New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio handily won the Democratic primary on Tuesday, beating his main rival Sal Albanese.
De Blasio will now go on to the Nov. 7 general election where he will face Republican challenger Nicole Malliotakis, a member of the New York State Assembly representing parts of Brooklyn and Staten Island. Bo Dietl, a former NYPD detective, is running as an independent.
According to unofficial results from the NYC Board of Elections with 98% of the vote counted, De Blasio had 74.2% of the vote compared to 15.2% for Albanese. Three other candidates received a total of 10.6%. Albanese is a former city councilman from Brooklyn.
De Blasio, who is favored to win in November, spoke to his supporters in Brooklyn late Tuesday evening about his vision for the future.
“I do not accept the status quo in this town,” he said. “We’ve got more to do … I’ve seen the ways we still need to build a fairer city and I’m not going to stop until we build that fairer city for every New Yorker.”
Albanese, who will be on the ballot for mayor in the general election on the Reform party line, conceded defeat and blamed his loss on the influence of big money in the campaign.
"I think the lesson of tonight's campaign is, once again, that money matters," Albanese said Tuesday night in Brooklyn. “We have to amend our corrupt political system because when you’re up against a mountain of special interest money, it’s very difficult to compete.”
Only about 14% of registered party voters came to the polls on Tuesday, according to Politico.
Malliotakis on Tuesday night cited de Blasio’s policies as one reason for lackluster turnout.
“There was not a lot of turnout in the Democratic primary," Malliotakis said in Manhattan on Tuesday night. "I think the bottom line is that not many people within the Democratic party are excited to be voting for Bill de Blasio."
Many Democrats were satisfied with the result of Tuesday vote.
“Looking at my checklist as a Democrat, I see the mayor has done well,” said state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx. “Crime is down and we have more after-school programs and pre-K. I think he’s gone down the checklist for me.”
In the 2013 Democratic mayoral primary, de Blasio got 40.9% of the vote. Former City Comptroller Bill Thompson took 26.1% while for former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn got 15.7%. Other candidates garnered 17.3% of the votes cast.
In the 2013 general election for mayor, de Blasio received 73.3% of the vote compared to his main challenger, Republican Joe Lhota, who got 24.3%; third party candidates garnered 2.4%.
Thompson is currently a partner and equity owner of Siebert Cisneros Shank & Co. while Quinn is now president and CEO of the non-profit organization Women in Need. Lhota was recently appointed head of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
City comptroller Scott Stringer didn’t have a primary challenge on Tuesday and will face Republican Michel Faulkner in the November general election.
Paul Burton contributed to this report.
