# 1977 New York City mayoral election

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The New York City mayoral election of 1977 occurred on Tuesday, November 8, 1977. U.S. Representative Ed Koch defeated Secretary of State Mario Cuomo in both the Democratic Party primary and the general election, with Cuomo running on the Liberal Party ticket.
In the Democratic primary on September 8, incumbent mayor Abraham Beame was challenged by five other Democrats, including Representative Ed Koch, New York Secretary of State Mario Cuomo, and feminist activist and former Representative Bella Abzug. In the initial primary, Koch won a narrow victory over the field despite carrying none of New York's five boroughs and only 19.8% of the popular vote. Because no candidate received over forty percent of the vote, a runoff vote was held between Koch and Cuomo, who had already won the Liberal Party nomination. Koch defeated Cuomo by winning narrow victories in every borough but Staten Island.
In the general election, which Cuomo decided to contest on the Liberal ticket, Koch was again victorious, coming within a few hundred votes of an outright majority. Republican Roy M. Goodman and Conservative Barry Farber finished a distant third and fourth, respectively.

## Background

In October 1975, with the city on the verge of bankruptcy, Mayor Beame asked the federal government for a bailout. President Gerald Ford refused, leading to the memorable New York Daily News headline: "Ford to City: Drop Dead". As a result, Mayor Beame laid off many police officers and other city employees, which was followed by an increase in crime. (The next month, Ford relented in part, signing the New York City Seasonal Financing Act of 1975, which extended $2.3 billion in federal loans to the city for three years.)
A 982-page report from the Securities and Exchange Commission blamed Beame's mismanagement for the city's financial mess, which his opponents seized on as an electoral issue. Beame's struggles with the economy and crime, which had led to a decrease in the population of New York City, encouraged several Democrats to challenge him.

## Liberal Party convention

The Liberal Party convention was held on May 19, 1977. Cuomo defeated Abzug for the nomination.

### Results

1977 Liberal convention :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Liberal | Mario Cuomo | 238 | 95.20% |
| | Liberal | Abstention | 7 | 2.80% |
| | Liberal | Bella Abzug | 5 | 2.00% |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 231 | 92.40 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 250 | 100.00% |
    Source: OurCampaigns.com

## Democratic primary

The Democratic primary was held on September 8, 1977.

### Candidates

* Bella Abzug, former U.S. Representative from the West Side and candidate for U.S. Senate in 1976
* Herman Badillo, U.S. Representative from the South Bronx
* Abraham Beame, incumbent Mayor of New York City
* Mario Cuomo, Secretary of State of New York
* Joel Harnett, civic watchdog
* Ed Koch, U.S. Representative from Greenwich Village
* Percy Sutton, Manhattan Borough President

#### Withdrew

* Edward N. Costikyan, reformer, attorney, and Beame's 1965 campaign manager (endorsed Koch)
Abzug represented parts of Manhattan and the Bronx in the U.S. House. In 1975, she left her seat to run for the U.S. Senate but was narrowly defeated in the Democratic primary by Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Cuomo, a liberal from Queens, had been appointed Secretary of State by Governor Hugh Carey in 1976, after losing the election for lieutenant governor in 1974.
Ed Koch, a Jewish politician from Greenwich Village, began his career as "just a plain liberal," but shifted rightward, towards being a "liberal with sanity".

### Campaign

Koch ran to the right of the other candidates, on a "law and order" platform. A major blackout affected New York City from July 13, 1977 to July 14, 1977. The blackout was localized to New York City and the immediate surroundings, and resulted in citywide looting. According to historian Jonathan Mahler, the blackout and the subsequent rioting helped catapult Koch and his message of restoring public safety to front-runner status. Mayor Beame accused Con Edison, the power provider for New York City, of "gross negligence". Koch criticized Beame for losing control of the streets and failing to ask Governor Carey to call in the National Guard.

### Endorsements
#### Individuals

* Shirley MacLaine, actress
* Marlo Thomas, actress

#### Labor unions

* Local 1199
* Marine Engineers Benevolent Association

#### Other organizations

* 10,000 hospital workers

#### Individuals

* Chita Rivera, actress
* Raul Julia, actor

#### Radio stations

* WCBS

#### Other organizations

* West Brooklyn Independent Democrats
* Several Hispanic labor organizations

#### State legislators

* Stanley Steingut, Speaker of the New York Assembly and Assemblyman from Brooklyn

#### City officials

* Donald Manes, Borough President of Queens

#### Individuals

* John DeLury
* Bert Powers, president of the New York Typographical Union No. 6 and leader of the 1962–1963 New York City newspaper strike

#### Labor unions

* Central Labor Council
* ILGWU
* United Federation of Teachers
* Transport Workers Union of America

#### Federal executive branch officials

* Robert F. Wagner Jr., former U.S. Ambassador to Spain and mayor of New York City

#### Federal legislators

* Mario Biaggi, U.S. Representative from the Bronx and candidate for mayor in 1973

#### State executive branch officials

* Hugh Carey, Governor of New York

#### Newspapers

* The New York Times
* The Village Voice

#### Labor unions

* 26 labor organizations

#### Other organizations

* Liberal Party of New York

#### Individuals

* Don Pippin, stage actor
* Phil Newman, businessman

#### Federal legislators

* Stephen J. Solarz

#### City officials

* Bess Myerson, former Commissioner of Consumer Affairs and Miss America 1945

#### Newspapers

* The New York Post
* New York Daily News

#### Other organizations

* Citizens Union

#### Federal executive branch officials

* Nicholas Katzenbach, former U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Undersecretary of State

#### Federal legislators

* Charles Rangel, U.S. Representative from Harlem

#### Other individuals

* Ellen Sulzberger Straus, philanthropist and businesswoman

#### Newspapers

* Amsterdam News
* New York Voice

#### Labor unions

* Allied Health Services Union

#### Other organizations

* Baptist Ministers Conference of Greater New York and Vicinity
* New York Ministerial Alliance

### Polling

| Poll Source | Dates Administered | Beame | Abzug | Cuomo | Koch | Sutton | Badillo |
| New York Times/CBS News | August 23, 1977 | 17% | 17% | 14% | 12% | 9% | 7% |

### Results

1977 Democratic mayoral primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Ed Koch | 180,248 | 19.81% |
| | Democratic | Mario Cuomo | 170,488 | 18.74% |
| | Democratic | Abraham Beame (incumbent) | 163,610 | 17.98% |
| | Democratic | Bella Abzug | 150,719 | 16.56% |
| | Democratic | Percy Sutton | 131,197 | 14.42% |
| | Democratic | Herman Badillo | 99,808 | 10.97% |
| | Democratic | Joel Harnett | 13,927 | 1.53% |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 9,760 | 1.0% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 909,997 | 100.00% |
    Source: OurCampaigns.com

#### Results by borough

    1977 Democratic Primary Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total Edward I. Koch 50,806 23,453 49,470 52,002 5,812 181,544 Mario M. Cuomo 25,331 23,028 54,845 56,698 10,430 170,332 Abraham D. Beame 23,758 25,747 63,304 44,607 7,337 164,753 Bella Abzug 56,045 20,435 37,236 33,883 4,314 151,913 Percy Sutton 35,012 24,801 42,903 28,525 1,399 132,640 Herman Badillo 27,193 35,007 28,909 9,051 876 101,036

### Democratic runoff campaign

As no candidate obtained the needed 40%, a runoff election was scheduled. The runoff election was held on September 19, 1977 between the top two vote getters, Koch and Cuomo.

### Results

1977 Democratic mayoral primary runoff :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Ed Koch | 431,849 | 54.94% |
| | Democratic | Mario Cuomo | 354,222 | 45.06% |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 77,627 | 9.88 |
    Source: OurCampaigns.com

#### Democratic primary results by borough

1977 Democratic Primary Runoff :
| | Manhattan | The Bronx | Brooklyn | Queens | Staten Island | Total |
| Edward I. Koch | 115,251 | 69,612 | 131,271 | 107,033 | 9,835 | 433,002 |
| Mario M. Cuomo | 61,570 | 55,355 | 112,587 | 105,522 | 19,799 | 354,833 |

## Republican primary

The Republican primary was held on September 8, 1977.

### Candidates

* Barry Farber, talk radio host
* Roy M. Goodman, State Senator from Manhattan

### Results

1977 Republican mayoral primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Roy M. Goodman | 44,667 | 56.22% |
| | Republican | Barry Farber | 34,782 | 43.78% |
| Majority | Majority | 9,885 | 12.44 | |
    Source: OurCampaigns.com

## General election
### Candidates

* Vito P. Battista, former Republican Assemblyman from Brooklyn (United Taxpayers)
* Elijah C. Boyd (U.S. Labor)
* Mario Cuomo, Secretary of State of New York (Liberal)
* Barry Farber, talk radio host (Conservative)
* Catarino Garza (Socialist Workers)
* Roy M. Goodman, State Senator from Manhattan (Republican)
* Ed Koch, U.S. Representative from Greenwich Village (Democratic)
* William Lawry (Libertarian)
* Kenneth F. Newcombe (Communist)
* Louis P. Wein (Independence)

### Campaign

Though Koch won the runoff convincingly, Cuomo remained in the race as the Liberal Party nominee.
Though Governor Carey had persuaded Cuomo to run for mayor in the first place, he threw his support to Koch and urged Cuomo to stand down for the sake of party unity. Cuomo refused.
While Koch had a reputation as a crusading reformer, that summer he quietly promised plum city jobs to the political powerbrokers in the boroughs in exchange for their support. Cuomo ran on banning the death penalty, which backfired with New Yorkers during a time of high crime rates. Cuomo then went negative with ads that likened Koch to unpopular former mayor John Lindsay. His supporters used the inflammatory slogan "Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo". Meanwhile, Koch backers accused Cuomo of anti-Semitism and pelted Cuomo campaign cars with eggs.

### Polling

| Poll Source | Dates Administered | Koch (D) | Cuomo (L) | Farber (C) | Goodman (R) |
| New York Post | November 1–3, 1977 | 49.5% | 35.4% | 3.6% | 3.4% |

### Results

New York City Mayoral Election, November 8, 1977 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Democratic | Ed Koch | 717,376 | 49.99% | 2.56 |
| | Liberal | Mario Cuomo | 522,942 | 36.44% | 22.76 |
| | Neighborhood Gov't | Mario Cuomo | 64,971 | 4.53% | N/A |
| | Total | Mario Cuomo | 587,913 | 40.97% | N/A |
| | Republican | Roy M. Goodman | 58,606 | 4.08% | 11.23 |
| | Conservative | Barry Farber | 57,437 | 4.00% | 6.49 |
| | Communist | Kenneth F. Newcombe | 5,300 | 0.37% | 0.16 |
| | Socialist Workers | Catarino Garza | 3,294 | 0.23% | 0.10 |
| | United Taxpayers | Vito P. Battista | 2,119 | 0.15% | N/A |
| | Independence | Louis P. Wein | 1,127 | 0.08% | N/A |
| | Libertarian | William Lawry | 1,068 | 0.07% | 0.45 |
| | U.S. Labor | Elijah C. Boyd | 873 | 0.06% | 0.06 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 129,463 | 9.02 | |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 1,435,113 | 100.00% | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | | |
    Source: OurCampaigns.com

### Results by borough

General Election :
| | | Manhattan | The Bronx | Brooklyn | Queens | Staten Island | Total |
| Democratic | Edward I. Koch | 184,842 | 116,436 | 204,934 | 191,894 | 19,270 | 717,376 |
| Liberal – Neighborhood Government | Mario M. Cuomo | 77,531 | 87,421 | 173,321 | 208,748 | 40,932 | 587,913 |
| Republican | Roy M. Goodman | 19,321 | 6,102 | 11,491 | 18,460 | 3,229 | 58,606 |
| Conservative | Barry M. Farber | 9,070 | 7,624 | 16,576 | 20,453 | 3,714 | 57,437 |
| others | | 4,281 | 1,731 | 3,752 | 3,256 | 761 | 13,781 |
| | | | | | | | 1,435,113 |