Jumaane Williams Wins 2 More Years As Public Advocate

NEW YORK — Public Advocate Jumaane Williams secured two more years in his job Tuesday night as he easily fended off two challengers from the right.

Williams, a Democrat, was re-elected to serve through 2021 with 563,138 votes, or 77.84 percent, with about 90 percent of the ballots counted, according to unofficial results from the city Board of Elections.

GOP City Council Member Joe Borelli finished second with 144,429 votes, or 19.96 percent, followed by the little-known Libertarian technologist Devin Balkind with 14,524, or about 2 percent.

Williams, formerly a Flatbush council member, beat 16 other candidates for the city's No. 2 office in a February special election to replace Letitia James, who became the state attorney general in January. He'll now serve out the rest of James's term, which ends in 2021.

"I want to make sure that by the time my tenure is done, no one ever again questions what the public advocate is," Williams told supporters at an election night party in Flatbush.

The race for a position first in line to succeed the mayor drew little public attention despite there being no other citywide offices on the ballot this year.

Williams was a heavy favorite going into Tuesday's general election, given his strong name recognition and reputation as an activist elected official in a heavily Democratic city. But Borelli, a Staten Island Republican, ran a feisty campaign as a foil to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

"Places that I thought were progressive strongholds, places where I thought liberalism reigns — you found people there who were sick and tired of Bill de Blasio," Borelli told NY1. He also congratulated Williams on his victory, saying New Yorkers "should all root for him to be the public’s check on the mayor."

The public advocate's office is in many ways a taxpayer-funded soapbox whose occupant has little power other than that of the bully pulpit. Williams has sought to strengthen the office by restructuring it with five deputies overseeing various policy issues, while Borelli has pledged to cut its staff to a "skeleton crew" and possibly eliminate it altogether.

Borelli did not muster much support at the polls despite having endorsements from two law-enforcement unions and his hometown newspaper, the Staten Island Advance.

Some public advocates have used the position as a stepping stone to higher office. It's the job de Blasio held before he won his first mayoral election in 2013, and James became New York's first black woman attorney general after five years as public advocate.

Borelli and Williams were asked in a debate last month whether they might follow in de Blasio's footsteps. Borelli said he'd open a mayoral campaign "the next day" if he won the public advocate's race, while Williams ruled out a run in 2021.

"But it's hard to say never in these things," Williams said.