New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio defeated his rivals in the Democratic primary to succeed Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday, Real Clear Politics reported. Joe Lhota, his soon-to-be Republican challenger, easily defeated in the other primary. The general New York City mayoral election is scheduled for November 5.
De Blasio was a former political operative who ran Hillary Clinton's 2000 New York Senate campaign. With 97 percent of precincts reporting on Tuesday night, de Blasio had about 40.2 percent of the total vote. He needed to stay above 40 percent in order to avoid triggering an automatic October. 1 run-off against former City Comptroller Bill Thompson, who had 26 percent news reports said.
Throughout the campaign, DeBlasio made a point to emphasize that he has a mixed-race family. His son Dante even appeared in one of his TV ads, expressing that his father would end the controversial 'stop and frisk' police tactic
"Class warfare and racist," Bloomberg said last week of DeBlasio's campaign. "I mean he's making an appeal using his family to gain support. I think it's pretty obvious to anyone watching what he's doing."
De Blasio also campaigned on the refrain that New York has become a "tale of two cities," regarding the economic disparity between rich and poor.
Joe Lhota, who former Mayor Rudy Giuliani has endorsed, said, "I'm so honored the primary voters have chosen me to be on the ballot this November. This is the first step toward continuing a strong future for our city."
Lhota topped Catsimatidis 52.7 percent to 40.6 percent with 97 percent of precincts reporting.
The general New York mayoral election is on November 5.
