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Eric Adams (in July)
Photo: Ron Adar / imago images / ZUMA Wire
It is "only" a mayor's office - but one of the most prestigious of all.
According to predictions, the Democrat Eric Adams will become the 110th mayor of the US metropolis New York City.
The 61-year-old former district mayor of Brooklyn prevailed in the vote in the city of eight million on Tuesday against his Republican opponent Curtis Sliwa, as the news agency AP and the broadcaster CNN reported.
According to unofficial projections by the election commission, Adams won with more than 70 percent of the vote.
He becomes the second black head of New York City.
Adams was considered a moderate candidate who wants to lead the highest office with a course between left and centrist forces.
In addition to the economic recovery from the corona pandemic - in which more than 30,000 New York citizens died - one of Adam's most difficult tasks is likely to be dealing with the police properly.
He has the necessary experience: Adams used to work for the police himself.
Rats drowned in front of the press
From January he will succeed Bill de Blasio, who was no longer allowed to run as mayor after two terms in office. His Republican rival Sliwa had also campaigned on security issues, among other things. In the liberal stronghold of New York City, however, he had enjoyed outsider opportunities at best. In principle, the democratic primary was already a preliminary decision.
Adams' résumé reflects the biography of many New Yorkers: Raised in poverty in Brooklyn and Queens as one of six children.
As a young police officer, he served first in the subway police, then in the white and racist New York Police Department (NYPD).
He then became a senator in the state capital Albany, in whose back rooms the financial fate of New York City is decided.
Then he became district president of Brooklyn, where he once ostentatiously drowned rats in front of the assembled press.
Now he is drawn to what is probably the most important office in the US metropolis.
jok / dpa