It came as no surprise to most New Yorkers when Eric Adams, the former captain of the NYPD was elected as the second black mayor. The elections resulted in a landslide for the Democrats, who had easily outnumbered the Republicans by a margin of about 7 to 1.
Adams currently serves as the borough president of Brooklyn, and has also served as a state senator, and will take on after Bill de Blasio. De Blasio’s second term as mayor was less than pleasant- with the state suffering from a pandemic, unemployment rates, increasing prices of houses, income inequality at its peak, and a broken system of transportation.
Eric Adams Elected As NYC Mayor
Amidst such a crisis, the 61-year-old Eric Adams gave himself the tag of the ‘blue-collar mayor’- which gained him brownie points from the homeowning voters throughout the five boroughs. The Democrat clarified that combating gun violence as well as the improvement of public safety was his main focus for the campaign- which he also established through cutting the budget of the NYPD.
He further stated that they could aim towards shifting several jobs to civilians which were previously done by cops- something that could save up to $500 million each year.
The last weeks of the electoral race between Eric Adams and GOP Candidate Curtis Sliwa were mired with mud-slinging and name-calling. Adams went on to call Sliwa a ‘racist’ on multiple fronts, along with considering Sliwa as a replica of Donald Trump. Sliwa, on the other hand, called Adams an elitist, and a replica of Bill de Blasio.
Along with Eric Adams being the second black mayor of NYC, Michelle Wu ended up being the first woman and person of color to be elected as City Councilor of Boston city. In the campaign, she went on to defeat Annissa Essaibi George, a first-generated Arab-Polish American.