By Ivan Pereira
How much does it cost to win a third mayoral term in New York City?
The answer, according to the latest information released by the city Campaign Finance Board Friday, is $102 million. That is how much Mayor Michael Bloomberg doled out in his tight victory over city Comptroller William Thompson.
The mayor, who used his own money to finance his win, outspent his Democratic challenger by more than 1,100 percent, CFB information shows, as Thompson spent roughly $9 million on the election.The mayor had $1 million left of his own dough in his campaign coffers.
Although the two were split by a wide margin in the financing of their races, the results from the Nov. 3 election showed that Bloomberg paid a hefty price in the borough to stay in office.
The mayor earned his third term with 557,059 votes, or 50.6 percent of the total vote, citywide compared to Thompson, who had 506,717 votes, according to the city Board of Elections. Based on those statistics, Bloomberg spent a hefty $183 for every vote he earned in the city, while Thompson shelled out a mere $17 for each vote he drew.
In Queens, where Bloomberg won most districts except for parts of western Queens and all of southeast Queens, both candidates spent a little less than the city average to get their borough votes.
Roughly 154,000 Queens voters chose Bloomberg on Election Day, beating Thompson by approximately 33,000 votes in the borough, the BOE said. If both candidates divided their total spending five ways equally for each borough, then the mayor would have spent roughly $132 on each Queens vote compared to $15 for Thompson.
Despite Bloomberg’s huge media campaign, voters in the areasof Queens that went to Thompson said they were upset over the mayor’s move to extend term limits last year and chose the comptroller because they wanted change.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
