An election for the mayor of New York City occurred on November 5, 2013, along with elections for comptroller, public advocate, borough president, and members of the New York City Council. The incumbent mayor, Michael Bloomberg, a Republican-turned-Independent, was term-limited and thus unable to seek re-election to a fourth term in office.
Primary elections were held on September 10, 2013. The Republican nominee was former Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Joe Lhota. New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio was the Democratic nominee. De Blasio was elected mayor with 73.15% of the vote, becoming the first Democrat to win a mayoral election in the city since 1989. Democrats flipped back the boroughs of Manhattan and Queens.
Republican and Republican-endorsed candidates had won five successive mayoral elections in New York City. Republican Rudy Giuliani was elected in 1993 and re-elected in 1997. Republican Michael Bloomberg was then elected in 2001 and re-elected in 2005. He left the Republican Party in 2007, and successfully persuaded the city council to extend the city's term limits law so that he could run for a third term. He was re-elected as an Independent on the Republican and Independence/Jobs & Education ballot lines in 2009. The term limits law was subsequently changed by a referendum in 2010, reverting the limit to two terms.
As the campaign started, early polling showed City Council Speaker Christine Quinn as the frontrunner. However, she was hampered by running what was widely viewed as a poor campaign, and by her connections to incumbent mayor Bloomberg. As Quinn declined in the polls, former U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner became the new frontrunner, helped by his popularity with women voters. However, Weiner's campaign collapsed after it was revealed that he had continued to engage in sexting after he had resigned from Congress due to a previous sexting scandal. After this development, New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio surged in the polls, helped by several ads featuring de Blasio's interracial family, especially his son Dante, and by a campaign focusing on inequality, with de Blasio frequently referencing the novel A Tale of Two Cities. A week prior to the election, de Blasio was considered the frontrunner, and his campaign was given a boost when Mayor Bloomberg described it as "racist," outraging Democratic voters and causing them to rally around de Blasio's campaign.
A debate was televised live on WABC on August 13. <div style="overflow-x:auto;">
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On April 2, 2013, federal law enforcement officers arrested numerous New York City-area politicians. These included Democratic state senator Malcolm Smith and Republican city councilman Dan Halloran, who were charged with trying to bribe various Republican political leaders so as to get Smith onto the ballot as a Republican. The Mayor of Spring Valley and local Republican party leaders were also arrested.
Besides the Democratic and Republican parties, the Conservative, Green, Independence and Working Families parties are qualified New York parties. These parties have automatic ballot access.
Any candidate not among the six qualified New York parties must petition their way onto the ballot; they do not face primary elections.
After the party twice endorsed a candidate for mayor, only to see them withdraw from the race, the party declined to endorse a third candidate, although they did consider endorsing Jack Hidary.
Joe Lhota was originally nominated as the Libertarian candidate during the Party Convention held on April 6, 2013, a nomination he declined. It was soon after ruled by the Libertarian Executive Committee that this nomination was invalid and void due to the attending voters of this first Convention not being properly credentialed. A second nominating convention was held on June 11, 2013, which nominated Michael Sanchez.
With Kelly<br />
With Lhota<br />
Three-way race<br />
Four-way race<br />
Open primary<br />