MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Democratic former police captain to become Mayor of New York City

“I am you. I am you,” Adams said

Former police captain Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams of the Democratic Party was elected Tuesday to become the next Mayor of New York City, after easily defeating Republican Curtis Sliwa. Adams will be the second African American to run the Big Apple after David Dinkins did from 1990 to 1993.

“Tonight, New York has chosen one of you — one of our own. I am you. I am you,” Adams told a jubilant crowd at his victory party at a hotel in his hometown borough of Brooklyn. “After years of praying and hoping and struggling and working, we are headed to City Hall.”

Meanwhile, Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin was projected to have won the hotly contested gubernatorial election in the state of Virginia on Tuesday, beating former Democrat Governor Terry McAuliffe, thus flipping the state from blue to red.

Youngkin is a former CEO of a private equity firm, who has campaigned on such local issues as education, specifically parents' rights over school boards, and tax cuts.

With 98% of the votes in, CNN projected Youngkin would get 50.9% of the votes, while McAuliffe, governor of Virginia between 2014 and 2018 and who was seeking a second nonconsecutive term, trailed with 48.4 per cent.

“Alrighty, Virginia. We won this thing,” Youngkin told his supporters gathering at his campaign headquarters as he declared the victory.

Pledging “transformation on day one,” Youngkin in his remarks singled out the education, promising “the largest education budget in the history of the commonwealth” while vowing to “introduce choice within our public school system.”

McAuliffe was yet to concede defeat, telling supporters when he made an appearance at one point during the night, “The fight continues.” President Joseph Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama had all campaigned for McAuliffe.

“It's a close election, and it's a bellwether for what happens in the rest of the country,” Harris said at a McAuliffe campaign event days before Election Day.

Also on Tuesday, the race for the governorship was held in the state of New Jersey, where incumbent Democratic Governor Phil Murphy and his Republican challenger, Jack Ciattarelli, were in a deadlock with some 85 per cent of the votes in.

Meanwhile, in Boston, Massachusetts, Michelle Wu of Chinese descent won the mayoral election to not only become the city's first woman and person of colour elected to the post but also break a 199-year streak of white, male city leaders.