Bill deBlasio Elected As NY Mayor

The NYC mayoral election results, live on the 2013 November 5th evening, have not been officially counted by any voting center at time of writing. Still, due to early polling numbers from likely voters showing public advocate Bill de Blasio's astonishing 41-point lead over his opponent, former head of the Metropolitan Transit Authority Joe Lhota, many are ready to call the progressive Democratic candidate's victory all but inevitable. But as anyone who's been watching Bill de Blasio's meteoric rise from progressive-but-unlikely Quinn alternative to party darling can tell you, upsets happen all the time. Will Bill de Blasio, a former underdog within his party who defeated then-frontrunner Christine Quinn in a heated Democratic Primary, win the election? Or will his mayoral election results suffer from the dramatic, unprecedented show of voter apathy necessary to give Joe Lhota the title of hizzoner?

The NYC mayoral election results live in the 2013 idiom of a post-Bloomberg New York City. Many are painting the unlikely story of Bill de Blasio's seemingly insurmountable lead over moderate Republican hopeful Joe Lhota as a referendum on the city's growing distaste for the Bloomberg era and its plutocratic policies. As the scores of analyses available on the NYC mayoral election results will echo, voters disappointed with the way the three-term mayor handled his final term in office-- including the political chicanery that allowed him to have a third term in the first place-- as well as those disconcerted with or deeply frightened by the growing cost of living in New York City now find solace in Bill de Blasio's famous story of a city figuratively (or literally, depending on which map you're looking at) divided in two by economic disparity. Though his opponents ceased the opportunity to accuse de Blasio of inciting class warfare, among other various hypocrisies, the powerful image of the growing gap between the city's richest and its poorest had already resonated with those struggling to make ends meet and those looking for change.

The NYC mayoral election results for the 2013 race will be coming to you live on this spot throughout the night. In the meantime, be sure to follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-second coverage of this historic evening that could see New York City elect its first liberal Democrat in twenty-four years! And of course, be sure to share your thoughts on who will win the New York City 2013 mayoral election in the comments section below. Do you stand with Bill de Blasio's call for sweeping reform, or do you agree with critics who say that his plan for a universal pre-kindergarten program is dead on arrival thanks to a taxophobic Albany? Are you more of a Joe Lhota supporter, charmed by his polite populism and excited by his long career of getting stuff done for the city of New York, or does he leave a bad taste in your mouth as a result of his close associations with Bloomberg's business-favoring policies and unpopular former mayor Rudy Gulianni? Let us know in the comments section below!

Update 9:39 PM: Meet the next mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio!