***UPDATE***
Bill Thompson has conceded and dropped out of the primary race, making Bill deBlasio the Democtatic Nominee for Mayor of New York City. deBlasio and Lhota will face off on November 5th in the General Election.
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Bill Thompson has conceded the Democratic primary and dropped out of the New York City Mayor's race.
"It would be a disservice to my supporters, a disservice to Democrats and, most of all, a disservice to the people of New York City who are desperate for a new direction," Thompson said in explaining why he was ending his campaign.
Even though he was dropping out of the race, Thompson called on the Board of Elections to count all the votes cast during the primary.
"If this were a general election with consequences about the fundamental direction of our city, you can bet I'd fight until the very last vote," he said, calling for reform to the election process.
He is also endorsed Bill de Blasio as the Democratic nominee at the event, which is believed to have been organized by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
"The best way to return fairness and decency, justice and dignity, hope and equality to every neighborhood in New York is to return a progressive to City Hall," Thompson said.
The change of heart comes as Thompson's advisors saw some of the results of this weekend's recanvassing of voting machines.
Meanwhile, the counting of paper ballots almost a week after residents headed to the polls to vote in the primary has begun and will continue.
The Board of Elections spent the weekend double checking the counts on 5,059 voting machines. Now, they turn to 78,000 paper ballots, making up 11 percent of the vote.
Primary winner Bill de Blasio is currently slightly about the 40 percent mark that he needed to avoid a runoff with Thompson, who garnered 26 percent of the vote.
Last nights election results turned out quite interesting. Overall last night debunked the notion that "not every vote counts," and further proved why it is crucuial that we all remain engaged in the electoral process.
Here are the results:
Race for New York City Mayor
| Party | Candidate | # of Votes | Percentage of Vote |
| Republican | Lhota | 29,908 | 52.60% |
| Republican | Catsimatidis | 23,064 | 40.60% |
| Republican | McDonald | 3,845 | 6.80% |
| Party | Candidate | # of Votes | Percentage of Vote |
| Democrat | de Blasio | 257,034 |
40.20%
|
| Democrat | Thompson | 166,516 | 26% |
| Democrat | Quinn | 99,226 | 15.50% |
| Democrat | Liu | 44,837 | 7% |
| Democrat | Weiner | 31,389 | 4.90% |
| Democrat | Salgado | 15,084 | 2.40% |
| Democrat | Credico | 13,564 | 2.10% |
| Democrat | Grimaldi | 5,928 | 0.90% |
| Democrat | Albanese | 5,895 | 0.90% |
Remember, 40% is required to secure the nomination. As you can see deBlasio clearly has over 40% with 97.6 % of the polls reporting. However, just as he did in 2009, when he clearly lost to Bloomberg, Thompson is refusing to concede. These are the things that boil my blood about the Democratic Party. Refusing to concede pushes this race out an additional three weeks to October 1st, should a run-off election be necesary. This only gives the winner one month to focus their efforts against Lhota. Lhota is actually a strong candidate who will have a Bloomberg esque war chest. Also, Thompson (in my opinion) cannot beat Lhota. His campaign is not strong enough.
I heard an excellent analysis last evening of New York City voters. Essentially, there are many Democrats who voted for Bloomberg and didn't have a problem with him, because he had a mixture of policy that offended everyone. So those folks were okay. However, they are tired and do want to see change. They need to be enticed by an energized candidate. de Blasio offers this. Thompson doesn't.
Thompson may cost us all the change we so desperatly need, if he doesn't concede and let deBlasio move forward.
Feel free to drop your thoughts....
 |
| L-R; Anthony Weiner, Sal Albanese, John Liu, Christine Quinn, Bill Thompson, Erick Salgado, Bill deBlasio |
Primary Day in New York City
Today is primary day in New York City! Voters will head
to the polls to decide who will represent the parties, in the general election
on November 5th. With several seats up for grabs including City Council,
Comptroller, Borough President, Public Advocate, District Attorney, and Mayor,
today we will focus on the mayoral race.
Seeking the Democratic Nomination for Mayor of New York
City, are nine candidates. In order for one candidate to prevail and march
forward to the general election, with no distractions, they must secure at
least 40% of the popular vote. Should he or she fail to secure that 40%, an
automatic run-off election is triggered, staging the top two candidates against
each other. Should no candidate reach the 40% mark this evening, the run-off is
scheduled to take place on October 1st.
Listed on the ballot for the Democratic Party in the
Mayoral Race are Christine Quinn, Bill deBlasio, Billy Thompson , John Liu,
Anthony Weiner, Sal Albanese, Randy Credico, Neil Grimaldi, and Erick Salgado.
There are a lot of issues that the next mayor of New York
City must address. However, I've selected my top three - Economy, Ending Stop
& Frisk, and NYC Commuting.
Here is where the candidates fall on each issue........
Bill deBlasio
New York City's Economy
Bill deBlasio - Seeing the economy as a body part and each economic down turn that hits this city as a cut that begins to bleed, deBlasio doesn't want to just stop the bleeding with band aid fixes. He wants to figure out how to keep that body part from getting cut in the first place. deBlasio wants to tackle the economy with an early approach - education. My understanding of his plan is that tackling the economy from the education side will lead produce the right kind of trickledown effect. He wants to restore the City University of New York system. This system was revered back in the day as a meal ticket out, through higher education. I've heard stories from friends and family member who went to a CUNY school for free. Some even got refund checks to cover their expenditures. deBlasio also acknowledges that we can't have a one recipe mind frame when it comes to higher education. College is not the only avenue. He wants to focus on career training and technical education, job placement programs for existing workers, and bring back the apprenticeship programs that once produced highly skilled workers within this city. By tackling these avenues of higher education it will aid our current crisis, while working to prevent it in the future. deBlasio also wants to focus of our city's tax abatement construct, and end the tax giveaways that land in the palms of large corporations for projects. These giveaways are unnecessary, because these project will happen regardless of the tax giveaway, so why continue to waste. A perfect example of this giveaway is Goldman Sachs, whose newest headquarter location at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, was built with tax dollars. They didn't need it, and the building would have been built anyway. deBlasio also commits to focus on the usual suspects - small businesses, entrepreneurship and city contracts.
Ending Stop & Frisk
Bill deBlasio - Seeing the economy as a body part and each economic down turn that hits this city as a cut that begins to bleed, deBlasio doesn't want to just stop the bleeding with band aid fixes. He wants to figure out how to keep that body part from getting cut in the first place. deBlasio wants to tackle the economy with an early approach - education. My understanding of his plan is that tackling the economy from the education side will lead produce the right kind of trickledown effect. He wants to restore the City University of New York system. This system was revered back in the day as a meal ticket out, through higher education. I've heard stories from friends and family member who went to a CUNY school for free. Some even got refund checks to cover their expenditures. deBlasio also acknowledges that we can't have a one recipe mind frame when it comes to higher education. College is not the only avenue. He wants to focus on career training and technical education, job placement programs for existing workers, and bring back the apprenticeship programs that once produced highly skilled workers within this city. By tackling these avenues of higher education it will aid our current crisis, while working to prevent it in the future. deBlasio also wants to focus of our city's tax abatement construct, and end the tax giveaways that land in the palms of large corporations for projects. These giveaways are unnecessary, because these project will happen regardless of the tax giveaway, so why continue to waste. A perfect example of this giveaway is Goldman Sachs, whose newest headquarter location at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, was built with tax dollars. They didn't need it, and the building would have been built anyway. deBlasio also commits to focus on the usual suspects - small businesses, entrepreneurship and city contracts.
Ending Stop & Frisk
Bill deBlasio has strong ties to
ending "Stop & Frisk." He actually commissioned the studies on
the disparities of the "Stop & Frisk" procedure, which led to the
recent court decision in Floyd v. New York. deBlasio even testified at the
federal trial. He would also like to appoint an inspector general. Quinn wants
to do this as well. deBlasio has committed to signing legislation that end
racial profiling and "Stop & Frisk," all together.
Commuting in New York City
Bill
deBlasio wants to see more federal involvement in mass transit funding. Wants
more select bus service and more Metro North service in the Bronx. deBlasio
also wants to see and expansion of the CitiBike bike share program and more
bike lanes.
Christine Quinn
New York City's Economy
Christine Quinn has a mixture of
ideas for job creation that can actually be executed on right away. Manufacturing
and Tech are her star industries to develop. She acknowledges that we are
behind in exporting and sees this as a priority for the city's growth. She is
also committed to focusing on two areas of the city, the South Bronx and East
Harlem, which are in need of an economic boost that will lead to a boost in
other areas. She is also the only candidate to give Staten Island some love and
is looking to help them become a tourist attraction. She is also trying to make
NYC attractive to companies who outsourced to other countries, and now want to
come back home.
Ending Stop & Frisk
Christine Quinn makes no mention of
"Stop & Frisk" in her "as Mayor" policy proposal. All
that is mentioned are things that she's done in the city council regarding
"Stop & Frisk." Most of it was oversight of the program (meaning
to keep it in place and just cover it up better) and protocols for complaints
regarding "Stop & Frisk." Don't expect her to do anything about
this policy if elected Mayor.
Commuting in New York City
Christine
Quinn screams Bureaucracy, Bureaucracy, Bureaucracy on this issue! She wants
the Mayor to have the power to pick the members of the MTA board and who runs
NYC Transit. She supports the addition of increasing ferry service and select
bus routes. She is also in favor of more bike lanes and expanding the CitiBike
bike share program.
• Expand Quality Job Training for Vulnerable Populations
• Attract Companies and Jobs to Every Community
• Increase access to affordable housing, health care and child care that parents must have in order to meet their responsibilities at home and on the job
• Eliminate childhood hunger
Ending Stop & Frisk
Bill Thompson has a "Stop & Frisk" reform
plan which requires that each stop be documented with a ticket, to create a
record and increase transparency. Officers will provide people with written
information on why he or she was stopped: why it's happening, what led to the
stop and why the police officer chose to stop the individual. Thompson says he
would "state clear criteria" for when cops can "Stop &
Frisk." In a speech he offered a scenario of a person leaving a
"known drug hangout" with "a bulge in their pocket."
Apparently, Mr. Thompson didn't get the memo -- in Floyd v. City of New York, a
federal judge ruled that the "Stop & Frisk" practice is
unconstitutional.
Commuting in New York City
Thompson
wants to restore the "Commuter Tax," raise registration fees based on
weight of vehicles. He also proposes to allow commuters to use the metro north
and LIRR within the city limits that encompass the subways, for the same fare
as the subways. Thompson wants to see CitiBike bike share program expanded, but thinks bike lanes
are disruptive.
John Liu's economic plan highlights
an approach that could either be genius and true out of the box thinking or an
accurate reflection of his lack of experience in executing policy. Liu is a
numbers guy and has chosen to tackle the economy from a purely numbers
perspective. It's actually somewhat interesting. His plan is solely based on
tax reduction, program funding, and partnerships. He mentions a little about
infrastructure and job creation, but he lacks the gravitas to really understand
how to put everything together and actually execute on it. This can be
attributed to his lack of policy experience.
Ending Stop & Frisk
John Liu makes no mention of
"Stop & Frisk." This is very alarming because it singles that he
doesn't understand the severity of the issue or even worse, doesn't see it as
an issue.
John
Liu wants to remove bike lanes and put a tolls on all bridges that lead into
Manhattan. This would include the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, Williamsburg
Bridge, and the 59th Street Bridge.
Ladies and Gentleman - the Road to City Hall begins now.
These are the candidates and their plans for New York City. Tonights
results should be quite interesting. Stay tunned for updates this evening.
In the meantime, share your thoughts
on this race.
1. Which candidate would best serve
New York City as Mayor?
2. Will we see a run-off election?
3. Who are the top two candidates
for a run-off election?
4. What are the top three issues
that the next Mayor must address?
