1985 New York City mayoral election
The New York City mayoral election of 1985 occurred on Tuesday, November 5, 1985, with Democratic incumbent Mayor Ed Koch being re-elected to a third term by a landslide margin.
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 Borough results Koch: 70–80% 80–90% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Koch received an overwhelming 78.02% of the vote citywide. Koch also swept all five boroughs by landslide margins, breaking 70% of the vote in Manhattan and Queens and breaking 80% of the vote in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island.[1]
Koch's closest competitor was the Liberal Party nominee, New York City Council President Carol Bellamy, who received 10.20% of the vote. Finishing in a distant third was the Republican nominee, Diane McGrath, who received 9.14% of the vote.
Koch defeated his nearest competitor by a landslide 67.82% Democratic margin of victory and was sworn into his third and final term in January 1986. As of 2020, this is the most recent mayoral election in which a Democrat carried Staten Island.
Al Vann and Herman Badillo tried to unite the Black and Puerto Rican communities but was stifled by the Gang of Four (Harlem), "But in a move that shocked Vann, the so-called “Gang of Four” from Harlem–Charles Rangel, David Dinkins, Basil Paterson and Percy Sutton–broke ranks and put forth their own candidate for mayor, Harlem Assemblyman Herman “Denny” Farrell, a dark horse if ever there was one. They argued that a black group like the Coalition for a Just New York should support a black candidate, not a Puerto Rican. Badillo bitterly withdrew from consideration. Farrell lost badly in the primary."[2]
Results
| General Election | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manhattan | The Bronx | Brooklyn | Queens | Staten Island | Total | ||
| Democratic - Independent | Edward I. Koch | 171,582 | 137,472 | 248,585 | 248,041 | 62,580 | 868,260 |
| Liberal | Carol Bellamy | 41,190 | 14,092 | 29,256 | 25,098 | 3,835 | 113,471 |
| Republican - Conservative | Diane McGrath | 17,491 | 12,358 | 25,738 | 36,032 | 10,049 | 101,668 |
| others | 29,397 | ||||||
| 1,112,796 | |||||||
The Koch vote include 862,226 Democratic and 6,034 Independent votes. The McGrath vote was 79,508 Republican and 22,160 Conservative. Other vote was: Yehuda Levin - Right to Life - 14,517; Lenora Fulani - New Alliance - 7,597;Jarvis Tyner - People Before Profits - 3,370; Andrea Gonzalez - Socialist Workers - 1,677; Gilbert DiLucia - Coalition - 1,135; Marjorie Stanberg - Spartacist - 1,101; Scattered - 9
Koch won the Democratic Primary: Koch-436,151 64.0%; Bellamy - 127,690 18.7%; Denny Farrell - 89,845 13.2%; DiLucia - 11, 627 1.7%; Fred Newman - 8,584 1.2%; Judah Rubenstein - 8,057 1.2%
References
- "New York City Mayoral Election 1985". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
- https://citylimits.org/1997/11/01/al-vann-and-the-revolution-unplugged/