On November 7th, New York City voted to determine the next mayor. With Bill de Blasio having served his maximum of two terms, New Yorkers voted to determine who would lead the nation’s largest city for the next four years. While many candidates ran, there were only two nominees: Democrat Eric Adams, and Republican Curtis Sliwa. The election resulted in Adams defeating Sliwa by a large margin. 

Adams will be the city’s 110th mayor, in addition to its second ever black mayor. Adams was one of the more moderate Democrats running; for instance, he supported a vaccine mandate for all public school students, but he has said that he is also open to a remote alternative for learning. He noted that the reopening process “must be done with the science,”so we don’t go back to closing our city down. He also supports “trimming the fat” off of the current NYPD budget, and has a “measured approach” to policing. 

Notably, Adams was a former police captain. Adams wants to reduce fossil fuel burning, and has a detailed plan on how to address climate change and its effects on the city. He supports closing the Rikers Island prison, and wants the statue of Thomas Jefferson to be removed from City Hall.

Despite the large buildup to what was expected to be a very competitive election, Eric Adams easily won the election, receiving 66.1% of the vote, while Curtis Sliwa won 28.7% of the vote. Every borough apart from Staten Island overwhelmingly voted in favor of Adams. Adams won 79.8% of the vote in Manhattan, 70.4% in Brooklyn, and 75.8% in the Bronx. Queens was the only borough with a close election margin, with Adams receiving 58.7% of the vote in the borough, and Sliwa receiving 36.7%. Staten Island voted 68.3% in favor of Sliwa.

With 100% of the vote counted, only a little over a million people voted in the election. This means that only 20% of the 5.6 million eligible voters voted in the election.

iSchoolers did not seem to not be too happy with Adams’s victory. In a survey,  87.5% of students supported Eric Adams in the election, but many thought of him as the “lesser of two evils.” 

One said that, “Though I wouldn’t have voted for Eric Adams against other candidates, Adams may take less funding out of the programs this city needs than Silwa may.” 

Another iSchooler said “I don’t want a Republican mayor, but I am not happy that [Mr. Adams] will be our new mayor.” 

It seems like a large portion of the city also felt this way. New York City is one of the most progessive cities in America, so it would make sense that some of its residents felt uneasy about a moderate mayor. The question is, will New Yorkers embrace his moderate policies, or will he become as hated as Bill de Blasio?