After being down by double digits in most polls just weeks before the September 15 primary, Brooklyn City Councilmember Bill de Blasio completed his comeback with an overwhelming victory over Mark Green in the runoff for Public Advocate.
De Blasio trounced Green in the September 29 Democratic primary runoff – receiving 63 percent of the vote to Green’s 37 percent – setting de Blasio up as the prohibitive frontrunner in the November 3 election.
“There is so much we have to improve and change about our city,” de Blasio told supporters who were ecstatic about his runoff victory. “Whenever your government is not there for you, I will stand up for you.”
In the September 15 primary, de Blasio scored an upset victory by garnering 33 percent of the vote to Green’s 31 percent in a four-person race. In the following two weeks, the de Blasio campaign built on that momentum and scored a large victory in an otherwise low-voter-turnout runoff.
Green, who served as the city’s first Public Advocate from 1994 to 2001, was seeking a second stint in office and spent much of his campaign touting his experience and 100 ideas for a better New York City. On Tuesday night, Green praised de Blasio for running an effective campaign and wished him luck.
“He had a strategy that correctly assumed that a great field operation in [an] unprecedentedly low turnout was the best route to victory,” Green said. “I had hoped that my record as an advocate would be a strong levee holding back the rising tide [of] political endorsement and unions and street organizers.”
For the past eight years, de Blasio has served in the City Council where he was the Chair of the Council’s General Welfare Committee. Last year, de Blasio was one of the lawmakers leading the charge against extending term limits – a battle he ultimately lost when the City Council and Mayor voted to allow current city legislators seek a third term in office this year.
The Public Advocate answers complaints about residents’ problems with city government, investigates ineffective agencies, proposes solutions that make government more efficient and helps communities gain better access to government. In addition, the Public Advocate is next in line to succeed the Mayor if something were to cause him not to be able to serve.
The Public Advocate’s office has been in the news during the past year with the office’s budget being slashed by nearly 40 percent and some City Councilmembers calling for the post to be abolished entirely.
“The Public Advocate has to be resourceful and creative and be able to take on any of the powers that be to protect the people’s interest,” de Blasio told The Queens Courier in a recent interview.
In November, de Blasio will take on Republican candidate Alex Zablocki, who has worked for former Staten Island Councilmember and current State Senator Andrew Lanza since 2004.
