NEW YORK, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Outgoing Public Advocate Mark Green won a narrow primary victory Thursday night over Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer.
Ferrer conceded the race shortly before 11 p.m. EDT, with Green leading the Democratic run-off for mayor of New York City 52 to 48 percent. The Board of Elections described voting as "light" with about 810,000 Democrats voting.
Green will face Republican Michael Bloomberg in the November general election.
In his concession speech, Ferrer told his supporters that the whole city has a stake in the success of the next mayor.
"We must work together, now more than ever," he said.
The primary scheduled for Sept. 11 was postponed because of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, forcing election officials to reschedule the primary for Sept. 25. Green and Ferrer had a run-off because nether achieved 40 percent of the vote.
Polls had the candidates in a dead heat and the race was considered too close to call.
Ferrer, seeking to be the city's first Hispanic mayor, forged an alliance with Al Sharpton and was a favorite with Latino and black voters. He also had the backing of most of the municipal unions, considered key in getting out the voter of its members.
Green, however, won the endorsement of the firefighter's union and other uniformed city workers.
Ferrer campaigned on the "other New York," blacks, Hispanics and other minorities left behind in the Giuliani administration, but after the terrorist attack last month, the campaign centered on who could best rebuild New York.
However, what was considered a dull race before Sept. 11 was a race ignored afterwards. The election was forgotten after the attacks, the rescue and recovery. On Sept. 26, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's attempted to extend the transition period of the new mayor by 90 days because of the challenges facing the city in the wake if the attacks.
Green agreed to the extension but Ferrer said he didn't want to be "an apprentice mayor."
Bloomberg also agreed to the extension. When all three candidates couldn't agree on the extension Giuliani said he would run himself.
For his handling of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, Giuliani's approval rating hit an unprecedented 90 percent but he was barred from seeking a third term because of voter-imposed term limits.
While the Democratically controlled city council and the state Legislature could have enacted legislation to allow Giuliani to run, neither did. State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, head of the Republican-controlled Senate was amenable to the Republican mayor staying on longer than Dec. 31. Sheldon Silver, Speaker of the Democratically controlled state Assembly said the members of his conference were against the lengthier transition.
While Giuliani eventually dropped his plans to run or lobby the Legislature for a longer transition, his actions ellipsed those of the two Democratic candidates.
