2009 New York City Public Advocate election

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]

2009 New York City Public Advocate election

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

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:

2009 Democratic initial primary	Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
Bill de Blasio	35,013	16,662	47,791	17,054	2,947	119,467	32.6%
	31.7%	36.7%	41.3%	20.5%	24.6%
Mark Green	34,601	14,426	33,790	28,480	4,211	115,508	31.5%
	31.3%	31.8%	29.2%	34.2%	35.1%
Eric N. Gioia	17,309	6,859	15,082	24,838	2,771	66,859	18.2%
	15.7%	15.1%	13.0%	29.8%	23.1%
Norman Siegel	20,246	5,745	14,335	10,135	1,759	52,220	14.2%
	18.3%	12.7%	12.4%	12.2%	14.7%
Imtiaz S. Syed	3,221	1,679	4,750	2,875	295	12,820	3.5%
	2.9%	3.7%	4.1%	3.4%	2.5%
all write-in votes	14	1	18	10	0	43	0.01%
T O T A L	110,404	45,372	115,766	83,392	11,983	366,917

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):

2009 Democratic run-off primary	Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Richmond [Staten Is.]	Total	%
Bill de Blasio	46,295	17,074	49,667	28,450	3,927	145,413	62.4%
	61.4%	61.7%	67.6%	57.0%	58.0%
Mark Green	29,121	10,589	23,814	21,429	2,840	87,793	37.6%
	38.6%	38.3%	32.4%	43.0%	42.0%
T O T A L	75,416	27,663	73,481	49,879	6,767	233,206

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

General election

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

2009 general election	Party	Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
Bill de Blasio	Democratic	183,917	92,022	205,155	166,119	32,153	679,366	72.7%
	Working Families	12,608	3,434	18,602	8,215	2,404	45,263	4.8%
	Total	196,525	95,456	223,757	174,334	34,557	724,629	77.6%
		81.5%	84.9%	81.7%	73.2%	50.5%
Alex T. Zablocki	Republican	35,515	13,013	37,683	49,988	27,891	164,090	17.6%
		14.7%	11.6%	13.8%	21.0%	40.7%
William J. Lee	Conservative	4,929	2,902	8,737	10,523	5,185	32,276	3.5%
		2.0%	2.6%	3.2%	4.4%	7.6%
Maura de Luca	Socialist Workers	2,455	788	2,555	2,029	478	8,305	0.9%
Jim Lesczynski	Libertarian	1,812	268	1,223	1,138	367	4,808	0.5%
Total Write-ins		37	17	30	29	10	123	0.01%
Total Votes		241,273	112,444	273,985	238,041	68,488	934,231

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

1. 2009 Election Results Archived 2009-11-07 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, published and retrieved on November 4, 2009
2. Hicks, Jonathan P. (November 28, 2008). "Public Advocate Race Gets More Crowded". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
3. Santos, Fernanda (October 28, 2008). "Betsy Gotbaum Says She Will Not Seek Re-election as the City's Public Advocate". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
4. Hicks, Jonathan P. (December 8, 2008). "Put Off by Term-Limits Fight, Green Ponders Another Run for Public Advocate". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
5. "Mark Green Announces Candidacy For Public Advocate" Archived 2009-03-07 at the Wayback Machine, NY1. Accessed February 10, 2009.
6. Chan, Sewell (February 11, 2009). "Former New York City Public Advocate Wants the Job Back". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
7. Hicks, Jonathan P. (December 8, 2008). "Green Shakes Up Race for Public Advocate". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
8. "Queens Newspaper New York – Queens NY News Paper- The Queens Courier > Archives > News > Top Stories > John Liu now running for City Comptroller". The Queens Courier. March 11, 2009. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
9. Paybarah, Azi, "Lappin Won't Run for Public Advocate", PolitickerNY.com, March 6, 2009. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 13, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-19.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
10. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-10-07. Retrieved 2009-08-31.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Board of Elections in the City of New York
11. Sewell Chan, Liu and de Blasio Win Primary Runoffs, City Room Blog, The New York Times, Tuesday, September 29, 2009, retrieved on September 30, 2009
12. Hicks, Jonathan P. (December 11, 2008). "Public Advocate Meets With Potential Successors". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
13. Wrobleski, Tom. "Zablocki meets with Gotbaum | SILive.com". Blog.silive.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
14. Santos, Fernanda (March 11, 2009). "Meet the Public Advocate Contenders". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
15. "For New York City Public Advocate". The New York Times. August 29, 2009. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
16. Paybarah, Azi. "The W.F.P., Bill de Blasio and the Public Advocate's Race | The New York Observer". Observer.com. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
17. "RELEASE: WFP Endorses Bill de Blasio for Public Advocate; Lander for Council | Room Eight". R8ny.com. July 12, 2010. Archived from the original on September 29, 2011. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
18. Paybarah, Azi, "Stagehands Back Gioia for Public Advocate", PolitickerNY.com, February 18, 2009. Archived February 24, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
19. http://www.politickerny.com/1926/gioia-rolls-out-union-calling-todays-public-advocate
20. "Staten Island Advance Print Edition – - Staten Island Advance". SILive.com. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
21. Wrobleski, Tom. "Zablocki gets Staten Island GOP backing | SILive.com". Blog.silive.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
22. "For public advocate: Alex Zablocki". Staten Island Advance Editorial. SILive.com. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
23. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2009-11-12.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
24. Bosman, Julie (September 15, 2009). "De Blasio and Green in Runoff for Advocate". The New York Times. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
25. Board of Elections in the City of New York, "Statement and Return Report for Certification Primary Election 2009 – September 15, 2009 Crossover – Democratic Party Democratic Public Advocate Citywide", published on September 25, 2009, and retrieved on November 4, 2009
26. Board of Elections in the City of New York,Statement and Return Report for Certification Run-off Primary 2009 – September 29, 2009 Crossover – Democratic Party Democratic Public Advocate Citywide, published on October 20, 2009, and retrieved on November 4, 2009]