,489 33,783 1,137,966
1925 Democratic primary Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
Jimmy Walker 102,835 45,308 65,671 28,203 6,321 248,338 62%
79% 68% 52% 47% 34%
John Francis Hylan 27,802 21,228 60,814 32,163 12,197 154,204 38%
21% 32% 48% 53% 66%
subtotal (for Walker and Hylan only) 130,637 66,536 126,485 60,366 18,518 402,542 [100%]

1921

1921 party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
John Francis Hylan Democratic 261,452 118,235 260,143 87,676 22,741 750,247 64.2%
62.9% 67.6% 62.1% 69.0% 70.8%
Henry H. Curran Republican - Coalition 124,253 34,919 128,259 36,415 9,000 332,846 28.5%
29.9% 20.0% 30.6% 28.6% 28.0%
Jacob Panken Socialist 28,756 21,255 29,580 2,741 275 82,607 7.1%
6.9% 12.2% 7.1% 2.2% 0.9%
Jerome T. De Hunt Farmer Labor 321 133 395 88 71 1,008 0.1%
John P. Quinn Socialist Labor 316 244 346 123 20 1,049 0.1%
George K. Hinds Prohibition 375 120 390 111 14 1,010 0.1%
TOTAL 415,473 174,906 419,113 127,154 32,121 1,168,767

Henry Curran was the borough president of Manhattan and heavily defeated Fiorello H. La Guardia, president of the board of aldermen, in the Republican primary election for mayor.

1917

1917 party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
John Francis Hylan Democratic 113,728 41,546 114,487 35,399 8,850 314,010 46.6%
46.4% 42.9% 46.5% 51.7% 58.2%
John Purroy Mitchel Fusion 66,748 19,247 52,921 13,641 2,940 155,497 23.1%
27.3% 19.9% 21.5% 19.9% 19.4%
Morris Hillquit Socialist 51,176 30,374 48,880 13,477 1,425 145,332 21.6%
20.9% 31.4% 19.9% 19.7% 9.4%
William M. Bennett Republican 13,230 5,576 29,748 5,916 1,968 56,438 8.4%
5.4% 5.8% 12.1% 8.6% 13.0%
Subtotal 244,882 96,743 246,036 68,433 15,183 671,277 99.7%
David Leigh Colvin Prohibition   897 0.1%
Edmund Seidel Socialist Labor   858 0.1%
George Wallace Single Tax   268 0.04%
T O T A L   673,300 100.0%

Notes: The Single Tax on land values was the proposal and platform of Henry George, who ran for mayor in 1897 and 1886. D. Leigh Colvin later contested the U.S. presidential election of 1936 for the Prohibition Party.

The Fall 1917 election would have been exciting even had it occurred in peacetime. In September, the City held its first-ever primary elections for mayor. The sitting independent Democratic Mayor, John P. Mitchel, who had enjoyed Republican support under Fusion in 1913, narrowly lost the Republican primary to William Bennett, after mistakes and frauds led to a series of recounts. When negotiations between the parties failed, Mitchel ran alone as a Fusion candidate against Bennett, the Socialist Morris Hillquit and John F. Hylan, the regular Democrat supported by Tammany Hall and William Randolph Hearst.

However, the elections happened after the United States had declared war on April 6. Hillquit and the Socialist Party quickly and vigorously opposed the war, which Mitchel vigorously supported. Hillquit's anti-war position helped the Socialists win their highest-ever vote for mayor, but also led to vitriolic denunciations by many, including The New York Times and former President Theodore Roosevelt. Mitchel and Hillquit each won less than quarter of the vote, while Hylan, who had been non-committal about the war, won the election with less than half the vote. However, as in 1897, the numbers suggest that Tammany Hall might have won even against a unified opposition.

1897 to 1913

The Bronx and Manhattan, although separate Boroughs since 1898, shared New York County and reported their votes together until Bronx County was formed in April 1912 and came into its separate existence on January 1, 1914.

[ The World Almanac does not list separate returns for the two boroughs until 1917, but The Encyclopedia of New York City (see Sources) gives these major candidates' results for 1913:

  • Manhattan: McCall 103,429 - Mitchel 131,280, and The Bronx: McCall 25,684 - Mitchel 46,944. ]
1913 party The Bronx and Manhattan Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
John Purroy Mitchel Fusion 178,224 137,074 34,279 8,604 358,181 57.1%
54.7% 60.2% 59.6% 54.4%
Edward E. McCall Democratic 129,113 77,826 20,097 6,883 233,919 37.3%
39.6% 34.2% 35.0% 43.3%
Charles Edward Russell Socialist 17,383 11,560 2,865 249 32,057 5.1%
William Walters Socialist Labor 952 538 129 28 1,647 0.3%
Norman Raymond Prohibition 412 587 118 96 1,213 0.2%
TOTAL 326,084 227,585 57,488 15,860 627,017

Mayor William Jay Gaynor, who had survived being shot in the throat by a disappointed office-seeker in 1910, died at sea from the indirect effects of his injury on September 10, 1913. He was succeeded for the rest of 1913 by Ardolph Loges Kline, the acting president of the board of aldermen.

1909 party The Bronx and Manhattan Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
William Jay Gaynor Democratic 134,075 91,666 17,570 7,067 250,378 42.1%
42.5% 41.9% 38.4% 47.1%
William Randolph Hearst Civic Alliance 87,155 49,040 15,186 2,806 154,187 25.9%
27.6% 22.4% 33.2% 18.7%
Otto T. Bannard Republican - Fusion 86,497 73,860 11,907 5,049 177,313 29.8%
27.4% 33.8% 26.0% 33.6%
Joseph Cassidy Socialist 6,811 3,874 1,004 79 11,768 2.0%
James T. Hunter Socialist Labor 813 369 56 18 1,256 0.2%
TOTAL 315,351 218,809 45,723 15,019 594,902
1905 party The Bronx and Manhattan Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
George B. McClellan, Jr. Democratic 140,264 68,788 13,228 6,127 228,407 37.8%
41.6% 31.4% 37.6% 44.1%
William Randolph Hearst Municipal Ownership League 123,292 84,835 13,766 3,096 224,989 37.2%
36.6% 38.8% 39.2% 22.3%
William M. Ivins, Sr. Republican 64,280 61,192 7,213 4,499 137,184 22.7%
19.1% 28.0% 20.5% 32.4%
Algernon Lee Socialist 7,466 3,387 847 117 11,817 2.0%
John Kinneally Socialist Labor 1,485 657 95 39 2,276 0.4%
TOTAL 336,787 218,859 35,149 13,878 604,673
1903 party The Bronx and Manhattan Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
George B. McClellan, Jr. Democratic 188,681 102,569 17,074 6,458 314,782 53.4%
56.1% 48.8% 56.5% 48.1%
Seth Low Fusion 132,178 101,251 11,960 6,697 252,086 42.7%
39.3% 48.2% 39.6% 49.9%
Charles Forman Social Democratic 11,318 4,529 976 133 16,956 2.9%
James T. Hunter Socialist Labor 3,540 1,411 178 76 5,205 0.9%
John McKee Prohibition 376 396 47 50 869 0.1%
TOTAL 336,093 210,156 30,235 13,414 589,898
1901 party The Bronx and Manhattan Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
Edward M. Shepard Democratic 156,631 88,858 13,679 6,009 265,177 45.8%
47.4% 42.7% 49.4% 46.1%
Seth Low Fusion 162,298 114,625 13,118 6,772 296,813 51.2%
49.1% 55.0% 47.4% 51.9%
Benjamin Hanford Social Democratic 6,409 2,692 613 120 9,834 1.7%
Benjamin F. Keinard Socialist Labor 4,323 1,638 181 71 6,213 1.1%
Alfred L. Manierre Prohibition 617 501 74 72 1,264 0.2%
TOTAL 330,278 208,314 27,665 13,044 579,301
1897 party The Bronx and Manhattan Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
Robert A. Van Wyck Democratic 143,666 76,185 9,275 4,871 233,997 44.7%
48.0% 40.1% 40.7% 43.5%
Seth Low Citizens' Union 77,210 65,656 5,876 2,798 151,540 28.9%
25.8% 34.6% 25.8% 25.0%
Benjamin F. Tracy Republican 55,834 37,611 5,639 2,779 101,863 19.5%
18.6% 19.8% 24.7% 24.8%
Henry George Jefferson Democracy 13,076 6,938 1,096 583 21,693 4.1%
Lucien Sanial Socialist Labor 9,796 3,593 921 157 14,467 2.8%
TOTAL 299,582 189,983 22,807 11,188 523,560

The election of 1897 was held just before the Five Boroughs formally consolidated into Greater New York in 1898, so it was the present city's first mayoral election. For preliminary results for all the municipal offices, broken down into smaller districts, see "Democrats Take All - The Tammany Ticket Makes Almost a Clean Sweep of the Greater City - Only Two Republicans in the Council..." in The New-York Times, November 4, 1897 (seen April 11, 2008).

Henry George, author of Progress and Poverty and proponent of the Single Tax on land, died (probably from the strain of campaign speeches) on October 29, four days before Election Day; his son was nominated to take his place representing "The Democracy of Thomas Jefferson". [In 1886, George had been the United Labor Party's candidate for Mayor of the smaller City of New York, now the Borough of Manhattan, winning 68,110 votes to 90,552 for the Democrat Abram Hewitt and 60,435 for the Republican Theodore Roosevelt, although George's supporters maintained that he had lost the election through fraud.]

For Lucien Sanial, see the table notes under [[ It appears from the percentages to be an open question whether the Republican Party's decision in 1897 not to support Seth Low's Fusion campaign caused his defeat by splitting the vote against Tammany Hall. Republicans withdrew in Low's favor in 1901 (when he won) and in 1903 (when he lost).

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