Election Name: | 1989 New York City mayoral election |
Country: | New York City |
Type: | presidential |
Ongoing: | no |
Previous Election: | 1985 New York City mayoral election |
Previous Year: | 1985 |
Next Election: | 1993 New York City mayoral election |
Next Year: | 1993 |
Election Date: | November 7, 1989 |
Candidate1: | David Dinkins |
Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
Popular Vote1: | 917,544 |
Percentage1: | 50.42% |
Candidate2: | Rudy Giuliani |
Party2: | Republican Party (United States) |
Alliance2: | Liberal Party of New York |
Popular Vote2: | 870,464 |
Percentage2: | 47.84% |
Map Size: | 250px |
Mayor | |
Before Election: | Ed Koch |
Before Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
After Election: | David Dinkins |
After Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
The 1989 New York City mayoral election was held on Tuesday, November 7.
Incumbent Mayor Ed Koch, who had served since 1978, ran for an unprecedented fourth term in office but was defeated in the Democratic Party primary by Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins. Dinkins went on to narrowly defeat U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Rudy Giuliani, the candidate of both the Republican Party and Liberal Party of New York.[1] Dinkins won with 50.42% of the vote to Giuliani's 47.84%.[2]
Whereas the two preceding mayoral elections of the 1980s had been landslide victories for Koch, who had not lost a single borough and had received the co-endorsement of the Republican Party in 1981, this election was a closely contested race. Dinkins won majorities in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Brooklyn, while Giuliani carried Queens and won a landslide on Staten Island. Four years later, in the 1993 election, Dinkins and Giuliani would face each other again in a re-match and Dinkins would narrowly lose to Giuliani in his bid for re-election.
Democrats would not win a mayoral election in New York City again until 2013.