T uesday was the New York City Mayoral Election of 2009 between Democrat William Thompson, and current Mayor Michael Bloomberg. There was an even lower turnout than expected, but an election that was predicted to be dominated by Bloomberg ended up being quite the opposite.
Bloomberg has been under scrutiny over the last few months for his decision to personally do away with term limits for New York City mayors. He has already served two terms and will now serve a third.
However, because of the narrow margin of victory for Bloomberg, it is safe to say that city residents might be rubbed the wrong way with his forceful commercials about Thompson and the over $90 million spent on his campaign, which gave him a 14-1 advantage in campaign spending. The final result was Mayor Bloomberg tallying 51% of the votes and Thompson, the Democratic nominee, 46% of the votes – a close race, considering the expected land-slide by Bloomberg supporters and critics alike.
The slight majority won by the Mayor speaks volumes about the change in feelings about Bloomberg that the city has seen over the last few months, or even weeks. It is still unknown whether the next four years under Bloomberg will be seen as positive or negative for the Mayor’s overall reputation.
