New York City residents will vote for a new mayor on Tuesday as Democrat Eric Adams and Republican Curtis Sliwa race to unseat the unpopular Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Eric Adams, a former New York City police captain and president of the Brooklyn Borough, is favored to win the election over Curtis Sliwa, a radio host and founder of the anti-crime group, the Guardian Angels.
An Emerson College/PIX11/NewsNation poll reported that Adams was ahead of Sliwa 61 percent to 25 percent. Adams expanded his lead, 70 percent to 30 percent, when undecided voters were asked which candidate they were leaning towards.
Sliwa is leading Adams in Staten Island, 61 percent to 28 percent. However, Adams leads in all other boroughs.
According to New Yorkers, crime is the most pressing issue in the city. A majority of residents, 34 percent, said that the next mayor should prioritize reducing crime in the city.
Eric Adams, who has run as a moderate, pro-law enforcement Democrat, has opposed the “defund the police” movement, and has pledged to be tough on crime and end racial injustice in policing. He would be the city’s second black mayor if elected.
Curtis Sliwa has referenced his decades of leading the Guardian Angels, an unarmed crime prevention volunteer organization, as a qualification in the mayoral race to keep New Yorkers safe.
As crime has spiked across the largest city in the nation, thousands of police officers have been put on unpaid leave for failing to comply with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Covid-19 vaccine mandates, leading to law enforcement shortages.
Adams has pressed that police officers and first responders should get vaccinated, but he has not clarified whether or not he would mandate vaccines as mayor. Sliwa has noted that he opposes vaccine mandates of any kind.
The New York City mayoral race will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 2.