Law and order candidate leading in New York City

Last night, I wrote about the Democratic mayoral primary in New York City. Steve wrote about the same subject today.

Both of us pointed out that Eric Adams, a former cop who promises to increase the city’s police presence, is the frontrunner. An Adams victory, we thought, would send a strong message to Democrats. The message? Voters want more, not less, policing.

Tonight, the results are coming in, and with around 80 percent of the city’s precincts reporting, Adams holds the lead. He’s at 31 percent. Maya Wiley, the hard-left candidate endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is second at 21.5 percent. Just behind her at 20.5 percent is Kathryn Garcia, the choice of much of the city’s Democratic establishment. Andrew Yang lags way behind at 12 percent.

Adams is killing it in the Bronx, where he’s captured about 45 percent of the vote. He also leads in Queens, Brooklyn (where he’s from), and Staten Island. Garcia leads in Manhattan, where Adams is running a distant third.

As Steve and I noted, the election process isn’t straightforward, given the use of ranked-choice voting. But however that plays out, I think it’s significant that the relatively moderate law and order candidate has outpolled his rivals; that his vote and that of the establishment candidate exceeds 50 percent; and that the radical candidate endorsed by Ocasio-Cortez barely cleared 20 percent.

It seems the mood of the city’s Democratic electorate has changed significantly since Bill de Blasio prevailed in 2013 and 2017.

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