THE ‘WIN’ IS AT HIS BACK
No-name rivals are no match for Blas
Mayor de Blasio cruised to an easy victory in the Democratic primary on Tuesday, trouncing little-known former City Council member Sal Albanese and other long-shot hopefuls in a race that was never competitive.
De Blasio, who garnered 74.6 percent of the votes with 99 percent of precincts reporting, was declared the winner less than 20 minutes after polls closed. Albanese trailed far behind, with 15.2 percent in the five-way race.
Hizzoner will now face off against GOP mayoral nominee Nicole Malliotakis on Nov. 7.
“This city has been great over generations because it was a city for everyone. It was never meant to be a city just for the real-estate developers or just for the landlords or just for the titans of Wall Street. It was meant to be for everyone,” de Blasio told a crowd of about 200 supporters and staffers at Roulette Intermedium, an event space in Downtown Brooklyn.
“We’ve begun the change, but more change is needed. And together, we will make sure that it will come.”
The mayor touted a tax on the wealthy to help fix the subway system, and a tax on home sales valued above $2 million to create more affordable senior housing.
Both are first-term proposals that landed with a thud among Albany lawmakers, who would have to pass legislation to enact them.
Speaking before a few dozen supporters at Prospect Bar and Grill in Park Slope, Albanese conceded shortly after 9:30 p.m. — but said he planned to continue his quest for mayor on the Reform Party line.
“I think in the general election there is a broader base of support, a broader electorate that you can deal with it, and our fund-raising will pick up,” he said.
“We are going to move forward and try to energize New Yorkers who don’t want another term of Bill de Blasio. I think I am the real alternative.”
In other citywide races, Public Advocate Letitia James easily defeated David Eisenbach, 77 percent to 23 percent, with 99 percent of precincts reporting.
With the economy up and city crime continuing its steady decline, no established contenders were willing to risk losing their current seats to challenge the incumbent mayor.
The mayor campaigned on what he called his big accomplishments, including the expansion of universal pre-K.
“You need someone who’ll help out parents like myself,” said Marcos Perez, 54, a retired military veteran who voted at PS 58 in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.
Perez cited the quick snowstorm cleanups in the neighborhood and the mayor’s work on pre-K as reasons for his support.
Others acknowledged holding their noses while they filled in the bubble for Hizzoner.
Jean Powers, 57, of Tribeca, said she went with de Blasio because he seemed “more animal-friendly” than his primary opponents, although she was disappointed he failed to keep his 2013 campaign promise of booting horse-drawn carriages from Central Park.
“I didn’t want to [vote for him], but I did,” she said outside PS 234 in Manhattan.
“I’m not happy with the way the city is,” she added. “There’s a lot more homeless down here. I’ve given more food to homeless people in the past year than in the past 20 years.” Additional reporting by Rich Calder