1981 New York City mayoral election

1981 New York City mayoral election
	Borough results; Koch: 60–70% 70–80%
Mayor before election; Ed Koch; Democratic	Elected Mayor ; Ed Koch; Democratic

The New York City mayoral election of 1981 occurred on Tuesday, November 3, 1981, with Democratic incumbent Mayor Ed Koch being re-elected to a second term by a landslide margin.

Koch won both the Democratic and Republican nominations and appeared on the ballot with both of their lines. He only faced opposition from third parties in the election.^[1]

Koch received an overwhelming 74.64% of the vote citywide. Koch also swept all five boroughs by landslide margins, breaking 60% of the vote in Manhattan and breaking 70% of the vote in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island.^[2] Koch's closest competitor was the short-lived New York Unity Party nominee Frank J. Barbaro, who received 13.31%. Finishing in a distant third and fourth were the Conservative Party nominee, John A. Esposito, who received 4.92%, and Liberal Party nominee, Mary T. Codd, who received 3.41%.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Frank J. Barbaro, Assemblyman from Bensonhurst
Melvin Klenetsky
Ed Koch, incumbent mayor

Koch won the Democratic Primary with 347,351 votes (59.8%), defeating Barbaro who had 209,369 votes (36.0%) and Melvin Klenetsky who had 24,352 votes (4.2%).

Republican primary

Candidates

John Esposito
Ed Koch, incumbent Democratic mayor

Koch also won the Republican Primary, defeating Esposito by 44,724 to 22,354.

General election

Candidates

Frank J. Barbaro, Assemblyman from Bensonhurst (Unity)
Mary Codd (Liberal)
Jeronimo Dominguez, Roman Catholic activist, physician, and candidate for Bronx Borough President in 1979 (Right to Life)
John Esposito (Conservative)
Judith Jones (Libertarian)
Ed Koch, incumbent Mayor (Democratic–Republican)
Wells Todd (Socialist Workers)

Results

General Election
		Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
Democratic – Republican	Edward I. Koch	189,631	132,421	261,292	275,812	53,466	912,622
Unity	Frank J. Barbaro	56,702	22,074	48,812	31,225	3,906	162,719
Liberal	Mary Codd	14,228	5,902	7,958	8,795	4,835	41,718
Conservative	John Esposito	6,682	7,634	15,388	26,515	3,881	60,100
							1,222,644

Koch had 738,288 Democratic votes and 174,334 Republican votes. Others = 45,485. Jeronimo Dominguez – Right to Life – 32,790 2.7%; Judith Jones – Libertarian – 6,902 0.6%; Wells Todd – Socialist Workers – 5,793 0.5%

References

^ Wayne, Stephen (2008). Parties and Elections in America: The Electoral Process Fifth Edition. Rowman & Littlefield.
^ "New York City Mayoral Election 1981". Our Campaigns. Retrieved April 7, 2014.

[1] Wayne, Stephen (2008). Parties and Elections in America: The Electoral Process Fifth Edition. Rowman & Littlefield.

[2] "New York City Mayoral Election 1981". Our Campaigns. Retrieved April 7, 2014.

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