The 61-year-old will become the second black mayor of New York and succeed the rather unpopular Bill de Blasio, who was not allowed to run after two terms in office.
According to consensus forecasts, Democrat Eric Adams will become the 110th mayor of the US metropolis New York City. The 61-year-old former district mayor of Brooklyn prevailed in the vote in the city of eight million on Tuesday against his Republican opponent Curtis Sliwa, as reported by the AP news agency and the CNN broadcaster. Initially unofficial figures from the electoral body saw Adams ahead with about 67 to 27 percent.
From January he will be the second black mayor of New York and successor to the rather unpopular Bill de Blasio, who was not allowed to stand again after two terms in office. In his victory speech, Adams conjured up the cohesion among the New Yorkers, who had recently suffered: “We’re so divided right now, and we’re losing the beauty of our diversity,” he said. It is not important whether you come from neighborhoods in Manhattan, Queens or Brooklyn or where you go to pray. “Today we take off the jersey of our neighborhoods and we put on a jersey: Team New York!”
Victory of a moderate candidate
Adams was seen as a moderate candidate who wants to hold the highest office with a course between left and centrist forces. In addition to the economic recovery from the corona pandemic – which killed more than 30,000 New Yorkers – one of Adam’s most difficult tasks is dealing with the police properly. In the election campaign, he had promised a balance between his rather friendly position towards the often criticized emergency services and justice, especially for black people in view of structural racism.
A former police officer himself, Adams, unlike some New Yorkers, opposes cutting the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) massive $6 billion budget. He sees the fight against crime as one of his most important tasks. In addition to security, the future mayor also promised measures against overpriced housing, investments in schools and 480 kilometers of new bicycle lanes during the election campaign.
The new New York mayor says he grew up as one of six children in a poor family in Brooklyn and Queens and experienced police violence at a young age. However, he then became a police officer himself and tried to change the often racist structures of the NYPD from within. He later moved to the capital, Albany, as a New York State Senator, eventually becoming Brooklyn’s borough mayor. Adams has been vegan since being diagnosed with diabetes.
Also chief public prosecutor is elected
New York City is also politically more important than other cities in the USA, as it is considered a yardstick for progressive politics. In the liberal stronghold, Adam’s victory over Sliwa was almost a formality.
In addition to the office of mayor, the influential district attorney of Manhattan was newly elected on Tuesday in New York: According to the AP, Alvin Bragg will be the first black person to assume the position. New members of the city council and a number of possible constitutional amendments were also voted on – including one for a right to clean air, clean water and a healthy environment. There were initially no results there.
(APA/dpa)
–
