1977 New York City mayoral election

← 1973 November 8, 1977 1981 →
Registered	2,887,530
Turnout	1,486,536 51.48% (1.27pp)
Candidate Ed Koch Mario Cuomo Party Democratic Liberal Alliance Neighborhood Preservation Popular vote 717,376 587,913 Percentage 50.0% 41.0%
Borough results Koch:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70% Cuomo:     40–50%     60–70%
Mayor before election Abraham Beame Democratic ElectedMayor Ed Koch Democratic

The1977 New York City mayoral election occurred on Tuesday, November 8, 1977. U.S. RepresentativeEd Koch defeated Secretary of StateMario 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,incumbentmayorAbraham Beame was challenged by five other Democrats, includingRepresentativeEd Koch,New York Secretary of StateMario Cuomo, and feminist activist and former RepresentativeBella Abzug. In the initial primary, Koch had a narrow lead 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, arunoff 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 Queens and 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. To date, this is the last election where the winner did not receive a majority of the vote. RepublicanRoy M. Goodman and ConservativeBarry Farber finished a distant third and fourth, respectively.

In October 1975, with the city on the verge ofbankruptcy, Mayor Beame asked the federal government for a bailout.PresidentGerald Ford refused, leading to the memorableNew 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.^[1])

A 982-page report from theSecurities and Exchange Commission blamed Beame's mismanagement for the city's financial mess, which his opponents seized on as an electoral issue.^[2] 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.

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

The Democratic primary was held on September 8, 1977.

• Bella Abzug, former U.S. Representative from theWest Side and candidate for U.S. Senatein 1976
• Herman Badillo, U.S. Representative from theSouth 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 fromGreenwich Village
• Percy Sutton,Manhattan Borough President

• Edward N. Costikyan, reformer, attorney, and Beame's 1965 campaign manager (endorsed Koch)^[4]

Abzug represented parts ofManhattan andthe Bronx in the U.S. House. In 1975, she left her seat to run for theU.S. Senate but was narrowly defeated in the Democratic primary byDaniel Patrick Moynihan.

Cuomo, aliberal fromQueens, had been appointed Secretary of State byGovernorHugh Carey in 1976, after losing the election forlieutenant governor in 1974.

Ed Koch, aJewish politician fromGreenwich Village, began his career as "just a plain liberal,"^[5] but shifted rightward, towards being a "liberal with sanity".^[6]

Koch ran to the right of the other candidates, on a "law and order" platform. Amajor 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.^[7] Mayor Beame accusedCon 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 theNational Guard.^[8][9]

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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.

Source:OurCampaigns.com

The Republican primary was held on September 8, 1977.

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

• Vito P. Battista, former Republican Assemblyman fromBrooklyn (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 fromGreenwich Village (Democratic)
• William Lawry (Libertarian)
• Kenneth F. Newcombe (Communist)
• Louis P. Wein (Independence)

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.^[2] Cuomo ran well to the left of Koch and ran on banning thedeath 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 mayorJohn Lindsay. His supporters used the inflammatory slogan "Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo".^[2] Meanwhile, Koch backers accused Cuomo ofanti-Semitism and pelted Cuomo campaign cars with eggs.^[2]

New York City Mayoral Election, November 8, 1977^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Ed Koch	717,376	49.99%	2.56
	Liberal	Mario Cuomo	522,942	36.44%	22.76
	Neighborhood Preservation	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			129,463	9.02
Total votes			1,435,113	100.00%
Turnout

• 1977 in New York City
• Mayoral elections in New York City
• 1977 New York (state) elections
• 1977 United States mayoral elections
• Mario Cuomo

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