mayoral race in new york

The devastation caused by Superstorm Sandy a year ago today thrust the issue of climate change into the center of the presidential campaign and to the top of the national political agenda. And yet in the mayoral race for New York City, one of the epicenters of the tragedy, talk of climate is practically nowhere to be heard. In nearly all of the mayoral debates and forums held this year, the issues of global warming and Superstorm Sandy have not come up. 

New York hasn’t elected a Democratic mayor in 28 years. The winner of that race, Ed Koch, subsequently endorsed Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg. Both became mayor. Neither is a Democrat. And while analysts cite abnormal circumstances – as they inevitably do in such situations – a slightly longer perspective shows that New York has had a non-Democratic mayor for most of the past half century.