Politics

Updated Vote Counts Give Adams Narrow Lead Following Tuesday’s Debacle

No featured image available

New York City’s updated results for its mayoral primary show former NYPD officer Eric Adams with a slim lead over former city Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia a day after the city’s Board of Elections mistakenly counted approximately 135,000 invalid ballots.

The results were identical to Tuesday’s unofficial ones, with Adams at 51.1% and Garcia at 48.9%. Tuesday was the first election in the city’s history to use ranked choice voting, and its initial tally included incorrect preliminary vote counts before the board withdrew them hours later.

Adams, who was the frontrunner in the campaign’s final days, leads Garcia by 14,755 votes, while Maya Wiley finished third after totaling just 347 shy of second. His lead, however, is not guaranteed, since New York City is waiting until July 6 to count approximately 125,000 absentee ballots that could decide who will likely be its next mayor.

Adams held a far wider lead during the first round of voting on June 22, leading Wiley, who stood in second, by 9%. After Tuesday’s results, he alleged “irregularities” in the count.

“We are confident we will be the final choice of New Yorkers when every vote is tallied,” his campaign added.

A final count is not expected before July 12, nearly three weeks after the election first began.

Adams has centered his campaign around lowering New York City’s crime rate, prompting most of its police organizations to endorse him. He has supported past use of stop-and-frisk, opposes the “defund the police” movement and has said that he will carry if elected, putting him at odds with many of his fellow candidates and making him a target of the progressive left.

Garcia has emphasized policies aimed at rejuvenating small businesses and helping the city combat climate change, earning her endorsements from The New York Times and New York Daily News.

If either become the Democratic nominee, they will face Republican Curtis Sliwa in November’s general election and will likely win in a landslide given New York City’s liberal lean.