NYC mayoral primary: Adams leading, Yang concedes

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• New York City’s residents will have to wait a few more weeks before the winner of the mayoral primary is proclaimed.
• Andrew Yang, one of the candidates, has already conceded about two hours after the polls closed.
• Former police captain Eric Adams leads in early returns with former city sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia and former de Blasio administration lawyer Maya Wiley not far behind.

New York City’s mayoral primary on Tuesday used ranked-choice voting that may delay the proclamation of a winner until mid-July.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams has taken an early lead in the race to replace Mayor Bill de Blasio. If elected, he could be the city’s second Black mayor.

The former police captain was in a tight race with former de Blasio administration lawyer Maya Wiley and former city sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia. If either woman wins, she will make history as New York City’s first female mayor.

“This has been an amazing journey,” Adams told reporters after casting his vote in Brooklyn. “A little boy, laying on the floor of the 103rd Precinct, assaulted by cops, now could become the mayor to be in charge of that same police department,” he emotionally added.

Early returns show Andrew Yang was far behind, prompting him to concede about two hours after polls closed. The former presidential candidate vowed to work with the next mayor.

With the city’s new ranked-choice voting system and a mountain of absentee ballots still at least a week away from being counted, the winner could be declared mid-July.

Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa beat businessman Fernando Mateo in the Republican primary. Since there were only two candidates, ranked-choice voting wasn’t a factor.

By referendum in 2019, the ranked choice voting was approved for use in New York City primaries and special elections. The system allows voters to rank up to five candidates on their ballot.

According to an AP report, “vote tabulation is done in computerized rounds, with the person in the last place getting eliminated each round, and ballots cast for that person getting redistributed to the surviving candidates based on voter rankings.” This goes on until only two candidates are left standing with the candidate with the most votes wins.

Other contenders in the Democratic primary included City Comptroller Scott Stringer, former Citigroup executive Ray McGuire, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, and nonprofit executive Dianne Morales.

Democratic Mayor Bill De Blasio leaves office at the end of the year due to term limits.

Source: AOL