NEW YORK – Eric Adams was still holding onto his lead Wednesday in the Democratic primary race for mayor, with Maya Wiley narrowly holding onto second place over Kathryn Garcia.
The Brooklyn borough president had about 31% of the vote with roughly 84% of precincts reporting as of 8 a.m., pulling ahead of Wiley, a de Blasio administration lawyer, who had about 22% of the vote.
Garcia, the former city sanitation commissioner, was trailing with just under 20% of the vote.
There’s still a long way to go before the city Board of Elections declares anyone the winner, with absentee ballots and ranked-choice votes still to be counted.
But Adams was firmly in the driver’s seat in a contentious Democratic race that knocked out businessman Andrew Yang, a one-time frontrunner who conceded Tuesday night after only scooping up about 11% of the vote.
Whoever wins the Democratic primary is all but certain to become the next mayor, though he or she will still have to square off against the Republican Party’s candidate in the Nov. 2 general election to replace Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Turnout was low as expected. Less than 800,000 votes had been tallied as of Wednesday morning, which includes votes cast in-person during the early voting period and on primary day Tuesday.
Mail-in votes only needed to be sent by Tuesday and can arrive as late as June 29 to be valid. They will only be tabulated after that deadline passes.
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