1989 New York City mayoral election


The New York City mayoral election of 1989 occurred on Tuesday, November 7, 1989, with Democratic candidate, Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins, narrowly defeating U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Rudy Giuliani, the Republican nominee. They also faced several third party candidates. Dinkins replaced outgoing Democratic incumbent mayor Ed Koch; Dinkins had defeated Koch in the Democratic primary.
Dinkins won with 50.42% of the vote to Giuliani's 47.84%.
Whereas the two preceding mayoral elections of the 1980s had been Democratic landslide victories, with all five boroughs voting to re-elect incumbent Ed Koch, the 1989 election was a closely contested race that finished with a narrow 2.58% margin of victory for David Dinkins. Dinkins won majorities in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Brooklyn, while Giuliani carried Queens and Staten Island, the latter by a landslide margin. 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.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary

Results

Giuliani won the Republican Primary, defeating Ron Lauder 77,150 to 37,960

General election

Results

Giuliani vote was 815,387 Republican and 55,077 Liberal. Other vote was 1,732 Lenora Fulani-New Alliance; 1,671-James Harris-Socialist Workers; 1,118 Warren Raum-Libertarian; 435 Mazelis-Workers League.