Valentine in Close Mayor Race; NYC Early Votes: Election Update
(Bloomberg) -- A fiercely contested gubernatorial contest in Virginia will be decided on Tuesday, while in New Jersey an incumbent is fighting to protect his lead. Although it’s an off-year election in the U.S., both the Republican and Democratic parties have been watching both races for implications for next year’s midterm elections that will decide control of the House and Senate.
This Election Day is the first since Joe Biden, a Democrat, became president. With his approval ratings in decline and Congress yet to approve his economic agenda, Republican victories are possible in either state.
Former Governor Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, is neck-and-neck with Republican Glenn Youngkin in Virginia’s most expensive gubernatorial race ever. In New Jersey, first-term Democratic Governor Phil Murphy led by eight percentage points against Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker, in the most recent poll.
Voters in New York City, meanwhile, are likely to pick Democrat Eric Adams as their next mayor. He led his Republican opponent, Curtis Sliwa, by 40 points heading into the election.
Key stories and developments:
All times are Eastern Daylight:
Ex-Mets Manager Valentine Vies for Mayor in Connecticut (10:00 a.m.)
Bobby Valentine, a former manager of the New York Mets baseball team, cast his vote Tuesday morning in the first election where his name was on the ballot. Valentine is running as an unaffiliated mayoral candidate in Stamford, Connecticut.
“I voted! Now it’s your turn,” Valentine tweeted. The former baseball player is promising to advocate for small businesses and use his managerial skills to run Connecticut’s second-largest city. The race is considered highly competitive as Valentine competes with Democratic State Representative Caroline Simmons, who upset the two-term incumbent mayor in the primary. -- Akayla Gardner
New York City Sees 222,000 Early, Absentee Votes (9:41 a.m.)
Roughly 220,000 people have already voted early or absentee in New York City’s mayoral election, according to the metropolis’s Board of Elections Executive Director Mike Ryan.
Ryan was on hand at the same Brooklyn elementary school in Crown Heights where front-runner Eric Adams was making an appearance. “There has been nothing systemic or any major issues that we’re dealing with this morning,” Ryan said.
Meantime, Adams fist-bumped a baby as he conversed with voters. Zulaykha Simon, a Brooklyn resident, said she was going to vote for Adams, but added he must do more than just photo ops and showing up at events. “A lot of people have been displaced from this community,” she said. “We need home buying opportunities in this neighborhood for people.” -- Fola Akinnibi
Republican Tours New Jersey Diners in Final Push (9:35 a.m.)
The Republican candidate for New Jersey governor, Jack Ciattarelli, planned a morning of touring the Garden State’s eateries in a final drive for votes in what’s turned out as a competitive race.
Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker, begins at the Randazzo Pastry Shop & Bakery in Raritan, in northern New Jersey, before going on to a pair of diners in nearby Bridgewater Township.
First-term Democratic Governor Phil Murphy led by eight percentage points in a recent poll, but frustration over high taxes has kept Democrats from winning second terms as governor for more than four decades.
De Blasio Eyes Governorship After Adams Succession (9:28 a.m.)
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is term limited, said he was looking forward to handing the keys to City Hall over to Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who is heavily favored to win Tuesday’s mayor’s race. De Blasio said he expects Adams to continue with policies that he championed -- universal Pre-K, affordable housing and policing changes -- and “take it to the next level.”
As for what’s next for de Blasio, the outgoing mayor has filed initial paperwork for a committee called “New Yorkers for a Fair Future” that sets him up for a run for governor.
Democrats Kathy Hochul, who took over the governor’s mansion after Andrew Cuomo resigned over sexual harassment claims, New York Attorney General Letitia James and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams have already declared their intentions to run in the 2022 race.
De Blasio declined to go so far as to declare his candidacy, but said he planned to continue in public service in the city and state. When asked on CNN if he wasn’t ruling out a run on Tuesday morning, he told viewers to “draw your own conclusions.” -- Shelly Banjo
More Than 700,000 New Jerseyans Have Voted Early (8:57 a.m.)
Even before Election Day, more than 730,000 New Jerseyans had voted. This is the state’s first election with early in-person voting. Residents were able to cast their ballots at certain polling places from Oct. 23-31.
As of Tuesday morning, 732,127 mail-in and in-person votes had been cast, according to the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics. That’s more than a third of the total votes cast in the 2017 race for governor.
The early-voting spread between Democrats and Republicans is about 59% to 23%, according to Rebovich. That’s about 260,000 more Democrats than Republicans casting their votes.
Vote-by-mail ballots can be returned until polls close at 8 p.m. -- Stacie Sherman
Tearful Eric Adams Casts Ballot as New York City Polls Open (8:09 a.m.)
The front-runner to become New York City’s next mayor, Eric Adams, saw emotion overcome him as he cast his vote at an elementary school on Tuesday morning. He cried as he recalled accompanying his mother, who passed away earlier this year, to a polling site in 1977.
“We won already,” he said with a framed photo of his mother, alluding to his success in rising from police officer to Brooklyn Borough president and now favorite to become mayor of the U.S. financial capital. “I’m not supposed to be here.”
Adams was among the first few dozen people to vote at P.S. 81 in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood Tuesday in a contest he’s expected to win handily against his Republican opponent. -- Fola Akinnibi
Polls Open in Virginia, New York, New Jersey: (6:00 a.m.)
Although candidates showing up at their local polling place is an Election Day tradition, both McAuliffe and Youngkin have already voted, according to their campaigns. Adams, however, plans to vote at Public School 81 in Brooklyn, his campaign said.
Polls opened in Virginia, New Jersey and New York at 6 a.m.
The candidates campaigned into Monday evening, with Youngkin holding a rally in Leesburg, the county seat of Loudoun County. The county, a Washington suburb, has become a battleground in the race. McAuliffe held a Monday rally in Richmond, the state capital.
Although Adams, the Brooklyn borough president and a retired police captain, is heavily favored to win in New York, he led a rally in Harlem on Monday evening. Among his prominent supporters was state Attorney General Letitia James, who last week announced her candidacy for governor, something she reminded voters about at the rally. -- John Harney
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