Adams is victor in NYC mayoral race

Former police captain faces challenge of leading city’s recovery

Democrat Eric Adams has been elected New York City mayor, defeating Republican Curtis Sliwa on Tuesday in a contest far easier than his next task: steering a damaged city through its recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Adams, a former New York City police captain, will become the second Black mayor of the nation’s most populous city. David Dinkins, who served from 1990 to 1993, was the first.

Adams’ victory seemed all but assured after he emerged as the winner from a crowded Democratic primary this summer in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans 7 to 1.

Sliwa, who founded the Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol four decades ago, ran a campaign punctuated by his penchant for stunts and his Guardian Angels beret.

Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, dismissed Sliwa as a clown and painted him as untrustworthy for having admitted he made up claims years ago about being kidnapped and of other exploits from the Guardian Angels’ patrols.

Sliwa portrayed Adams as an out-of-touch elitist who needed to spend more time in the streets with regular New Yorkers.

Adams, 61, will take office Jan. 1 in a city where more than 34,500 people have been killed by COVID-19, and where the economy is still beset by challenges related to the pandemic. The tourism industry hasn’t come back yet. Office buildings remain partly empty, with people still working from home. Schools are trying to get children back on track.

He will also be faced with choices about whether to continue, or expand, vaccine mandates put in place by Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was limited by law to two terms.

As a candidate, Adams referenced his working-class roots and being raised with five siblings by a single mother who cleaned houses. He brought a photo of his late mother with him Tuesday as he voted in Brooklyn. He teared up as he described his life as a classic New York story, rising from a poor upbringing to becoming the leader of the city.