Race, gender, class, and ethnicity in New York mayoral elections

New York Mayor Series: Part Three

This Tuesday, New Yorkers from all over the five boroughs will go to their local polling stations to vote for – according to the most recent polls – a white man for mayor.

This is typical in New York City history, but there have been a few exceptions to the rule, and in this election 44 percent of the candidates are non-white. Only one woman is running, Francisca Villar, even though women make up 53 percent of the city’s population.

The only real competition for mayor comes from City Comptroller Bill Thompson Jr. If Thompson is elected, he will be the second black New York mayor in history.

I have listed below how four factors have influenced the mayoral race:

Gender

Aside from 89 years of voting power, women have played a very small role in mayoral elections. No woman has ever been elected mayor and, as evident by this election, there tends to be few female candidates.

Villar – a Dominican female immigrant – is remarkable in how much she stands out from the 2009 candidates. She is mainly running on an economic justice platform but is only one of two candidates (the other being Billy Talen of the Green Party) to mention fighting racist profiling by police in the 2009 General Election Guide. Villar is also part of the second and third largest races in the city, Hispanic and black.

She was not allowed entry to the mayoral debates.

Ethnicity

Historically, New York has been a city run by white Protestants. Although only a few candidates have been Catholic or Jewish, that may be changing. The last two mayors – Guilliani was Catholic and Bloomberg is Jewish – may be a sign of the times.

Race

The voting power of the minorities in New York City are staggering for most major American cities. Whites make up the largest group, at 35 percent, but Hispanics (27 percent), blacks (27 percent), and Chinese (5 percent) make up a sizable portion.

Minorities will continue to play an important role in choosing the mayor and will probably be the greatest voting force in the future. For example, there is a black solidarity rally for Thompson today in Brooklyn. Rev. Al Sharpton has endorsed Thompson.

Aside from the only black mayor, David Dinkins, the population of the city has not actually factored into the candidates for mayor.

Class

Bloomberg has spent more campaign money on a public office – over $100 million - than any other American in history. Considering the median income of New York households is around $50,000, Bloomberg has no problem buying this election as the richest New Yorker.

This reporter has saved every single advertisement I’ve got in the mail for mayor. I have eleven advertisements for Bloomberg. I have none for Thompson.

In one my previous posts I mentioned the vast powers of the mayor of New York possibly being harmful to the democratic process in the city. I now also feel that this election is out of control and Bloomberg is using his vast wealth to control the race.