New York City mayoral elections

The Mayor of the City of New York is elected in early November every four years and takes office at the beginning of the following year. The City which elects the Mayor as its chief executive consists of the five New York boroughs of Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, which consolidated to form the City on January 1st, 1898. The consolidated City's first Mayor, Robert A. Van Wyck, was elected with other municipal officers in November 1897. The current mayor of New York, now in his second term, is Michael R. Bloomberg. The next mayoral election will be held in November 2009 for the term beginning on January 1st, 2010.

Overview

Explanatory notes

Links to years

When a year is highlighted, clicking the link to that year may either lead (as in most other articles) to the general Wikipedia article about that year (as in 1997), or it may lead specifically to that year's election for Mayor of New York, as reported elsewhere within this article (as in 1933). It is not often possible to indicate clearly where the link will lead (although when one year's election report highlights the same year, that link will obviously not lead back to itself).

Counties and boroughs

Each of the Five Boroughs which forms the City of New York coexists with a County that covers the same people and the same land. While the Boroughs within New York City, or the City itself, have assumed many of the powers and duties borne outside the City by the other 57 counties of New York State, the city's five Counties still have some administrative, legal, judicial and (importantly for this article) electoral functions. (For example the Kings County Courthouse covers the same area and people as the Borough of Brooklyn).

For those (especially non-New Yorkers) studying or comparing Presidential, State and City election returns from New York City, this can cause some confusion. For reasons of convenience and familiarity, this article has used the names of the present Boroughs, rather than those of the County Boards of Elections that collect and report the votes from those boroughs. But other election reports from New York, especially official returns, will use the county rather than the borough names.

• The County of New York was shared by both Manhattan and The Bronx until the separate Bronx County (coextensive with The Borough of Bronx) was formed in 1912. Today, New York County is coextensive only with The Borough of Manhattan. However, election returns before 1917 usually show a single report from New York County, rather than from the separate boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx.

• The County of Kings (or King's County) is coextensive with The Borough of Brooklyn.

• The County of Queens (or Queen's County) is coextensive with The Borough of Queens.

• The County of Richmond is coextensive with The Borough of Staten Island (whose official name from 1898 to 1975 was The Borough of Richmond).

Scope of this article

Main article: History of New York City's Mayoral Elections

The vast bulk of this page's contents is statistical: the main results of each of the 31 elections to the Mayoralty of the City of New York since Greater New York was consolidated from The Five Boroughs in 1897-1898.* Results for minor candidates, for major candidates on minor party lines, and for each borough, are also available for many years but far from all. (See #Suggestions for writers below.)

There are brief comments about some of the elections, and separate articles have been written for the three most recent ones (1997, 2001 and 2005). An attempt has also been made to compare some of the different elections and to provide tables that cover many or all of the elections.

• (Between 1834 and 1896, mayoral elections were held for the former City of Brooklyn and for the City of New York when it encompassed just the present Borough of Manhattan. The 1886 election for the latter's Mayor is briefly noted in the comments for 1897. A former Mayor of Brooklyn, Seth Low, was elected Mayor of the Five Boroughs in 1901, but lost the elections of 1897 and 1903.)

The numbers provide the raw material for a reader to make his or her own judgements, but they do not completely replace what will be missing until a separate article is written: a proper narrative account of the rich and colorful history of elections to what has been called (after the Presidency) "America's second toughest job".

Suggestions for readers

Readers who want to gain some view of this history as it applies to particular campaigns or candidates might do well to start at the Summary Tables or contents box and then follow the links to a particular election year (with commentary if any), a particular candidate or a particular political party. The external references and links to outside sources also provide fuller discussions of some elections, campaigns, candidates and movements.

Some Wikipedia articles that bear most closely on New York's municipal politics are History of New York City, Tammany Hall, American Labor Party, Liberal Party of New York, Conservative Party of New York, Independence Party of New York and Working Families Party. But particularly rewarding, when available, are the fuller biographies of the candidates. By comparing several participants' stories, the reader can often reconstruct a fair idea of the atmosphere, personalities, issues and course of a particular election or series of elections.

Suggestions for writers

As this is written in April 2008, separate articles of any length (which can be linked from this page) about any and all of the elections before 1997 are sorely needed, especially about such important and exciting ones as those of 1917, 1933 and 1965. Shorter narrative explanations on this page (about 3 to 15 lines) would also be helpful for most of the elections.

• [Blank articles have been started for each election; anyone who wants to fill the empty space for a particular election with words, figures or facts can just open the box at the bottom of this page (using "v" or "show") for Mayoral elections in New York City and click the relevant year.]

More details are also needed, in April 2008, for many of the statistical tables on this page, such as the total vote, minor parties, separate party lines for major candidates, the full names of some minor candidates, and the borough-by-borough returns for 1945, 1949, 1957, 1961, 1965, 1969, 1973 and 1997. [Those who would like to add to, correct or improve the reporting of a particular election can just click the "Edit" link closest to that election.]

Some characteristics of mayoral elections in New York

Until a fuller historical article is written, here is a brief sketch of some of the patterns assumed by all sides in New York's mayoral elections, presented as neutrally as possible. Of course, history is often made by breaking those patterns and assumed rules, but these are some of the patterns that held, changed and sometimes returned again.

Democrats, Republicans and Reformers

One pattern, stretching back well before consolidation and lasting into the 1960's, is the conflict between, on one side, Tammany Hall, the Democratic political organization largely built on political patronage with a consequent deep skepticism about Civil Service, the merit system of assigning government jobs, and competitive bidding for city contracts, and on the other hand, its various opponents, including Republicans, businessmen opposed to taxation or extorted bribes, middle-class reformers and labor union activists.

Until the election of Fiorello H. LaGuardia in 1933, it was almost never possible to unite the disparate anti-Tammany elements in a coalition strong enough to prevail for more than one election. (This was not only for negative reasons: Tammany could listen to and satisfy some of its opponents' needs, and could on occasion run candidates of undoubted quality, such as Abram Hewitt to oppose Henry George's United Labor Party in 1886. ) In the reported words of the Tammany boss George Washington Plunkitt, reformers were only "mornin' glories —- looked lovely in the mornin' and withered up in a short time, while the regular machines went on flourishin' forever, like fine old oaks." .

Quite apart from Tammany Hall itself, both Republicans and left-wing reform parties have always had to deal with the overwhelmingly Democratic sympathies of New York City's voters. Neither the various Socialist and labor parties nor the Republicans were ever strong enough to elect a Mayor alone without the support, or at least the benign non-hostility of, other parties and independents.

Fusion, second ballot lines and third parties

The local term for uniting several constituencies or movements against Tammany was Fusion, which usually required the Republicans to abstain from competing with a non-Republican reform candidate (as in the elections of Seth Low in 1901 and John P. Mitchel in 1913). Later the unusual ability of New York candidates to combine (fuse) votes from several different parties allowed Republicans and Democrats to run their own reform candidates on third party lines, such as "Fusion", American Labor, Liberal, Conservative and Independence. In fact, no Republican has ever been elected Mayor of consolidated New York without the support of at least one other significant party, from LaGuardia to the ex-Democrat Michael Bloomberg. See the Summary Tables for other examples.

Even when a candidate could not gain another party's support, he often found it expedient to create a separate line or party name for independent voters to support him, such as "Recovery" (Joseph V. McKee in 1933), "Anticommunist" (Jeremiah Mahoney in 1937), "Experience" (Vincent Impellitteri in 1950) or "Brotherhood" (Robert F. Wagner, Jr. in 1961). In 1965, Rep. John V. Lindsay (R-Liberal) won votes on the "Independent Citizens" line, while his opponent Comptroller Abe Beame (D) won additional votes for "Civil Service Fusion".

Although granting or withholding endorsement was an effective tool for a minor party to influence a candidate's policies and actions, it could sometimes lead to counter-pressure from those who felt that candidates were being swayed too far in the wrong direction. This was one of the main reasons for founding the Conservative Party of New York in 1962 by those upset at the liberalism of Republican Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller and (later) Lindsay, against whose 1965 Mayoral campaign the Conservatives ran William F. Buckley, Jr.

More recently, there has been a trend of reformers working not through third parties (such as the now-dormant Liberals) but through Reform Democratic clubs, leading to lively internal contests such as the 1989 Democratic primary where David Dinkins unseated incumbent Mayor Edward Koch who started his own political career in a Reform Democratic Club. On the other side, however, dissatisfied conservatives have created their own new parties outside the Republican Party, such as the New York State Right to Life Party and the Independence Party of New York.

Not all of these patterns will necessarily continue to hold in the future (while Tammany Hall has never revived), but these are a few of the old patterns from which new patterns will emerge.

Summary tables

Principal candidates' City-wide vote since 1897

This chart has several purposes. One is to provide ordinary readers with simple, basic information from a very detailed page. Another is to provide a handy index for those looking for a particular candidate or campaign. (Just click on the year, the candidate's name or the party name or abbreviation for more details.)

A slightly more sophisticated purpose is to sketch out on one screen the flow of votes across parties and candidates, as affected by fusion, splitting, cross-endorsement and the emergence of new movements or personalities.

Votes in thousands for principal candidates only, generally those winning more than 4.0% (1/25) of the total vote. (Therefore, low votes in a particular year for an otherwise significant party, such as Socialist or Conservative, may not be shown. For some of the lesser left-wing candidates before 1945, see #Collapse of the Socialist Party vote below.) Winner in bold-face in a colored box.

To determine the meaning of abbreviations, click the link or check the list below this table. When party labels are not given under the Democratic or Republican column for a particular year, that indicates the compilers of this article are not aware of another significant party endorsing the Democratic or Republican candidate. But those who need to know this question more definitely for a particular campaign should pursue further research. (Different first names, initials and nicknames may be used for the same person purely to fit the available space.)

year	Democratic	'000	Fusion, Liberal, Independent, etc.	'000	Republican	'000	other major candidates	'000
1897	Robert A. Van Wyck	234	Seth Low, Citizens Union	152	Benjamin F. Tracy	102	Henry George, Jeff D	22
1901	Edward Shepard	265	Seth Low, Fusion	297
1903	Geo. B. McClellan, Jr	315	Seth Low, Fusion	252
1905	George B. McClellan, Jr.	228	Wm Randolph Hearst, Muni. Ownership League	225	William M. Ivins (Senior)	137
1909	William Jay Gaynor	250	Wm R. Hearst, Civic All.	154	Otto Bannard, R-Fusion	177
1913	Edward E. McCall	234	John Mitchel, Fusion	358			Chas Edw. Russell, S	32
1917	John Francis Hylan	314	John P. Mitchel, Fusion	155	William M. Bennett	56	Morris Hillquit, Soc.	145
1921	John Francis Hylan	750			Henry Curran, R-Coalition	333
1925	Jimmy Walker	749			Frank D. Waterman	347	Jacob Panken, Soc.	83
1929	Jimmy Walker	868			Fiorello H. LaGuardia	368	Norman Thomas, S	176
1932	John P. O'Brien	1,054	Joseph McKee, I (write-in)	234	Lewis Pounds	443	Morris Hillquit, Soc.	252
1933	John P. O'Brien	587	Jos.V. McKee, Recovery	609	F.H. LaGuardia, R-Fusion	869
1937	Jeremiah Mahoney, D-Trades Union-Anticomm.	891			Fiorello H. LaGuardia, R-ALP-Fusion-Prog.	1,345
1941	William O'Dwyer	1,054			Fiorello H. LaGuardia, R-ALP-Fusion-United City	1,187
1945	William O'Dwyer	1,125	Newbold Morris, Ind.	408	Jonah Goldstein	432
1949	William O'Dwyer	1,267			Newbold Morris, R-Liberal	956	Vito Marcantonio ALP	557
1950	Ferdinand Pecora, D-Lib.	935	Vincent Impellitteri, Exp	1,161	Edward Corsi	382	Paul Ross, ALP	148
1953	Robert F. Wagner, Jr.	1,023	Rudolph Halley, Lib.-Ind.	467	Harold Riegelman	662
1957	Robert F. Wagner, Jr.	1,509			Robert Christenberry	586
1961	R.F. Wagner, D-L-Brhd	1,237	Lawrence Gerusa, Ind.	322	Louis Lefkowitz	836
1965	Abraham Beame, D-Civil Service Fusion	1,046			John V. Lindsay, R-Lib.-Indep. Citizens	1,149	Wm F. Buckley, Jr, Conservative	341
1969	Mario Procaccino	832	John V. Lindsay, Lib.	1,013	John Marchi, R-Cons.	543
1973	Abraham Beame	961	Albert Blumenthal, Lib.	265	John Marchi	277	Mario Biaggi, Cons.	190
1977	Edward Koch	717	Mario Cuomo, Liberal	588	Roy M. Goodman	59	Barry Farber, Cons.	57
1981	Edward Koch, D-R	913	Frank Barbaro, Unity	163
1985	Edward Koch, D-Ind.	868	Carol Bellamy, Liberal	113	Diane McGrath, R-Cons.	102
1989	David Dinkins	917			Rudolph Giuliani, R-Lib.-Ind.	870
1993	David Dinkins	877			Rudolph Giuliani, R-Lib.	930
1997	Ruth Messinger	479			Rudolph Giuliani, R-Lib.	616
2001	Mark Green, D-Wkg Fam	709			Mike Bloomberg, R-Ind'ce	744
2005	Fernando Ferrer	503			M. Bloomberg, R/L-Ind'ce	753

Abbreviations used in this table: F or Fu. = Fusion, I or Ind. = Independent, Indep. Citizens = Independent Citizens (1965), Ind'ce = Independence Party of New York, L or Lib. = Liberal Party of New York, C or Cons. = Conservative Party of New York, ALP = American Labor Party, S or Soc. = Socialist Party of America, Wkg Fam = Working Families Party, Prog = Progressive, Jeff D = The Democracy of Thomas Jefferson (Henry George, 1897), Muni. Ownership League = Municipal Ownership League, Civic All. = Civic Alliance (Hearst 1909), Anticomm. = Anticommunist (Mahoney 1937), Exp = Experience party (Impellitteri's label for his independent campaign in 1950), Brhd = Brotherhood (Wagner 1961)

How the Boroughs voted in selected years

[More information will be filled in if and when it becomes available.]

See the table above for more information about the candidates and parties involved. Blue indicates a candidate endorsed by the Democratic Party; salmon-pink one endorsed by the Republicans; and buff (or tan) one endorsed by neither party. In 1981, Edward Koch ran on the tickets of both the Democrats and the Republicans.

Click a year to see the table or tables for that particular election (# indicates a link devoted to one specific election rather than to a set of two to six.) Although separate boroughs since 1898, Brooklyn and Manhattan shared New York County until Bronx County was established in 1912, and reported Mayoral elections together until 1917.

borough	Manhattan and The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	City of New York
county	[ New York ]	[ King's ]	[ Queen's ]	[ Richmond ]
1897	Van Wyck 48%	Van Wyck 40%	Van Wyck 41%	Van Wyck 43.5%	Van Wyck 45%
1901	Low 49%	Low 55%	Shepard 49%	Low 50%	Low 51%
1903	McClellan 56%	McClellan 49%	McClellan 56.5%	Low 48%	McClellan 53%
1905	McClellan 42%	Hearst 39%	Hearst 39%	McClellan 44%	McClellan 38%
1909	Gaynor 42.5%	Gaynor 42%	Gaynor 38%	Gaynor 47%	Gaynor 42%
1913	Mitchel 55%	Mitchel 60%	Mitchel 60%	Mitchel 54%	Mitchel 54%

borough	Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Is.	City of New York
county	[ New York ]	[ Bronx ]	[ King's ]	[ Queen's ]	[ Richmond ]
1917	Hylan 46%	Hylan 43%	Hylan 46.5%	Hylan 52%	Hylan 58%	Hylan 47%
1921	Hylan 63%	Hylan 68%	Hylan 62%	Hylan 69%	Hylan 71%	Hylan 64%
1925	Walker 70%	Walker 72%	Walker 61%	Walker 63%	Walker 67%	Walker 66%
#1929	Walker 64%	Walker 63%	Walker 58%	Walker 62%	Walker 58%	Walker 61%
#1932	O'Brien 61%	O'Brien 52%	O'Brien 51%	O'Brien 48%	O'Brien 54%	O'Brien 53%
#1933	LaGuardia 38%	LaGuardia 39%	LaGuardia 44%	LaGuardia 39%	LaGuardia 44%	LaGuardia 40%
#1937	LaGuardia 58%	LaGuardia 62%	LaGuardia 63%	LaGuardia 55%	LaGuardia 56%	LaGuardia 60%
#1941	LaGuardia 56%	LaGuardia 58%	LaGuardia 55%	O'Dwyer 60.5%	O'Dwyer 60%	LaGuardia 52%
1945						O'Dwyer
1949						O'Dwyer
#1950	Impellitteri 40%	Pecora 42%	Pecora 41%	Impellitteri 55.5%	Impellitteri 60%	Impellitteri 44%
#1953	Wagner 48%	Wagner 46%	Wagner 47%	Wagner 41%	Wagner 52%	Wagner 46%
1957						Wagner
1961						Wagner
#1965	Lindsay	Beame	Beame	Lindsay	Lindsay	Lindsay 43%
#1969	Lindsay			Lindsay		Lindsay 41%
#1973						Beame
#1977	Koch	Koch	Koch	Cuomo	Cuomo	Koch
#1981	Koch	Koch	Koch	Koch	Koch	Koch
#1985	Koch	Koch	Koch	Koch	Koch	Koch
#1989	Dinkins	Dinkins	Dinkins	Giuliani	Giuliani	Dinkins
#1993	Dinkins	Dinkins	Dinkins	Giuliani	Giuliani	Giuliani
#1997	Giuliani	Messinger	Giuliani	Giuliani	Giuliani	Giuliani
#2001	Green 52%	Green 55%	Green 53%	Bloomberg 55%	Bloomberg 77%	Bloomberg 50%
#2005	Bloomberg 60%	Ferrer 60%	Bloomberg 58%	Bloomberg 63.5%	Bloomberg 77%	Bloomberg 58%

Upcoming elections

2009

Main article: New York City mayoral election, 2009

Recent elections

2005

Main article: New York City mayoral election, 2005

In 2005, Mayor Bloomberg won every borough but The Bronx (of which his Democratic opponent was the former Borough President) against a Democratic Party split by a divisive primary, in contrast to his first victory in 2001, when Bloomberg carried only Queens and Staten Island.

2005	party	Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
change in Bloomberg's margin of victory, 2001-2005		+ 98,973	– 19,634	+ 97,622	+ 48,125	– 10,705	+ 214,381	+ 17.0%
Bloomberg's margin over Mark Green (2001)		– 22,777	– 21,683	– 28,182	+ 46,904	+ 61,227	+ 35,489	+ 2.4%
Bloomberg's margin over Ferrer (2005)		+ 76,196	– 41,317	+ 69,440	+ 95,029	+ 50,522	+ 249,870	+ 19.4%
Michael R. Bloomberg	Republican\Liberal	171,593	69,577	189,581	184,426	63,267	678,444	52.6%
		52.6%	35.3%	52.7%	57.9%	71.5%
	Independence	25,416	6,840	20,141	17,689	4,559	74,645	5.8%
		7.8%	3.5%	5.6%	5.6%	5.2%
	Total	197,010	76,417	209,723	202,116	67,827	753,089	58.4%
		60.4%	38.8%	58.2%	63.5%	76.7%
Fernando Ferrer	Democratic	120,813	117,734	140,282	107,086	17,304	503,219	39.0%
		37.0%	59.8%	39.0%	33.6%	19.6%
Thomas V. Ognibene	Conservative	1,729	1,185	3,573	5,645	2,498	14,630	1.1%
Anthony Gronowicz	Green	3,195	466	3,112	1,285	239	8,297	0.6%
Jimmy McMillan	Rent Is Too Damn High	1,369	474	1,293	799	176	4,111	0.3%
Audrey Silk	Libertarian	991	234	841	617	205	2,888	0.2%
Martin Koppel	Socialist Workers	758	231	766	384	117	2,256	0.2%
Seth A Blum	Education	322	131	382	264	77	1,176	0.1%
Write-ins		109	1	90	57	12	269	.02%
T O T A L		326,295	196,873	360,061	318,252	88,454	1,289,935

Source: Board of Elections in the City of New York http://www.vote.nyc.ny.us/results.html

2001

Main article: New York City mayoral election, 2001

Boroughs won by Bloomberg in 2001 are in red, those won by Green in blue

The 2001 mayoral election was held on Tuesday, November 6.

Republican incumbent Rudy Giuliani could not run again due to term limits. As Democrats outnumber Republicans by 5 to 1 in the city, it was widely believed that a Democrat would succeed him in City Hall. However, billionaire Michael Bloomberg, a lifelong Democrat, changed his party affiliation a few months before the election in order to avoid a crowded primary, and ran as a Republican. The Democratic primary was meant to be held on September 11 but was postponed due to the September 11 attacks; it was instead held on September 25. The primary opened the way to a bitter run-off between the Hispanic-American Ferrer, and Green, a Caucasian (Green attacked Ferrer's close ties to Al Sharpton), that left the party divided along racial lines.

Bloomberg spent $74 million on his election campaign, which was a record amount at the time for a non-presidential election (Bloomberg would break his own record in 2005). [1] Thanks also in part to active support from Giuliani, whose approval ratings shot up after the September 11 attacks, Bloomberg won a very close general election.

General Election
		Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
Bloomberg-Green margin		-22,777	-21,683	-28,182	+46,904	+61,227	+35,489
Republican- Independence	Michael R. Bloomberg	179,797	80,597	189,040	210,432	84,891	744,757
		46.2%	43.3%	45.8%	55.4%	77.2%	50.3%
Democratic-Working Families	Mark J. Green	202,574	102,280	217,222	163,528	23,664	709,268
		52.0%	54.9%	52.6%	43.1%	21.5%	47.9%
Conservative	Terrance M. Gray	507	642	844	1,219	365	3,577
Liberal-Better Schools	Alan G. Hevesi	2,684	847	2,124	1,886	486	10,331
Green	Julia Willebrand	2,241	670	2,456	1,579	209	7,155
American Dream	Kenneth B. Golding	96	112	163	81	22	474
Libertarian	Kenny Kramer	368	296	338	306	100	1,408
Fusion	Bernhard H. Goetz	203	201	333	253	59	1,049
Marijuana Reform	Thomas K. Leighton	791	529	680	418	145	2,563
	T O T A L	389,261	186,174	413,200	379,702	109,941
							1,480,582

Democratic Primary Runoff
		Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
	Mark Green	131,438	38,256	120,781	94,342	18,183	403,000
	Fernando Ferrer	86,579	106,086	109,831	77,330	7,193	387,019
							790,019

Democratic Primary
		Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
	Fernando Ferrer	60,839	86,571	77,516	49,441	5,084	279,451
	Mark Green	83,856	26,125	77,805	49,692	5,704	243,182
	Peter F. Vallone (Sr.)	25,296	18,268	51,210	48,576	11,842	155,192
	Alan G. Hevesi	32,925	6,066	25,110	27,163	3,504	94,768
	George N. Spitz	1,558	1,264	2,923	2,489	283	8,517
							785,365

Republican Primary
		Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
	Michael Bloomberg	10,959	3,230	10,168	14,543	9,155	48,055
	Herman Badillo	4,161	1,838	4,153	5,700	2,624	18,476
							72,961

1997

Main article: New York City mayoral election, 1997

General Election
		Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
Republican - Liberal	Rudolph W. Giuliani	138,718	81,897	173,343	176,751	45,120	615,829
Democratic	Ruth Messinger	128,478	102,979	145,349	92,194	10,288	479,288
	Others	5,534	2,901	6,259	4,586	1,961	21,241
							1,116,358

Notes:

• In the Democratic Primary, Messinger defeated Rev. Al Sharpton, avoiding a runoff election.
• Figures are for 99% of precincts reporting

Past elections

1993

General Election
		Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
Republican - Liberal	Rudolph W. Giuliani	166,357	98,780	258,058	291,625	115,416	930,236
Democratic	David N. Dinkins	242,524	162,995	269,343	180,527	21,507	876,869
Conservative - Right to Life	George J. Marlin						15,926
							1,889,003

1989

General Election
		Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
Dinkins' lead over Giuliani		+ 97,600	+ 72,471	+ 39,071	– 94,670	– 67,392	+ 47,080
Republican - Liberal - Independent	Rudolph W. Giuliani	157,686	99,800	237,832	284,766	90,380	870,464
Democratic	David N. Dinkins	255,286	172,271	276,903	190,096	22,988	917,544
Right to Life	Henry Hewes						17,460
Conservative	Ronald S. Lauder						9,271
							1,899,845

Democratic Primary
		Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
	David N. Dinkins	151,113	101,274	170,440	113,952	11,122	547,901
	Edward I. Koch	96,923	66,600	139,268	129,262	24,260	456,313
	Harrison J. Goldin	6,889	4,951	9,619	5,857	1,493	28,809
	Richard Ravitch	17,499	5,946	13,214	9,443	1,432	47,534

1985

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
							1,106,762

1981

General Election
		Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
Democratic - Republican	Edward I. Koch	189,631	132,421	261,292	275,812	53,466	912,622
Unity	Frank J. Barbaro	56,702	22,074	48,812	31,225	3,906	162,719
							1,222,644

1977

In his 2005 book Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx Is Burning, historian Jonathan Mahler argues that the New York City blackout of 1977, with its accompanying rioting, enabled the law-and-order advocate Ed Koch to beat out his more left-wing opponents, including incumbent mayor Abe Beame, in the 1977 election.

General Election
		Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
Democratic	Edward I. Koch	184,842	116,436	204,934	191,894	19,270	717,376
Liberal - Neighborhood Govt.	Mario M. Cuomo	77,531	87,421	173,321	208,748	40,932	587,913
Republican	Roy M. Goodman	19,321	6,102	11,491	18,460	3,229	58,606
Conservative	Barry M. Farber						57,437
							1,370,142

Democratic Primary Runoff
		Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
	Edward I. Koch	114,084	69,230	131,538	107,182	9,770	431,839
	Mario M. Cuomo	61,555	55,017	112,862	105,149	19,639	354,222

Democratic Primary
		Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
	Edward I. Koch	49,855	23,237	49,894	51,515	5,747	180,248
	Mario M. Cuomo	25,056	22,939	55,439	56,719	10,335	170,488
	Abraham D. Beame	23,057	25,534	62,921	44,342	7,306	163,610
	Bella Abzug	54,591	20,429	37,790	33,623	4,286	150,719
	Percy Sutton	34,742	24,588	42,215	28,286	1,366	131,197
	Herman Badillo	26,895	34,246	28,838	8,961	868	99,808

1929 to 1973

Some figures and anecdotes courtesy James Trager's New York Chronology (HarperCollins: 2003). Other numbers are from The World Almanac and Book of Facts, then published by The New York World-Telegram (Scripps-Howard), for 1943 (page 412) and 1957 (page 299).

1973

Year	Candidate	Party	Total
1973	Abraham Beame	Democratic	961,130
	John Marchi	Republican	276,585
	Albert H. Blumenthal	Liberal	265,297
	Mario Biaggi	Conservative	189,986

note: All the candidates except Marchi had run in the Democratic primary.

1969

Year	Candidate	Party	Total	percent
1969	John V. Lindsay	Liberal	1,012,663	(41.1%)
	Mario Proccacino	Democratic	831,772	(33.8%)
	John Marchi	Republican - Conservative	542,411	(22.1%)

note: In one of the most unusual primary seasons since the conglomeration of greater New York, incumbent (Lindsay) and a former incumbent (Wagner) both lost. Procaccino won with less than 37% of the vote, which inspired the use of runoffs in future primaries. In the general election, Lindsay carried Manhattan (the only borough he carried in losing the Republican primary to Marchi, 107,000 to 113,000) as he did in 1965, but he was only 4,000 votes ahead of giving first place in Queens to Procaccino. Turnout dropped to 2.4 million from 2.6 million in 1965. (In the same election, Lindsay's 1965 opponent Abe Beame was easily returned to his old job of Comptroller.)

1965

Year	Candidate	Party	Total	percent
1965	John V. Lindsay	Republican - Liberal - Independent Citizens	1,149,106	(43.3%)
	Abraham Beame	Democratic - Civil Service Fusion	1,046,699	(39.5%)
	William F. Buckley, Jr.	Conservative	341,226	(12.9%)

Over a quarter of Lindsay's vote (293,194) was on the Liberal Party line, while over 60,000 of Beame's votes were on the Civil Service Fusion line. John Lindsay, a Republican Congressman from the "Silk-Stocking" District on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, carried Manhattan, Queens, and traditionally-Republican Staten Island (Richmond), while Abe Beame, the City Comptroller, carried The Bronx and his home borough of Brooklyn. William F. Buckley, Jr. won over a quarter (25.2%) of the Staten Island vote, 17.3% of Queens', 13.9% of The Bronx's, 12.7% of Brooklyn's and only 7.2% of Manhattan's. (Five years later, Bill Buckley's brother James L. Buckley would win the 1970 New York state election for U.S. Senator on the Conservative Party line against divided opposition.)

1957 & 1961

Year	Candidate	Party	Total
1961	Robert F. Wagner, Jr.	Democratic - Liberal - Brotherhood	1,237,421
	Louis Lefkowitz	Republican	835,691
	Lawrence E. Gerusa	Independent	321,604
1957	Robert F. Wagner, Jr.	Democratic	1,508,775
	Robert Christenberry	Republican	585,768

The Wagner-Christenberry campaign has left us one of the great campaign anecdotes: Christenberry was railing against Wagner's police department for not doing enough to fight corruption and vice, so the cops raided Christenberry's illegal casino in the basement of the hotel he was manager of.

1953

1953	party	Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
Rudolph Halley	Liberal	76,884	112,825	162,275	73,192	3,514	428,690	19.1%
	Independent	7,648	9,853	13,264	7,356	295	38,416	1.7%
	Total	84,532	122,678	175,539	80,548	3,809	467,106	20.8%
		17.1%	27.4%	24.1%	15.7%	6.4%
Robert F. Wagner, Jr.	Democratic	236,960	206,771	339,970	207,918	31,007	1,022,626	45.6%
		47.9%	46.2%	46.6%	40.6%	51.8%
Harold Riegelmann	Republican	147,876	97,224	183,968	208,829	23,694	661,591	29.5%
		29.9%	21.7%	25.2%	40.8%	39.6%
McAvoy	American Labor Party	14,904	13,290	17,337	7,182	332	53,045	2.4%
David L. Weiss	Socialist Workers	10,683	7,760	13,062	7,254	1,019	2,054	0.1%
Nathan Karp	Industrial Gov't [SLP]						916	.04%
scattered							180	.01%
unrecorded (blank, etc.)							36,630	1.6%
T O T A L		494,955	447,723	729,876	511,731	59,861	2,244,146

"Industrial Government" is a ballot title sometimes used, to avoid confusion or to meet election laws, by the Socialist Labor Party.

1950

1950	party	Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
Ferdinand Pecora	Democratic	166,240	157,537	271,670	104,734	11,177	711,358	27.1%
	Liberal	48,370	59,717	90,576	24,489	841	223,993	8.5%
	Total	214,610	217,254	362,246	129,223	12,018	935,351	35.6%
		35.1%	41.6%	41.0%	23.6%	19.0%
Vincent Impellitteri	Experience	246,608	215,913	357,322	303,448	37,884	1,161,175	44.2%
		40.4%	41.3%	40.5%	55.5%	60.0%
Edward Corsi	Republican	102,575	54,796	113,392	99,225	12,384	382,372	14.6%
		16.8%	10.5%	12.8%	18.1%	19.6%
Paul Ross	American Labor Party	47,201	34,575	49,999	14,904	899	147,578	5.6%
T O T A L		610,994	522,538	882,959	546,800	63,185	2,626,476

Vincent Impellitteri, the mayor who succeeded mid-term after William O'Dwyer resigned on August 31st, 1950, swept Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island in this special election, while Ferdinand Pecora (aided by the Liberal Party) took very narrow leads in The Bronx and Brooklyn. In this election, the Liberals heavily outpolled the American Labor Party in every borough but Manhattan and Staten Island, where the two parties' votes were almost equal.

1945 & 1949

Year	Candidate	Party	Total
1949	William O'Dwyer	Democratic	1,266,512
	Newbold Morris	Republican-Liberal	956,069
	Vito Marcantonio	American Labor	556,626
1945	William O'Dwyer	Democratic	1,125,357
	Jonah J. Goldstein	Republican (though a Democrat until the day of nomination)	431,601
	Newbold Morris	Independent	408,348

1941

As in 1937, more voters in every borough voted on the Democratic line than on any other single line; but this time (unlike 1937) the Democrat carried Queens and Staten Island over LaGuardia, shrinking the Mayor's overall citywide percentage lead from 20% to 6%. As in 1937, LaGuardia's overall margin of victory depended on the American Labor Party, which again won more votes than the Republicans in The Bronx. While the total vote and Republican vote were almost identical in 1937 and 1941, the ALP line lost 47,000 votes (2.4%), almost entirely from Manhattan (-18,000) and Brooklyn (-26,000), as the vote on LaGuardia's other lines (Fusion, Progressive and United City) dropped from 187,000 (8.3%) to 86,000 (3.7%). The Democratic Party gained about 160,000 votes lost by LaGuardia (and about 7½ % of the total). In both Queens and Richmond (Staten Island), the swing was even greater: LaGuardia lost over 15% of the total vote (and the Democrats gained over 15%) from 1937, as his lead there flipped from roughly 56%-44% to 39%-60%.

1941	party	Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
change in LaGuardia's margin of victory, 1937-1941		– 21,481	– 31,205	– 116,061	– 133,684	– 19,160	– 321,591	– 14.5%
LaGuardia's margin over Jeremiah Mahoney (1937)		+ 91,989	+ 105,517	+ 207,869	+ 40,966	+ 7,533	+ 453,874	+ 20.3%
LaGuardia's margin over O'Dwyer (1941)		+ 70,508	+ 74,312	+ 91,808	– 92,718	– 11,627	+ 132,283	+ 5.8%
Fiorello H. LaGuardia	Republican	188,851	103,420	242,537	116,359	17,318	668,485	29.5%
		35.6%	22.9%	30.5%	27.1%	30.7%
	American Labor Party	81,642	135,900	174,601	39,693	3,538	435,374	19.2%
		15.4%	30.1%	21.9%	9.3%	6.3%
	City Fusion	21,642	14,719	17,024	8,759	1,223	63,367	2.8%
	United City	6,090	5,568	5,694	1,770	170	19,292	0.9%
	Total	298,225	259,607	439,856	166,581	22,249	1,186,518	52.4%
		56.2%	57.6%	55.2%	38.8%	39.4%
William O'Dwyer	Democratic	227,717	185,295	348,048	259,299	33,876	1,054,235	46.6%
		42.9%	41.1%	43.7%	60.5%	60.1%
George W. Hartmann	Socialist	4,790	6,005	8,574	2,973	274	22,616	1.0%
T O T A L		530,732	450,907	796,478	428,853	56,399	2,263,369

1937

1937	party	Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
LaGuardia's margin over Mahoney		+ 91,989	+ 105,517	+ 207,869	+ 40,966	+ 7,533	+ 453,874	+ 20.3%
Fiorello H. LaGuardia	Republican	181,518	96,468	228,313	144,433	23,879	674,611	30.2%
		32.1%	22.0%	29.2%	37.3%	38.4%
	American Labor Party	99,735	138,756	200,783	40,153	3,363	482,790	21.6%
		17.6%	31.6%	25.7%	10.4%	5.4%
	Fusion	39,959	30,677	55,423	26,217	7,280	159,556	7.1%
		7.1%	7.0%	7.1%	6.8%	11.7%
	Progressive	7,783	6,421	9,997	3,136	336	27,673	1.2%
	Total	328,995	272,322	494,516	213,939	34,858	1,344,630	60.2%
		58.1%	62.0%	63.3%	55.3%	56.1%
Jeremiah T. Mahoney	Democratic	233,120	163,856	282,137	171,002	27,100	877,215	39.2%
		41.2%	37.3%	36.1%	44.2%	43.6%
	Trades Union	2,044	1,378	2,490	1,014	122	7,048	0.3%
	Anti-Communist	1,842	1,571	2,020	957	103	6,493	0.3%
	Total	237,006	166,805	286,647	172,973	27,325	890,756	39.8%
		41.9%	38.0%	36.7%	44.7%	43.9%
T O T A L		566,001	439,127	781,163	386,912	62,183	2,235,386

Note that the leading line in every borough, and in the City as a whole, is the Democratic line for Judge Mahoney. Running on the Republican line alone (as he did when losing the election of 1929), Mayor LaGuardia would have lost every borough, but he carried all five when the American Labor Party line was added. The ALP line did better than the Republican line in The Bronx, although worse than the Democratic one.

1933

1933	party	Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
Fiorello H. LaGuardia	Republican - Fusion	203,479	151,669	331,920	154,369	27,085	868,522	40.4%
		38.4%	38.8%	44.4%	39.3%	43.7%
Joseph V. McKee	Recovery	123,707	131,280	194,558	141,296	18,212	609,053	28.3%
		23.3%	33.6%	26.0%	36.0%	29.4%
John P. O'Brien	Democratic	192,649	93,403	194,335	90,501	15,784	586,672	27.3%
		36.3%	23.9%	26.0%	23.0%	25.4%
Charles Solomon	Socialist	10,525	14,758	26,941	6,669	953	59,846	3.0%
	(Subtotal)	530,360	391,110	747,754	392,835	62,034
Robert Minor	Communist						26,044	1.3%
	T O T A L						2,150,137

Collapse of the Socialist Party vote

In 1933, a year that might have favored the Socialist Party's chances, Morris Hillquit had died, Norman Thomas refused to run again for Mayor, and the Socialist vote (previously as high as one-eighth to one-fifth of the total) collapsed irretrievably from a quarter of a million to sixty thousand (one-thirtieth of the total). Many supporters of Thomas' 1929 campaign defected (some, like Paul Blanshard leaving the Party) to support LaGuardia. By the time of the next Mayoral election in 1937, which the Socialist Party decided by internal referendum not to contest, many reformers and trade-unionists who wanted to support major-party progressives like LaGuardia (R-ALP-Fusion), Gov. Herbert Lehman (D-ALP) and Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt from outside the two-party structure backed the American Labor Party (ALP), the Social Democratic Federation and later the Liberal Party of New York. After a disastrous gubernatorial campaign in 1938 (where Thomas and George Hartmann won only 25,000 votes out of over 4.7 million), the Socialist Party lost its separate line on the New York ballot, allowed its members to join the ALP, and in fact encouraged them to do so. In 1939, the Socialist Harry W. Laidler (a co-founder of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society and League for Industrial Democracy) was elected to the New York City Council on the ALP's ticket, but lost its renomination two years later because of rivalry with the Communists.

The Rise and Fall of the Socialist Vote for Mayor of the City of New York
year	Social-Democratic Party & Socialist Party of America	votes	%	Socialist Labor Party	votes	%	other left, labor & reform	votes	%
1897				Lucien Sanial	14,467	2.8%	Henry George, Jefferson Dem.	21,693	4.1%
1901	Hanford [Social Dem.]	9,834	1.7%	Keinard	6,213	1.1%
1903	Forman [Social Dem.]	16,956	2.9%	Hunter	5,205	0.9%
1905	Algernon Lee	11,817	2.0%	Kinneally	2,276	0.4%	W.R. Hearst, Muni. Own'ship	224,989	37.2%
1909	Joseph Cassidy	11,768	2.0%	Hunter	1,256	0.2%	Wm R. Hearst, Civic Alliance	154,187	25.9%
1913	Charles Edward Russell	32,057	5.1%	Walters	1,647	0.3%
1917	Morris Hillquit	145,332	21.7%
1921	Jacob Panken	82,607	7.1%	John P. Quinn	1,049	0.1%	Jerome De Hunt, Farmer-Labor	1,008	0.1%
1925	Norman Thomas	39,574	3.5%	Brandon	1,643	0.1%	Fisher, Progressive	1,498	0.1%
1929	Norman Thomas	175,697	12.3%	Olive M. Johnson	6,401	0.4%	Richard Enright, Square Deal	5,965	0.4%
1932	Morris Hillquit	251,656	12.6%
1933	Charles Solomon	59,846	3.0%				Robert Minor, Communist	26,044	1.3%
1937	[no candidate]						F.H. LaGuardia, ALP line only	482,790	21.6%
1941	George W. Hartmann	22,616	1.0%				F.H. LaGuardia, ALP line only	435,374	19.2%

[Click on the year for fuller details. ALP = American Labor Party (see commentary above). Socialist Labor Party candidates and votes not listed by The World Almanac for every year.]

In 1894 and in 1897, Lucien Sanial was the mayoral candidate of the Socialist Labor Party before both the SLP and the Social Democratic Party each split in two. In 1901, Sanial's faction of the SLP, led by Morris Hillquit, and the larger faction of the SDP, led by Eugene V. Debs, united to form the Socialist Party of America, which soon drew away many votes formerly cast for the SLP. For further details, see Hillquit's History of Socialism in the United States (1910) and Howard Quint's Forging of American Socialism (1964), both cited in the #References at the end of this article.

1932

Totals after a court-ordered recount:

Year	Candidate	Party	Total	percent
1932 (after recount)	John P. O'Brien	Democratic	1,054,324	(53.0%)
	Lewis H. Pounds	Republican	443,020	(22.3%)
	Morris Hillquit	Socialist	251,656	(12.6%)
	Joseph V. McKee	Independent/Write-in	241,899	(12.2%)

Joseph V. McKee became Acting Mayor upon the resignation of elected Mayor Jimmy Walker on September 1st, 1932. McKee's write-in total is, in fact, the highest any New York City election would ever see. For the election after the next one, voting machines which would make write-in voting much more difficult were introduced. Machines of this basic design are still being used.

Borough returns before the recount (which did not significantly affect the outcome):

1932 (before recount)	party	Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
John P. O'Brien	Democratic	308,944	181,639	358,945	176,070	30,517	1,056,115	53.2%
		60.8%	52.0%	51.0%	47.9%	54.3%
Lewis H. Pounds	Republican	116,729	48,366	157,152	105,068	16,586	443,901	22.4%
		23.0%	13.9%	22.3%	28.6%	29.5%
Morris Hillquit	Socialist	40,011	68,980	113,622	24,981	2,293	249,887	12.6%
		7.9%	19.8%	16.2%	6.8%	4.1%
Joseph V. McKee	Independent (write-in)	42,299	50,212	73,431	61,648	6,782	234,372	11.8%
		8.3%	14.4%	10.4%	16.8%	12.1%
	T O T A L	507,983	349,197	703,150	367,767	56,178	1,984,275

1929

1929	party	Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
Jimmy Walker	Democratic	232,370	159,948	283,432	166,188	25,584	867,522	61.0%
		63.8%	62.9%	57.7%	61.7%	57.8%
Fiorello H. LaGuardia	Republican	91,944	52,646	132,095	75,911	15,079	367,675	25.8%
		25.3%	20.7%	26.9%	28.2%	34.0%
Norman Thomas	Socialist	37,316	39,181	71,145	24,897	3,248	175,697	12.3%
		10.3%	15.4%	14.5%	9.2%	7.3%
Olive M. Johnson	Socialist Labor	1,238	1,577	2,585	906	95	6,401	0.4%
Richard Enright	Square Deal	1,121	845	2,361	1,354	284	5,965	0.4%
	T O T A L	363,989	254,197	491,618	269,256	44,290	1,423,260

(There were two other minor party lines not included here nor reflected in the totals or the percentages.) The great stock market crash hit Wall Street on October 24-29, 1929, less than two weeks before Election Day.

1897 to 1925

¶ Basic numbers for the elections of 1897 to 1925 come from The World Almanac and Book of Facts for 1929 and 1943. Percentages and borough totals calculated independently. (Because of some anomalies, not all columns and rows add precisely.) First names and informational links gathered from Wikipedia and several external sources, including the free public archive of The New York Times.

1917 to 1925

1925	party	Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
Jimmy Walker	Democratic	247,079	131,226	244,029	103,629	22,724	748,687	65.8%
		69.4%	71.8%	60.9%	63.0%	67.3%
Frank D. Waterman	Republican	98,617	39,615	139,060	58,478	10,794	346,564	30.5%
		27.7%	21.7%	34.7%	35.6%	32.0%
Norman Thomas	Socialist	9,482	11,133	16,809	1,943	207	39,574	3.5%
Brandon	Socialist Labor	388	488	591	155	21	1,643	0.1%
Fisher	Progressive	387	262	528	284	37	1,498	0.1%
TOTAL		355,953	182,724	401,017	164,489	33,783	1,137,966
1921	party	Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
John Francis Hylan	Democratic	261,452	118,235	260,143	87,676	22,741	750,247	64.2%
		62.9%	67.6%	62.1%	69.0%	70.8%
Henry H. Curran	Republican - Coalition	124,253	34,919	128,259	36,415	9,000	332,846	28.5%
		29.9%	20.0%	30.6%	28.6%	28.0%
Jacob Panken	Socialist	28,756	21,255	29,580	2,741	275	82,607	7.1%
		6.9%	12.2%	7.1%	2.2%	0.9%
Jerome T. De Hunt	Farmer Labor	321	133	395	88	71	1,008	0.1%
John P. Quinn	Socialist Labor	316	244	346	123	20	1,049	0.1%
George K. Hinds	Prohibition	375	120	390	111	14	1,010	0.1%
TOTAL		415,473	174,906	419,113	127,154	32,121	1,168,767
1917	party	Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
John Francis Hylan	Democratic	113,728	41,546	114,487	35,399	8,850	314,010	46.8%
		46.4%	42.9%	46.5%	51.7%	58.3%
John Purroy Mitchel	Fusion	66,748	19,247	52,921	13,641	2,940	155,497	23.2%
		27.3%	19.9%	21.5%	19.9%	19.4%
Morris Hillquit	Socialist	51,176	30,374	48,880	13,477	1,425	145,332	21.7%
		20.9%	31.4%	19.9%	19.7%	9.4%
William M. Bennett	Republican	13,230	5,576	29,748	5,916	1,968	56,438	8.4%
		5.4%	5.8%	12.1%	8.6%	13.0%
TOTAL		244,882	96,743	246,036	68,433	15,183	671,277

The November 1917 election turned into a violently contentious referendum on the United States' April 6th entry into World War One, which was immediately opposed (although not without many dissents and defections) by the Socialist Party of Morris Hillquit. According to James Weinstein's The Decline of Socialism in America, 1912-1925 (New York 1967), incumbent Mayor Mitchel, "a highly irregular Democrat", had narrowly lost the Republican primary to Bennett before starting his Fusion campaign. Mitchel and former President Theodore Roosevelt joined in vociferous denunciations of Hillquit's anti-war positions (such as refusing to buy Liberty Bonds), while John F. Hylan was relatively quiet on the subject of the War. Many New Yorkers supported the war effort, while many recent immigrants were strongly opposed.

1897 to 1913

¶ The Bronx and Manhattan, although separate Boroughs since 1898, shared New York County until Bronx County was formed in 1912, and apparently counted their ballots together as late as 1913.

1913	party	The Bronx and Manhattan	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
Edward E. McCall	Democratic	129,113	77,826	20,097	6,853	233,889	37.3%
		39.6%	34.2%	35.0%	43.3%
John Purroy Mitchel	Fusion	178,224	137,074	34,279	8,604	358,181	57.1%
		54.7%	60.2%	59.6%	54.4%
Charles Edward Russell	Socialist	17,383	11,560	2,865	249	32,057	5.1%
Walters	Socialist Labor	952	538	129	28	1,647	0.3%
Raymond	Prohibition	412	587	118	96	1,213	0.2%
TOTAL		326,084	227,585	57,488	15,830	626,987
1909	party	The Bronx and Manhattan	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
William Jay Gaynor	Democratic	134,075	91,666	17,570	7,067	250,378	42.1%
		42.5%	41.9%	38.4%	47.1%
William Randolph Hearst	Civic Alliance	87,155	49,040	15,186	2,806	154,187	25.9%
		27.6%	22.4%	33.2%	18.7%
Otto T. Bannard	Republican - Fusion	86,497	73,860	11,907	5,049	177,313	29.8%
		27.4%	33.8%	26.0%	33.6%
Joseph Cassidy	Socialist	6,811	3,874	1,004	79	11,768	2.0%
Hunter	Socialist Labor	813	369	56	18	1,256	0.2%
TOTAL		315,351	218,809	45,723	15,019	594,902
1905	party	The Bronx and Manhattan	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
George B. McClellan, Jr.	Democratic	140,264	68,788	13,228	6,127	228,407	37.8%
		41.6%	31.4%	37.6%	44.1%
William Randolph Hearst	Municipal Ownership League	123,292	84,835	13,766	3,096	224,989	37.2%
		36.6%	38.8%	39.2%	22.3%
William M. Ivins (Sr)	Republican	64,280	61,192	7,213	4,499	137,184	22.7%
		19.1%	28.0%	20.5%	32.4%
Algernon Lee	Socialist	7,466	3,387	847	117	11,817	2.0%
Kinneally	Socialist Labor	1,485	657	95	39	2,276	0.4%
TOTAL		336,787	218,859	35,149	13,878	604,673
1903	party	The Bronx and Manhattan	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
George B. McClellan, Jr.	Democratic	188,681	102,569	17,074	6,458	314,782	53.4%
		56.1%	48.8%	56.5%	48.1%
Seth Low	Fusion	132,178	101,251	11,960	6,697	252,086	42.7%
		39.3%	48.2%	39.6%	49.9%
Forman	Social Democratic	11,318	4,529	976	133	16,956	2.9%
Hunter	Socialist Labor	3,540	1,411	178	76	5,205	0.9%
John McKee	Prohibition	376	396	47	50	869	0.1%
TOTAL		336,093	210,156	30,235	13,414	589,898
1901	party	The Bronx and Manhattan	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
Edward M. Shepard	Democratic	156,631	88,858	13,679	6,009	265,177	45.8%
		47.4%	42.7%	49.4%	46.1%
Seth Low	Fusion	162,298	114,625	13,118	6,772	296,813	51.2%
		49.1%	55.0%	47.4%	51.9%
Hanford	Social Democratic	6,409	2,692	613	120	9,834	1.7%
Keinard	Socialist Labor	4,323	1,638	181	71	6,213	1.1%
Alfred L. Manierre	Prohibition	617	501	74	72	1,264	0.2%
TOTAL		330,278	208,314	27,665	13,044	579,301
1897	party	The Bronx and Manhattan	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total	%
Robert A. Van Wyck	Democratic	143,666	76,185	9,275	4,871	233,997	44.7%
		48.0%	40.1%	40.7%	43.5%
Seth Low	Citizens' Union	77,210	65,656	5,876	2,798	151,540	28.9%
		25.8%	34.6%	25.8%	25.0%
Benjamin F. Tracy	Republican	55,834	37,611	5,639	2,779	101,863	19.5%
		18.6%	19.8%	24.7%	24.8%
Henry George	Jefferson Democracy	13,076	6,938	1,096	583	21,693	4.1%
Lucien Sanial †	Socialist Labor	9,796	3,593	921	157	14,467	2.8%
TOTAL		299,582	189,983	22,807	11,188	523,560

The election of 1897 was held just before the Five Boroughs formally consolidated into Greater New York in 1898, so it was the present City's first Mayoral election. For preliminary results for all the municipal offices, broken down into smaller districts, see "DEMOCRATS TAKE ALL; The Tammany Ticket Makes Almost a Clean Sweep of the Greater City. ONLY TWO REPUBLICANS IN THE COUNCIL..." in The New-York Times, November 4, 1897 (seen April 11, 2008).

Henry George, author of Progress and Poverty and proponent of the Single Tax on land, died (probably from the strain of campaign speeches) on October 29th, four days before Election Day; his son took his place on the ballot to represent "The Democracy of Thomas Jefferson" . (In 1886, George had been the United Labor Party's candidate for Mayor of the smaller City of New York, now the Borough of Manhattan, winning 68,110 votes to 90,552 for the Democrat Abram Hewitt and 60,435 for the Republican Theodore Roosevelt, although George's supporters maintained that he had lost the election through fraud.)

It appears from the percentages to be an open question whether the Republican Party's decision in 1897 not to support Seth Low's Fusion campaign caused his defeat by splitting the vote against Tammany Hall. Republicans withdrew in Low's favor in 1901 (when he won) and in 1903 (when he lost).

† For Lucien Sanial, see the table notes under #Collapse of the Socialist Party vote above (1933) and ALL THEY NEED IS VOTES; THREE CANDIDATES FOR MAYOR WHO WOULD MAKE A STIR. in The New-York Times for Wednesday, November 4, 1894, page 19.

See also

• Mayor of New York City
• List of mayors of New York City
• History of New York City