Jumaane Williams Wins NYC Public Advocate Race

NEW YORK — City Councilman Jumaane Williams won a commanding victory Tuesday in the crowded special election for public advocate, succeeding in his second attempt at higher office in fewer than six months.

The Flatbush Democrat won 131,975 votes, or 33.3 percent with nearly 97 percent of the ballot scanners reporting, to beat 16 other candidates for the city’s No. 2 elected office, including three of his current Council colleagues, according to preliminary results from the city Board of Elections. NY1 called the race in his favor just before 9:30 p.m.

He will succeed Letitia James, who left the public advocate's office in January to become the state attorney general. She also ascended to the job after serving in the Council.

After his victory was declared, Williams made an emotional speech to supporters in Flatbush. He publicly acknowledged that he has been in therapy for the last three years, a message he said he wanted to deliver to other black men.

"I know there’s a young black boy somewhere who’s young. He’s trying to find his space in the world. Nobody knows he cries himself to sleep sometimes," Williams said as he choked up. "Nobody knows how much he misses his father. Nobody knows what he’s going through. And this world tells you you have to hide it and can’t talk about it."

He continued, "But I got something to say to that young man that I think about very often: My name is Jumaane Williams, and I’m the public advocate of New York City."

The brief campaign to replace James drew a wide range of candidates and cost the city more than $7.1 million — nearly twice the public advocate’s budget — in public campaign funds before the ballots were even cast.

Coming in second place was City Councilman Eric Ulrich, one of the race's few Republicans, who sought to capitalize on frustration with Amazon's abandoning its plan for a Long Island City headquarters. Ulrich, of Queens, had 74,526 votes, or 18.8 percent.

Ulrich conceded the race about 45 minutes after the polls closed, saying he was the first to congratulate Williams on his win. He touted his second-place finish, bolstered by victories in Queens and Staten Island.

"I’m going to work very closely with him to make sure that he does a good job on behalf of the city," Ulrich said.

Turnout was abysmally low. Some 396,930 votes had been counted as of about 11:20 p.m. That's only about 8.5 percent of the city's 4.67 million active registered voters.

The public advocate is the first in line to succeed the mayor and has a citywide bully pulpit to hold the mayor’s feet to the fire. But the office has a small budget and little authority under the City Charter, though its occupant introduce legislation, hold public hearings and conduct inquiries into city agencies. Nevertheless, the job has proven a springboard to higher office for both James and Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Williams ran as an activist elected official with a strong legislative record who is unafraid to take to the streets in protest. The third-term councilman has passed landmark legislation such as the Community Safety Act, which established an inspector general for the NYPD, and a measure banning employers from asking job applicants about their criminal histories during the application process.

"I’ve never been able to sit still for too long, not when there's a march to lead or a bill to pass or a call to take up," Williams said.

Williams emerged as the race’s frontrunner following his unsuccessful but close primary challenge to Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul last year. Despite losing the statewide vote, he won New York City by about 7 percentage points and boosted his profile as the actress and activist Cynthia Nixon’s running mate.

His win came despite revelations over the weekend of his decade-old arrest in a domestic dispute with his then-girlfriend. Three of Williams’s opponents called on Williams to release more details about the incident, but some of his supporters questioned the leak of the sealed arrest to the press.

The final weeks of the race saw Amazon’s abrupt withdrawal from its plan to build a massive new headquarters in Long Island City that would create at least 25,000 jobs in exchange for nearly $3 billion in economic incentives from the city and state.

Several candidates, including Williams, slammed the deal as a giveaway to a powerful corporation with a checkered record of worker treatment. State Assemblyman Ron Kim, a Queens Democrat, even ran under the “No Amazon” party line.

But Ulrich supported the deal and sought to rally voters upset with the politicians who helped scuttle it, as well as those who dislike de Blasio. He reportedly pledged to be a thorn in the Democratic mayor's side if elected.

Williams's win secures his new job until the end of this year. But he'll have to win a possible June primary and a November general election to keep it until James's term ends in 2021.

Here are the full preliminary results from the city Board of Elections with 96.88 percent of the ballot scanners reporting.

1. Jumaane Williams: 131975 votes
2. Eric Ulrich: 74,526 votes
3. Melissa Mark-Viverito: 43,661 votes
4. Michael Blake: 32,852 votes
5. Ydanis Rodriguez: 24,169 votes
6. Dawn Smalls: 16,265 votes
7. Rafael Espinal: 12,822 votes
8. Ron Kim: 11,343 votes
9. Daniel O'Donnell: 11,303 votes
10. Benjamin Yee: 10,332 votes
11. Nomiki Konst: 9,244 votes
12. Helal Sheikh: 4,963 votes
13. David Eisenbach: 3,129 votes
14. Manny Alicandro: 2,970 votes
15. Tony Herbert: 2,899 votes
16. Latrice Walker: 2,263 votes
17. Jared Rich: 922 votes

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the amount of time since Jumaane Williams's last attempt at higher office. His win in the public advocate's race marked his second try at advancement since losing the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor in September. That was fewer than six months ago, not fewer than four months ago.