It’s de Blasio-Lhota faceoff for mayor as Thompson bows out

Bill Thompson
Bill Thompson

Mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson, who supports more affordable housing citywide, is conceding the Democratic primary to top vote-getter Bill de Blasio, according to sources close to both candidates. Thompson came in second last week in a field of nine — five of them serious contenders.

Thompson’s departure lets de Blasio avoid a runoff and concentrate on the Nov. 5 general election against Republican Joe Lhota. Election officials were going to begin counting nearly 80,000 paper ballots. Without the count, De Blasio received 40.3 percent of the vote with 99 percent of precincts reporting. He needed 40 percent to win the nomination outright. Thompson had been holding out for all the ballots to be counted.

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Thompson’s real estate platform included proposals to build 70,000 units of affordable housing and to compile an inventory of all government-owned land and create 50/30/20 housing, according to his spokesperson. [Politicker]Mark Maurer