Scandals be damned, Blas wins
Mayor de Blasio cruised to reelection Tuesday, and now New Yorkers are stuck with him for another four years.
The mayor collected about 66 percent of the vote compared with 28 for his main challenger, Republican Nicole Malliotakis, with 96.6 percent of election precincts reporting.
“We have a lot to be proud of, but we can’t stop now,” de Blasio said in a victory speech at the Brooklyn Museum.
“You saw some important changes in the last four years. But you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
The mayor said he would push for a millionaire’s tax to help fix the city’s beleaguered subway system — and took a shot at President Trump for good measure.
“Tonight, New York City sends a message to the White House,” the mayor said. “Our message is this: You can’t take on New York values and win, Mr. President.”
Although he glided to victory, the mayor needed to weather a corruption scandal that has loomed over City Hall for months.
In March, prosecutors decided to end an investigation into the mayor’s fund-raising practices without filing charges — while leveling harsh criticism of his end-run around election laws.
More recently, the administration was rocked by courtroom testimony from admitted pay-toplay crook Jona Rechnitz, who claimed that six-figure campaign donations got him direct access to the mayor.
Never behind in the polls and facing underfunded challengers, de Blasio skated in without addressing major problems simmering since he took office in 2014.
With homelessness at near-record levels and the subways crumbling amid his escalating feud with Gov. Cuomo, the mayor has his work cut out for him in his second term.
Despite pledging “more transparency in government” during his 2013 campaign, de Blasio was sued by The Post and NY1 to cough up e-mail exchanges with political advisers who he claimed were “agents of the city.”
The mayor has since refused to release records of his phone calls with Rechnitz.
“This whole agents-of-the-city debacle was a huge embarrassment,” said John Kaehny of the good-government NYC Transparency Working Group.
Tuesday’s voter turnout was around the record low set in 2013, when 24 percent of registered voters went to the polls.
Malliotakis, a Staten Island/Brooklyn Assembly member, gave her concession speech at the William Vale Hotel in Williamsburg.
“I entered this race with eyes wide open knowing the odds were stacked against,” she admitted after her defeat. “But from the very beginning, this race was never about me. It was about all of you.”
Malliotakis said she called the mayor to congratulate him — but she could not get through on the phone.