Democratic party Despite the
extension of term limits in late 2008, the outgoing public advocate,
Betsy Gotbaum announced that she would not run for reelection. Candidates included
Councilman Eric Gioia of Queens, who has raised $2.5 million for the campaign;
Norman Siegel, the civil liberties lawyer who lost in a runoff to Gotbaum in 2001; former public advocate
Mark Green, and Councilman
Bill de Blasio of Brooklyn. After acknowledging he was considering the race in December 2008, Green announced on February 10, 2009, that he would again run for the office. Green was Gotbaum's predecessor as public advocate and the first person to hold this title. His entry changed the landscape of the race, due to his name recognition and ability to raise money. Councilman
John Liu, also from Queens, had been considered a potential candidate for advocate, but he ran for and won the office of
New York City Comptroller—an office uncontested by the current city comptroller,
Bill Thompson, who preferred to seek election as mayor in 2009. Councilwoman
Jessica Lappin and
Guillermo Linares, a former councilman and current commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, were also considering a run
Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV was also considered a potential candidate.
Imtiaz S. Syed, a lawyer, economist, investigative accountant, banker, administrator and management consultant, also ran. On September 15, 2009, de Blasio won 32.6% of the Democratic primary vote and Green 31.5%. (Most of the remaining 36% of the primary voters cast their ballots for Gioia or Siegel.) Neither de Blasio nor Green won enough votes (40%) to avoid a run-off primary election between them two weeks later. On September 29, Bill de Blasio won that run-off election by 62.4% to 37.6% for Mark Green. Turnout was very light, about 220,000 or 10% of the eligible voters, according to The
Associated Press. (In the same run-off election, John Liu led his fellow City Councilman
David Yassky, of Brooklyn, for the Democratic nomination for
New York City Comptroller by 56% to 44% of a similar turnout.)
Debates Republican party Alex Zablocki, an aide to State Senator
Andrew Lanza of
Staten Island, declared his candidacy. At 26 years old, Zablocki was the youngest candidate to run for public advocate.
Other parties • William Lee,
Conservative Party of New York • Maura DeLuca,
Socialist Workers Party • Jim Lesczynski,
Libertarian Party of New York ==Campaign==