Ex-cop Eric Adams claims New York mayoral primary win

To be fair, the race is not completely over yet. Adams himself has claimed the victory and news agencies such as the Associated Press also see him as the winner. With 403,000 votes, he won 50.5 percent of the vote, 1 percent ahead of rival candidate Kathryn Garcia. Adams will then face Republican nominee, radio host Curtis Sliwa.

But Adams’ lead in the Democratic race is big. Sliwa seems to have no chance in advance: New Yorkers usually vote for a Democrat. The fact that Sliwa is relatively unknown makes a Republican victory even more unlikely. Current Mayor Bill de Blasio, also a Democrat, was banned from running the election after two terms.

“While there are still a few votes to be counted, the results are clear,” said Adams, current Brooklyn borough president. “A historic, diverse coalition of five boroughs led by workers helped us to victory.”

Safety

Adams left quite a few candidates behind, including Garcia and civil rights attorney Maya Wiley. The latter could count on the support of the prominent Democrat and New Yorker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but still lost to Adams. Adams says he wants to make New York fairer, affordable and – above all – safer.

He also emphasizes his 22 years of experience with the New York police. Adams is not blind to criticism of the police, he says he himself had to deal with police brutality in his youth. But he is against the draconian reforms – ‘defund the police’ – that part of his party is advocating.

“The Black Lives Matter movement should not be just about police brutality,” Adams said in May, after three people were gunned down in Times Square. “It should be just as much about the violence that divides our communities.”

Adams refers to the increasing gun violence in New York. The city had 1,500 shootings last year, more than double the previous year. Governor Andrew Cuomo even declared a state of emergency on Tuesday. He is allocating $76 million to create jobs for young people from risk groups.

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