New York City Public Advocate election, 2009

New York City Public Advocate election, 2009

November 3, 2009

Candidate Bill de Blasio Alex T. Zablocki Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 724,629 164,090 Percentage 77.6% 17.6%

Public Advocate before election Betsy Gotbaum Democratic Elected Public Advocate Bill de Blasio Democratic

Elections in New York State
Federal government Presidential elections 1792 1796 1800 1804 1808 1812 1816 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 Presidential primaries Democratic 2004 2008 Republican 2004 2008 2012 United States Senate elections 1789 1791 1795 1797 1801 1803 1807 1809 1813 1815 1819-20 1821 1825-26 1827 1831 1833 1837 1839-40 1843 1845 1849 1851 1855 1857 1861 1863 1867 1869 1873 1875 1879 1881 1885 1887 1891 1893 1897 1899 1903 1905 1909 1911 1964 1980 1986 1988 1992 1994 1998 2000 2004 2006 2010 2012 House of Representatives elections 1789 1790 1793 1794 1796 1796 1798 1800 1802 1804 1806 1808 1810 1812 1814 1816 1818 1821 1822 1824 1826 1854 2002 2004 2006 13th 20th 29th 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 Special elections to the United States Congress 20th district, 2009 23rd district, 2009 Senate, 2010 26th district, 2011 9th district, 2011 11th district, 2015 List of House special elections
State government New York gubernatorial elections 1777 1780 1783 1786 1789 1792 1795 1798 1801 1804 1807 1810 1813 1816 1817 1820 1822 1824 1826 1828 1830 1832 1834 1836 1838 1840 1842 1844 1846 1848 1850 1852 1854 1856 1858 1860 1862 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1879 1882 1885 1888 1891 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1942 1946 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Attorney General elections 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 State Comptroller elections 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 State Assembly elections 99th district, 2006 State elections by year 1811 1844 1846 1847-J 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1870–J 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1900 1902 1903 1904 1906 1907 1908 1910 1912 1913 1914 1916 1917 1918 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1926 1927 1928 1930 1932 1933 1934 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1942 1943 1944 1946 1949 1950 1952 1953 1954 1956 1958 1959 1960 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1972 1973 1974 2002 2006 2008 2009 2010 2012
New York City Characteristics of NYC mayoral elections Mayoral elections 1917 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 Public Advocate elections 2009 2013 Comptroller elections 2009 2013 Borough president elections 2013 The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island
Buffalo Mayoral elections 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013
Syracuse Mayoral elections 2009

The election of the New York City Public Advocate took place on Tuesday, November 3, 2009, along with elections for the mayor, the city comptroller, borough presidents, and members of the New York City Council. The Democratic candidate, Bill de Blasio, won election with 77% of the vote against 18% for the Republican nominee, Alex Zablocki, 3.6% for the Conservative nominee, William Lee, and 1.7% for two others.^[1]

The public advocate has the formal role of presiding over meetings of the New York City Council (although the Speaker elected by the Council itself now does much of this work), and, until the next election, would serve as acting Mayor whenever the elected Mayor is unable to serve.

This election has drawn significant interest from politicians looking to advance their careers, as the extension of New York City term limits allows more incumbents to seek reelection.^[2]

Candidates

Democratic party

Despite the extension of term limits in late 2008, the outgoing public advocate, Betsy Gotbaum announced that she would not run for reelection.^[3]

Candidates included Councilman Eric Gioia of Queens, who has raised $2.5 million for the campaign; Norman Siegel, the civil liberties lawyer who lost in a runoff to Gotbaum in 2001; former public advocate Mark Green, and Councilman Bill de Blasio of Brooklyn.

After acknowledging he was considering the race in December 2008,^[4] former Public Advocate Mark J. Green announced on February 10, 2009 that he would again run for the office.^[5][6] Green was Gotbaum's predecessor as public advocate and the first person to hold this title. His entry changed the landscape of the race, due to his name recognition and ability to raise money.^[7]

Councilman John Liu, also from Queens, had been considered a potential candidate for advocate, but he ran for and won the office of New York City Comptroller—an office uncontested by the current city comptroller, Bill Thompson, who preferred to seek election as mayor in 2009.^[8] Councilwoman Jessica Lappin and Guillermo Linares, a former councilman and current commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, were also considering a run^[2] Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV was also considered a potential candidate.^[7] Lappin decided not to run.^[9] Imtiaz S. Syed, a lawyer, economist, investigative accountant, banker, administrator and management consultant, also ran.^[10]

On September 15, 2009, de Blasio won 32.6% of the Democratic primary vote and Green 31.5%. (Most of the remaining 36% of the primary voters cast their ballots for Gioia or Siegel.) Neither de Blasio nor Green won enough votes (40%) to avoid a run-off primary election between them two weeks later.

On September 29, Bill de Blasio won that Democratic primary run-off by 62.4% to 37.6% for Mark Green. Turnout was very light, about 220,000 or 10% of the eligible voters, according to The Associated Press. (In the same run-off election, John Liu led his fellow City Councilman David Yassky, of Brooklyn, for the Democratic nomination for New York City Comptroller by 56% to 44% of a similar turnout.)^[11]

Republican party

Alex Zablocki, an aide to State Senator Andrew Lanza of Staten Island, declared his candidacy. At 26 years old, Zablocki was the youngest candidate to run for public advocate.

Other parties

• William Lee, Conservative Party of New York
• Maura DeLuca, Socialist Workers Party
• Jim Lesczynski, Libertarian Party of New York

Campaign

Gotbaum set up meetings with each of her potential successors in order to help them understand the position.^[12] On March 30, 2009, Alex Zablocki, Republican candidate for public advocate, met with Gotbaum in her office for about an hour to discuss the importance of the office and afterwards thanked her for her service.^[13]

On March 10, Fordham Law School hosted a town hall meeting with Gioia, Siegel, de Blasio and Green.^[14] Zablocki was not invited, which he considered an "outrage". The organizer said that he believed students wanted to see the Democratic contenders first, and wished to set up a debate including Zablocki in the future.

Endorsements

De Blasio was endorsed by the New York Times,^[15] the Working Families Party, and over 150 elected officials and organizations.^[16][17] Gioia was endorsed by various labor unions, including Local One of the Stagehands, the Sergeants Benevolent Association (SBA) and the Captains Endowment Association (CEA).^[18][19] Alex Zablocki was endorsed by all five Republican county organizations in New York City,^[20] led by his home borough of Staten Island.^[21] Alex Zablocki was also endorsed by the Staten Island Advance on October 30, 2009,^[22] as well as The Wave,^[23] Rockaway's leading newspaper, on October 23, 2009.

Results

Democratic primary

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Official results from the New York City Board of Elections as of September 25, 2009:

As no candidate reached 40%, a runoff election for de Blasio and Green set for September 29 was required.^[24][25]

Democratic Run-off Primary

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Official returns (as reported on October 20, 2009):

Bill de Blasio became the Democratic nominee for public advocate.^[26]

General election

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Source: Board of Elections in the City of New York http://www.vote.nyc.ny.us/results.html

Bill de Blasio was elected public advocate.

See also

• New York City Public Advocate
• Government of New York City
• New York City mayoral election, 2009
• New York City Comptroller election, 2009

External links

Candidate websites

• Bill de Blasio for Public Advocate
• Eric Gioia for New York
• Mark Green
• New Yorkers for Norman Siegel
• Imtiaz S. Syed for Public Advocate
• Alex Zablocki for Public Advocate

References