The 2013 New York City Public Advocate election was held on November 5, 2013, along with elections for the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior-level executi ...

, Borough Presidents, and members of the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five Borough (New York City), boroughs. The council serves as a check against the Mayor of New York City, mayor in a may ...

. Incumbent Democratic Public Advocate

Bill de Blasio Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961; later Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm) is an American politician who served as the 109th mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he held the office of New Yor ...

, serving his first term, ran for

Mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...

rather than seek re-election. The Democratic Party held its primary on September 10, and since no candidate reached 40%, a runoff was held on October 1 between the top two candidates, Councilwoman

Letitia James Letitia Ann James (born October 18, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician. She is a member of the Democratic Party and the current Attorney General of New York, having won the 2018 election to succeed appointed Attorney General Barbara Und ...

and State Senator

Daniel Squadron Daniel L. Squadron (born November 9, 1979) is an American politician and former member of the New York State Senate for the 26th district. A Democrat, Squadron was elected a New York State Senator in 2008, and was a candidate in the 2013 ra ...

. James won the runoff to become the Democratic nominee. The Republican Party did not nominate a candidate. In the general election, James faced

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

nominee James Lane and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

nominee Robert Maresca as well as various minor party candidates. James won the general election in a landslide.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

* Cathy Guerriero, adjunct professor at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

woman (also received the

Working Families Party The Working Families Party (WFP) is a minor political party in the United States, founded in New York in 1998. There are active chapters in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Nev ...

nomination) *

Reshma Saujani Reshma Saujani (born November 18, 1975) is an American lawyer, politician, civil servant, and the founder of the nonprofit organization Girls Who Code, which aims to increase the number of women in computer science and close the gender employme ...

, former Deputy Public Advocate and candidate for

New York's 14th congressional district New York's 14th congressional district is a List of United States congressional districts, congressional district for the United States House of Representatives located in New York City, represented by United States Democratic Party, Democrat A ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, State Senator * Sidique Wai, New York University professor

Declined

, incumbent Public Advocate (running for mayor)

Tone

The runoff between

and

was characterized as bitter by most of the media outlets that covered it.

Polling

Primary results

Republican primary

No Republican candidate filed to run for the office.

Major third parties

Besides the two main parties, the

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

and Working Families parties are

qualified New York parties In New York State, to qualify for automatic ballot access, a party must have qualify every two years by receiving the greater 130,000 votes or 2% of the vote in the previous gubernatorial election or presidential election.Letitia James Letitia Ann James (born October 18, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician. She is a member of the Democratic Party and the current Attorney General of New York, having won the 2018 election to succeed appointed Attorney General Barbara Und ...

woman from Brooklyn

Minor third parties

The following parties without automatic ballot access succeeded in petitioning onto the ballot:

Freedom

Nominee

* Michael K. Lloyd

Libertarian

Nominee

* Alex Merced, author, columnist, and blogger

Socialist Worker

Nominee

* Deborah O. Liatos

Students First

Nominee

* Mollena G. Fabricant

War Veterans

Nominee

* Irene Estrada

General Election results

References

External links

Letitia "Tish" James for Public AdvocateJames Lane for Public AdvocateAlex Merced for Public Advocate
{{DEFAULTSORT:New York City Public Advocate election, 2013 2013 New York (state) elections

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

2013 in New York City