2001 New York City mayoral election

2001 New York City mayoral election

November 6, 2001

Nominee Michael Bloomberg Mark Green Party Republican Democratic Alliance Independence Working Families Popular vote 744,757 709,268 Percentage 50.3% 47.9%

Borough results Bloomberg:      50–60%      70–80% Green:      50–60%

Mayor before election Rudy Giuliani Republican Elected Mayor Michael Bloomberg Republican

The New York City mayoral election of 2001 was held on November 6, 2001.

Incumbent Republican mayor Rudy Giuliani could not run again due to term limits. As Democrats outnumbered Republicans by a five-to-one margin in the city, it was widely believed that a Democrat would succeed him in City Hall. Businessman Michael Bloomberg, a lifelong Democrat, changed his party affiliation, and ran as a Republican. Mark Green narrowly defeated Fernando Ferrer in the Democratic primary, surviving a negative contest that divided the party and consumed the vast majority of the Green campaign's financial resources.

After a campaign that was largely overshadowed by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Bloomberg won the general election with 50.3% of the vote, to Green's 47.9%. Although Democrats flipped the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn from the previous election.

Background

The primaries originally began on September 11. However, the September 11 attacks caused the primary to be postponed until September 25 (votes cast on September 11 were not counted), and the run-off occurred on October 11.

Republican primary

Candidates

• Michael Bloomberg, billionaire businessman
• Herman Badillo, former Democratic U.S. Representative from The Bronx (1971–1977)

Results

2001 Republican mayoral primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Michael Bloomberg	48,055	72.3%
	Republican	Herman Badillo	18,476	27.7%
Total votes			66,531	100.00%

By borough

Republican primary, September 25, 2001
		Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
	Michael Bloomberg	10,959	3,230	10,168	14,543	9,155	48,055 72.3%
	Herman Badillo	4,161	1,838	4,153	5,700	2,624	18,476 27.7%
							66,531

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Fernando Ferrer, Borough President of The Bronx
• Mark Green, New York City Public Advocate
• Alan Hevesi, New York City Comptroller
• George Spitz
• Peter Vallone, Sr., New York City Council Speaker and Councilman

Declined

• Al Sharpton, Baptist minister, activist, and founder of National Action Network

Campaign

Late in the primary, Green was roundly criticized for the actions of supporters that were construed as racist, involving literature with New York Post caricatures of Ferrer and Al Sharpton distributed in white enclaves of Brooklyn and Staten Island. Green stated that he had nothing to do with the dissemination of the literature. An investigation by the Brooklyn District Attorney came to the conclusion that "Mark Green had no knowledge of these events, and that when he learned of them, he repeatedly denounced the distribution of this literature and sought to find out who had engaged in it". Nevertheless, the incident is thought to have diminished minority turnout in the general election, and helped the Republican candidate win in an overwhelmingly Democratic city. (Village Voice columnist Peter Noel wrote that "Mark Green ... may have replaced [Giuliani] as the most hated white man in the African American community", an ironic twist for someone who had been so popular in that community for so long.)

Green made a controversial decision during the primary run-off to support Giuliani's unprecedented attempt to extend his own mayoral term, in the name of the emergency of 9/11. Ferrer opposed Giuliani's ultimately unsuccessful attempt at term self-extension, and was able to accuse Green of being rolled over by Giuliani.

Results

Results by borough
     Green 20–30%
     Green 30–40%
     Green 40–50%
     Ferrer 60–70%
     Vallone 40–50%

Democratic primary, September 25, 2001
		Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
	Fernando Ferrer	60,839	86,571	77,516	49,441	5,084	279,451 35.5%
	Mark Green	83,856	26,125	77,805	49,692	5,704	243,182 30.9%
	Peter Vallone, Sr.	25,296	18,268	51,210	48,576	11,842	155,192 19.7%
	Alan Hevesi	32,925	6,066	25,110	27,163	3,504	94,768 12.0%
	George N. Spitz	1,558	1,264	2,923	2,489	283	8,517 1.8%
							785,365

Green clearly led among Manhattan's Democrats, Ferrer among The Bronx's, and Vallone among Staten Island's. Ferrer and Green were evenly matched in Brooklyn, while all three candidates were essentially tied in Queens.

Run-off

Democratic primary run-off, October 11, 2001
		Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
	Mark Green	131,438	38,256	120,781	94,342	18,183	403,000 51.1%
	Fernando Ferrer	86,579	106,086	109,831	77,330	7,193	387,019 48.9%
							790,019

General election

Candidates

• Michael Bloomberg (Republican)
• Bernie Goetz (Fusion)
• Kenneth B. Golding (American Dream)
• Mark Green (Democratic, Working Families)
• Terrance M. Gray (Conservative)
• Alan Hevesi (Liberal)
• Thomas K. Leighton (Marijuana Reform)
• Kenny Kramer (Libertarian)
• Julia Willebrand (Green)

Campaign

Rudy Giuliani, who was riding high approval ratings following the 9/11 attacks, publicly endorsed Bloomberg.

Unlike his cash-poor Democratic rival, who had just emerged from an expensive primary and expected to rely on traditionally reliable free media coverage that never materialized, Bloomberg continued to spend $74 million on TV ads and direct mail in the weeks after the attacks, which was a record amount at the time for a non-presidential election (Bloomberg would break his own record in 2005). The Economist wrote: "The billionaire businessman [Bloomberg] is usually seen as one of the post-September 11th winners (if such a word can be so used): He would probably have lost the mayoralty to Mark Green, a leftish Democrat, had the terrorist strike not happened. Yet, it is also worth noting that his election probably spared New York City a turbulent period of score-settling over Rudy Giuliani's legacy."

Green posed on the steps of City Hall with Hasidic Jewish leaders, and issued a statement, saying that "leaders from the Satmar congregations of New York City, the largest of the three major Hasidic groups in the city with some 100,000 followers" supported his mayoral campaign. But many of the Satmars at that photo op led an upstate Satmar community ineligible to vote in New York City, and were also "at odds with the Satmar establishment" based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, whose leaders were in Europe at the time and unaware that Green had claimed their endorsements.

The election was also notable for two non-politician semi-celebrities running on third-party tickets: Bernhard Goetz, who had achieved fame in 1984 as the "subway vigilante" for shooting four young men who tried to rob him, on the Fusion Party ticket; and Kenny Kramer, who was the inspiration for the character Cosmo Kramer on the TV show Seinfeld, on the Libertarian Party ticket.

Results

Bloomberg secured victory in a close election, with 744,757 votes. Although he lost in three of the five boroughs, he was able to collect enough votes in Staten Island and Queens to prevail. Under New York's electoral fusion rules, candidates were allowed to run representing multiple parties.

General election
		Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
Republican- Independence	Michael Bloomberg	179,797	80,597	189,040	210,432	84,891	744,757
Democratic-Working Families	Mark Green	202,574	102,280	217,222	163,528	23,664	709,268
Liberal-Better Schools	Alan Hevesi	2,684	847	2,124	1,886	486	10,331
Green	Julia Willebrand	2,241	670	2,456	1,579	209	7,155
Conservative	Terrance M. Gray	507	642	844	1,219	365	3,577
Marijuana Reform Party	Thomas K. Leighton	791	529	680	418	145	2,563
Libertarian	Kenny Kramer	368	296	338	306	100	1,408
Fusion	Bernhard H. Goetz	203	201	333	253	59	1,049
American Dream	Kenneth B. Golding	96	112	163	81	22	474
							1,480,582