1977 New York City mayoral election

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1977 New York City mayoral election
Flag of New York City.svg
  1973 November 8, 1977 1981  
  EdwardKochSpeaking79cropped.png New York Sec Mario Cuomo (cropped).jpg
Candidate Ed Koch Mario Cuomo
Party Democratic Liberal
Popular vote717,376587,913
Percentage50.0%41.0%

NYC Mayoral Election 1977 Results by Borough.svg
Borough results
Koch:      40–50%     50–60%     60–70%
Cuomo:      40–50%     60–70%

Mayor before election

Abraham Beame
Democratic

Elected Mayor

Ed Koch
Democratic

The New York City mayoral election of 1977 occurred on Tuesday, November 8, 1977.

Contents

Incumbent mayor Abraham Beame, a Democrat, was challenged by five other Democrats, including Representative Ed Koch, New York Secretary of State Mario Cuomo, and feminist activist and former Representative Bella Abzug for the Democratic nomination. Koch won the initial vote in the Democratic primary as well as a runoff vote held between him and Cuomo. In the general election, Koch beat Cuomo, who ran on the Liberal Party ticket, and Roy M. Goodman, who ran on the Republican ticket.

Background

In October 1975, with the city on the verge of bankruptcy, Mayor Beame asked the federal government for a bailout. President Gerald Ford refused, leading to the memorable New York Daily News headline: "Ford to City: Drop Dead". As a result, Mayor Beame laid off many police officers and other city employees, which was followed by an increase in crime. (The next month, Ford relented in part, signing the New York City Seasonal Financing Act of 1975, which extended $2.3 billion in federal loans to the city for three years. [1] )

A 982-page report from the Securities and Exchange Commission blamed Beame's mismanagement for the city's financial mess, which his opponents seized on as an electoral issue. [2] Beame's struggles with the economy and crime, which had led to a decrease in the population of New York City, encouraged several Democrats to challenge him.

Liberal Party convention

The Liberal Party convention was held on May 19, 1977. Cuomo defeated Abzug for the nomination.

Results

New York City Liberal Party Convention, May 19, 1977
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Mario Cuomo 238 95.20
Liberal Abstention 72.80
Liberal Bella Abzug 52.00
Majority23192.40
Source: OurCampaigns.com

Democratic primary

The Democratic primary was held on September 8, 1977.

Candidates

Withdrew

Abzug represented parts of Manhattan and the Bronx in the U.S. House. In 1975, she left her seat to run for the U.S. Senate but was narrowly defeated in the Democratic primary by Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Cuomo, a liberal from Queens, had been appointed Secretary of State by Governor Hugh Carey in 1976, after losing the election for lieutenant governor in 1974.

Ed Koch, a Jewish politician from Greenwich Village, began his career as "just a plain liberal," [4] but shifted rightward, towards being a "liberal with sanity". [5]

Campaign

Koch ran to the right of the other candidates, on a "law and order" platform. A major blackout affected New York City from July 13, 1977 to July 14, 1977. The blackout was localized to New York City and the immediate surroundings, and resulted in citywide looting. According to historian Jonathan Mahler, the blackout and the subsequent rioting helped catapult Koch and his message of restoring public safety to front-runner status. [6] Mayor Beame accused Con Edison, the power provider for New York City, of "gross negligence". Koch criticized Beame for losing control of the streets and failing to ask Governor Carey to call in the National Guard. [7] [8]

Endorsements

Polling

Poll SourceDates AdministeredBeameAbzugCuomoKochSuttonBadillo
New York Times/CBS NewsAugust 23, 197717%17%14%12%9%7%

Results

New York City Democratic Mayoral Primary, September 8, 1977
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic Ed Koch 180,248 19.81
Democratic Mario Cuomo 170,488 18.74
Democratic Abraham Beame (incumbent)163,61017.98
Democratic Bella Abzug 150,71916.56
Democratic Percy Sutton 131,19714.42
Democratic Herman Badillo 99,80810.97
Democratic Joel Harnett13,9271.53
Majority9,7601.07
Source: OurCampaigns.com

Results by borough

1977 Democratic Primary
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Edward I. Koch 50,80623,45349,47052,0025,812181,544
Mario M. Cuomo 25,33123,02854,84556,69810,430170,332
Abraham D. Beame 23,75825,74763,30444,6077,337164,753
Bella Abzug 56,04520,43537,23633,8834,314151,913
Percy Sutton 35,01224,80142,90328,5251,399132,640
Herman Badillo 27,19335,00728,9099,051876101,036

Democratic runoff campaign

As no candidate obtained the needed 40%, a runoff election was scheduled. The runoff election was held on September 19, 1977 between the top two vote getters, Koch and Cuomo.

Results

New York City Democratic Mayoral Runoff Primary, September 19, 1977
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic Ed Koch 431,849 54.94
Democratic Mario Cuomo 354,22245.06
Majority77,6279.88
Source: OurCampaigns.com

Democratic primary results by borough

1977 Democratic Primary Runoff
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Edward I. Koch 115,25169,612131,271107,0339,835433,002
Mario M. Cuomo 61,57055,355112,587105,52219,799354,833

Republican primary

The Republican primary was held on September 8, 1977.

Candidates

Results

New York City Republican Mayoral Primary, September 8, 1977
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Republican Roy M. Goodman 44,667 56.22
Republican Barry Farber 34,78243.78
Majority9,88512.44
Source: OurCampaigns.com

General election

Though Koch won the runoff convincingly, Cuomo remained in the race as the Liberal Party nominee.

Though Governor Carey had persuaded Cuomo to run for mayor in the first place, he threw his support to Koch and urged Cuomo to stand down for the sake of party unity. Cuomo refused.

While Koch had a reputation as a crusading reformer, that summer he quietly promised plum city jobs to the political powerbrokers in the boroughs in exchange for their support. [2] Cuomo ran on banning the death penalty, which backfired with New Yorkers during a time of high crime rates. Cuomo then went negative with ads that likened Koch to unpopular former mayor John Lindsay. His supporters used the inflammatory slogan "Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo". [2] Meanwhile, Koch backers accused Cuomo of anti-Semitism and pelted Cuomo campaign cars with eggs. [2]

Polling

Poll SourceDates AdministeredKoch (D)Cuomo (L)Farber (C)Goodman (R)
New York PostNovember 1–3, 197749.5%35.4%3.6%3.4%

Results

New York City Mayoral Election, November 8, 1977
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic Ed Koch 717,376 49.99
Liberal Mario Cuomo 587,91340.97
Republican Roy M. Goodman 58,6064.08
Conservative Barry Farber 57,4374.00
Communist Kenneth F. Newcombe 5,3000.37
Socialist Workers Catarino Garza3,2940.23
United Taxpayers Party Vito P. Battista 2,1190.15
Independence Louis P. Wein 1,1270.08
Libertarian William Lawry1,0680.07
U.S. Labor Elijah C. Boyd 8730.06
Majority129,4639.02
Turnout 1,435,113
Source: OurCampaigns.com

Results by borough

General Election
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Democratic Edward I. Koch 184,842116,436204,934191,89419,270717,376
Liberal
Neighborhood Government
Mario M. Cuomo 77,53187,421173,321208,74840,932587,913
Republican Roy M. Goodman 19,3216,10211,49118,4603,22958,606
Conservative Barry M. Farber 9,0707,62416,57620,4533,71457,437
others 4,2811,7313,7523,25676113,781
1,435,113

Other vote was: Kenneth F. Newcombe – Communist – 5,300; Catarino Garza – Socialist Workers – 3,294; Vito Battista – United Taxpayers Party – 2,119; Louis Wein – Independent – 1,127; William Lawry – Free Libertarian – 1,068; Elijah Boyd – Labor – 873. Cuomo's total vote included 522,942 Liberal and 64,971 Neighborhood Government.

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References

  1. Russell, Mary (December 10, 1975). "Ford Signs Bill To Aid N.Y.C.". The Washington Post. p. B9. ProQuest   146357089.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "From the Daily News Archives". Daily News. New York. Archived from the original on July 24, 2008.
  3. Carroll, Maurice (May 15, 1977). "Costikyan Pulls Out of Mayoral Contest and Supports Koch". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  4. "Ed Koch's Legacy". Gotham Gazette. November 14, 2005. Archived from the original on April 27, 2007. Retrieved July 15, 2007.
  5. "Paying Their Dues" Archived October 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine , Ed Koch, New York Press , May 23, 2007
  6. "That '70s Show" Archived May 9, 2013, at the Wayback Machine , Gotham Gazette, May 9, 2005
  7. Purnick, Joyce (July 11, 2007). "The '77 Blackout: Inside the Command Center". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  8. Koch, Ed (July 10, 2007). "How I Helped Put Juice Back In The Big Apple". New York Post. Archived from the original on September 4, 2012.