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      A Full Transcript of Eric Adams's Victory Speech

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      Here is a lightly edited transcript of Eric Adams’s speech on Tuesday at the Marriott hotel near the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn after he was declared the victor in the mayor’s race:The team told me to come through the back, come around the stage, come directly in, and they said this is the way we want you to move. And I said to them, “I’m the mayor.”And if they only knew the level of energy I get when I walk in your crowd. There’s days on this journey when I was just so depleted, and tired and just weary. And historically, I was able to just go out to Queens and sit down with Mommy and she would re-energize me. Then when Mommy transitioned in April, I would move among you somewhere, at a train station, at the grocery store, walking inside the laundromat or just going to some of the barbershops late at night in Brownsville and Bed-Stuy, and go inside when they finish cutting heads, and we’d just sit there and just talk.You don’t know how much you fuel me. You just fuel me every day, and let me tell you the uniqueness about the fuel that it’s a Shakespearean tragedy that many of you don’t know. It doesn’t matter if you are in Borough Park in the Hasidic community, if you’re in Flatbush in the Korean community, if you’re in Sunset Park in the Chinese community, if you’re in Rockaway, if you’re out in Queens, in the Dominican community, Washington Heights — all of you have the power to fuel us.We are so divided right now, and we’re missing the beauty of our diversity. We have to end all of this division of who we are, where we go to worship, what do we wear — no! Today we take off the intramural jersey and we put on one jersey, Team New York.So New York City, brothers and sisters — and I just need to pause for a moment because it’s so important for me to do this. Five people I must acknowledge, and I will acknowledge all of you within time, but there are five people I must acknowledge.First is my sister Ingrid Martin. Where is Ingrid? If I can quote one of the most philosophical geniuses of our time, Drake: “Started from the bottom, now we’re here.” Her husband and I were rookie cops together in the police academy. When her son was born, her husband gave me a picture of him laying on his chest. I put that picture inside my police hat and every time I went on patrol I looked at him. He’s now a grown man, he’s an adult now. But it reminded me what we were doing every day, that we were on patrol. And she never, never left my side, never left my side, no matter how challenging it was, she fought. She built a foxhole. When she ran out of bullets, she picked up rocks. When she ran out of rocks, she picked up dirt. When she ran out of dirt, she just dug a tunnel. But she never left my side and I’ll never forget what she has done for me throughout this entire journey. Amazing, amazing woman.Second is my man Nate. Nathan. I trusted him with my whole campaign, and I said, “Listen, you work it out and no one is going to get in your way. But one things for sure: you’d best not screw it up. Stayed up nights two, three, four in the morning calling him talking to him. Just calling from time to time and just saying I just wanted to know how you are doing. And just spending time bonding together, because when you are in a battle, there is someone you have to trust and expose yourself to and know that they are not going to take it and sharpen it and turn it to a knife and hold it at your throat, but they are going to be there throughout this entire journey. That’s who he was and I appreciate you for that.And the man that captured my voice, my brother Evan Thies. Where is Evan? Communications director, all of you know who he is, you know how dedicated and committed he has been, and he just played a major role in putting together our communication.And lastly, came to Borough Hall, there was a woman there speaking broken English, came from Peru, just wanted to eke out a living for her family. She came into my office one day and she said, you know I’m not supposed to do this but I just wanted to give you some advice. And she gave me that advice and she became the center of Borough Hall. She took over my entire life and made sure that we were able to be a functioning office and it’s so significant because sometimes we have the tendency to believe that because someone has not mastered our dialogue and our phonetics that there is a level of ignorance, and it is not, it is just the ability to give them the opportunity and they will rise to the occasion all the time. Mastering the sound of English does not make you the greatest leader or the greatest person and so Gladys, I thank you so much, Gladys.Here we are, New York, here we are. I know many of you I want to acknowledge, but I just wanted to point out that group that I pointed out just now. So, brothers and sisters and the people of our city, they have spoken. And tonight New York has chosen one of you, one of our own. I am you. I am you. After years of praying and hoping and struggling and working, we are headed to City Hall.For a young man from South Jamaica, Queens, who grew up with all of the challenges that every New Yorker faces, tonight is not just a victory over adversity, it is a vindication of faith. It is a proof that people of this city will love you if you love them. It is the proof that the forgotten can be the future. It is the proof that this city can live up to its promise.The campaign was never, never, never about me; this campaign was about this city and the people in it, from every corner and every background in this city. Those who have been left behind and believed they would never catch up. This campaign was for the underserved, the marginalized, the abandoned. This campaign was for those who have been betrayed by their government. There is a covenant between government and the people of our city. You pay your taxes, we deliver your tax dollars through goods and services. We have failed to provide those goods and services. Jan. 1 that stops. That stops.And the campaign was not just for them: It was by them. I am so proud of what we have accomplished and I can never repay the hard work and dedication of so many who worked tirelessly to get us here. This is your victory and I will carry your cause to City Hall. This campaign was for the person cleaning bathrooms and the dishwasher in the kitchen who feels they are already at the end of their journey. It was for those who feel they were there but forgotten, and they are also those who make the city operate every day. They may right now be at Rikers Island, sitting in a cell or in a precinct sitting in the holding cells. I am speaking to them tonight.My mother cleaned houses. I washed dishes. I was beaten by police and sat in their precinct holding cells, certain that my future was already decided, and now I will be the person in charge of that precinct and every other precinct in the City of New York because I’m going to be the mayor of the City of New York.There may be a young person out there right now that believes they’re not smart enough to go to college and to succeed. I did too. But I overcame a learning disability and went to college and was able to obtain my degrees. And now I will be the mayor in charge of the entire Department of Education.And you may be homeless. You may be living from one shelter to the next, and you may say to yourself that this is my destiny. But I want them to hear the story of my siblings up here carrying a garbage bag full of clothing to school every day because we thought we would come home and the marshals were going to throw us out. We know their story, we know their journey. I want them to get the energy from what we are doing today to know the possibilities are there. Where are you are is not who you are. We’re going to make sure of that. And that’s why I ran for mayor. Because I wanted to turn pain into purpose. This city betrays New Yorkers every day, especially the ones who rely on it the most. My fellow New Yorkers, that betrayal stops on Jan. 1. We are going to make a difference. My story is your story and I did not just want New Yorkers to hear my story, I wanted them to feel my story. I wanted them to know: I am you. The life I lived is the life many are living right now. We are the same. This is not about Eric Adams becoming mayor. This is about carving out a pathway so people can enjoy the prosperity that this city has to offer. And so, you’re going to find some blemishes, because I’m perfectly imperfect and the city is made up of perfectly imperfect people. That’s the combination that is going to allow us to create a perfect city where we leave no one behind. That’s the city we’re fighting for.So this is not my moment. This is the moment for all the people who have hit the bend in the road. A bend in the road is not the end of the road as long as you make the turn. Tonight we are going to make the turn and take our city in a new direction.And I also believe all of us together can accomplish this task. The past two years have been hard. Even New Yorkers, the most resilient people in the world, we’ve had moments. We had moments of doubt — I’m clear on that. We took a hit, we watched as Midtown turned into ghost town and our parking lots became morgues. Trailers filled with bodies of our loved ones and family members. We saw the most vibrant city on earth reduced to silence. Worst of all, the inequalities we already faced were deepened and widened. Then violence erupted, knocking us even further backward.And as we stand here tonight, there are hundreds of thousands more New Yorkers without a job than there were pre-Covid. But when I think about those setbacks, I also think about how far we’ve come.I think about those who gave everything to get us here. It gives me hope and I want you to have hope. I want you to believe again. Believe again. Let’s walk differently. Let’s hold our heads up. Let’s have the step in our pace, because we are New Yorkers. We must believe in who we are. So I think about Percy Sutton. I think about Shirley Chisholm and David Dinkins and Dennis deLeon. I think about Larry Kramer. I think about Peter Yew. Those were revolutionaries who won wars without firing one shot. I think about my fellow officers and firefighters every day, New Yorkers who lost their lives saving others from the Twin Towers. And let me be clear on this: I am not creating a division between my firefighters, my police officers, my E.M.T.s, my teachers, my other civil servants. We are in this together. We will find a way to get through this together. No division, no division..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}I think about the nurses and hospital workers who went to their job every day during the height of Covid, rising above the fear and uncertainty. And the reason I know so well what they were doing: because when others fled, I led. I went to those hospitals. I visited them. I delivered P.P.E. and food. I was on the ground with them to let them know that I’m not elected to be served, I’m elected to serve and I’m going to serve the people of the city.And I think of Mommy, a domestic worker. And my siblings are here. It was six of us. And I say it all the time as much as I can: She loved them all, but she adored me. She was an amazing woman. Single parents all over the city who struggle day in and day out for lifetimes with only one goal: to create opportunities for their children that they never had. And that’s what Mommy did for all of us. She watched us continue to develop into responsible adults. And she had to do it on her own because the city was not there for her. And I will never forget that my glory — my glory is not my story. I only had a badge as a cop because my mom used a rag and a mop to create a better future for me. I think about those heroes of New York and I am inspired. I am lifted up on the wings of their spirit. And I am reminded that we owe them a great debt of gratitude that can only be repaid with our belief in each other and our city. We will betray those who were on the front line for us if we don’t believe in the greatness of this city. They sacrificed themselves because they believed in that. Now is an opportunity to once again believe in who we are. We will need the strength to face a three-headed crisis: We are fighting Covid, crime and economic devastation all at once. So we’re going to invest in each other. We are going to lift up those who are struggling with child care, health care and affordable housing. We are going to launch an unprecedented job program to link out-of-work New Yorkers not just with jobs, but with skills and training. And we’re going to talk — hear this, because this is very important — we’re going to talk to the C.E.O.s of our city’s biggest corporations and ask them to offer paid internships to students from underserved communities. Listen folks. We have to get this out of our head: that our C.E.O.s in this city don’t want to participate in the uplifting of our inner city. The problem is we haven’t gone there and asked them to do so. So it’s time to build bridges that we’ve destroyed in the past. We need each other. That’s what we need in this city. We have to turn our economy around by reaching our hand out to the business world to grow the companies we have here, while attracting new emerging industries — life sciences and cybersecurity, and with a blue-collar green jobs initiative that boosts our economy while making our city more resilient. Every job we create in corporate America must be a pathway and pipeline to the inner city. We have some talent in NYCHA. Just get out of the way and give them the opportunity to fill these jobs in this city.And we’re going to do this, particularly for the women who are in this room: We want universal child care. Universal child care. We all know what happens when mothers stay home to raise the children — their careers are stymied. They don’t get promoted, they don’t get the opportunities. Our child care, universal child care is not going to be day care or just sitting in a room somewhere watching TV. We’re going to build into our educational opportunity to develop these young minds before they get to pre-K and 3-K. We’re going to do it early and we’re going to give mothers doulas so they can learn about nutrition and what they need to do when that baby is born. If we don’t get this right — don’t let anybody kid you, if you don’t educate, you will incarcerate, and we don’t want to incarcerate our young people.And we’re going to get the safety we need and the justice we deserve. They go together. By driving down gun violence and crime from our streets while we drive our biases and bad behavior from those who are tarnishing the shield. And how dare people ask me, do I sit down and talk to gang members who are trying to get their life right? You’re darn right I am. You’re darn right. You do an analysis of those gang members and know what you’re going to find? You’re going to find learning disabilities, dyslexia. You’re going to find all of those mental health issues, the problems we ignored and betrayed those young people for produced what you’re looking at. You’re seeing the hate that New York has created, and it’s time to stop that hate.But let’s be clear, let’s be clear here. As I talk to my gang members, Jan. 1 the conversation stops. You won’t shoot up my city. You won’t stab young people in schools. You won’t sell drugs and guns on my streets. I am extending an opportunity to get out of gangs and get in a job, to get into schools, become gainfully employed. We’re not going to just talk about safety, we’re going to have safety in our city. If we do these things, then New Yorkers will be able to fulfill their dreams. And that should be the goal of government — not to preach, but to provide. To allow people to reach their full potential. Sometimes, folks, we’re going to succeed. Sometimes we’re going to try and we’re going to fail. But damn it, we’re not going to fail at trying. That’s something we’re not going to lose at.So let me be clear as I stand here before you, with a heart filled with hope and purpose and love for this city. Looking out over this horizon and seeing you gives me hope. This is our moment. This is our opportunity. This is our moment as a city. And I tell you something. In four years, this city is never going to be the same, never going to be the same. Once we move forward, we will never go back. We will never go backwards. We will never go backwards. We will never go backwards. Because America is the only country, we are the only country on the globe with dream attached to our name. There’s no German dream. There’s no Polish dream. There’s no French dream. But damn it there’s an American Dream. You don’t leave a nightmare to come live in a nightmare. We have to allow those 10 million dreams to come alive and to benefit from what this country has to offer.On Jan. 1, that’s the promise. That’s what we will accomplish. So tonight I have accomplished my dream. And with all my heart, I’m going to remove the barriers that are preventing you from accomplishing yours. And if I’m allowed to say, in the words of one of the most famous Brooklynites, the owner of Snapple soft drinks, we are going to win because we are made of the best stuff on earth. We are New Yorkers. I want to bring on my governor, where is she? We are here in the house, Gov. Kathy Hochul. We’re going to need her. So thank you so much for coming down. Please say a few words, governor. More

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      in Elections

      Eric Adams's Style: ‘Everything About You Must Say Power’

      by

      New York City’s new mayor, Eric Adams, pays a lot of attention to what he wears. You should, too.Six years ago, Eric Adams, then Brooklyn borough president, stood onstage at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn and thundered his commencement advice at the soon-to-be graduates.He exhorted them to “reach for the stars.” “You are lions,” he told them. They should always say to themselves, “I am possible.”But, he warned them, while you’re doing all that, do not forget, “When you play where the big boys and the big girls play, everything you do people watch.”“People look at your presentation before they take you seriously,” he said. “Everything about you must say power.”On the first Tuesday in November, as he strode to a podium in Brooklyn to declare victory in New York City’s mayoral contest, becoming the second Black mayor in the city’s history and chief of the power playground, Mr. Adams modeled exactly what that meant — as he has been doing since he began his climb toward Gracie Mansion. His white shirt was so pristine it practically glowed; his collar open; his cuff links closed.Mr. Adams in his signature look: Ray-Ban aviators, open collar, neatly buttoned jacket and pocket square.Andrew Seng for The New York Times“Whether he’s talking or not, he’s always saying something with his dress,” said George Arzt, a Democratic political consultant who was also Ed Koch’s press secretary. “And it’s: ‘I’m here. I’m in charge. I mean business.’”It’s unusual for city politicians to engage with questions of image-making. Most often, they actively avoid personal discussions of dress, believing it makes them seems frivolous or elitist. If they do connect with the fashion world, it is usually as an economic driver of the city or as the garment district: Michael Bloomberg handing Ralph Lauren a key to the city for investing millions in new stores; Bill de Blasio welcoming the industry to Gracie Mansion before fashion week. It’s usually just about business.Not for Mr. Adams.As he proved when he wore a bright red blazer to a Hamptons fund-raiser in August, or posted a photograph of himself in a new tower with the city’s skyscrapers spread out at his feet, his aviators reflecting the girders and gleam of the building, he is more than willing to use his clothes to stand out.And as the 61-year-old assumes his role as the mind — and face — of the city, a chaotic amalgamation of identities, politics, problems and possibility, at a time when New York is still recovering from a Covid-19-induced economic and spiritual nadir and after the social justice protests of 2020, he will become one of the most visible men in the metropolitan area. He can suffer that, or he can use it to his own ends.Mr. Adams, and his new earring, with Jumaane Williams, the New York  City public advocate, at a rally near Brooklyn Borough Hall.James Estrin/The New York Times“He manages to appeal to a lot of different people with a lot of different expectations,” said Nancy Deihl, the chair of the art department at the New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. “He’s really dressing for that.” It is a strategic deployment of dress that goes far beyond respectability politics into what might be called charisma politics.He is, Mr. Arzt said, a mayor “for the visual age.”There are still questions about Mr. Adams’s specific plans for New York and how he intends to accomplish them, but in this one area at least he has always been absolutely clear: What you wear matters. It has meaning and import. And throughout his career he has crafted his own presentation to bridge communities and interest groups, to assert his place in the room — and beyond.“It’s All in the Clothing”Just over a decade ago, when Mr. Adams was a state senator in Albany, he actually orchestrated a campaign featuring clothes.The goal wasn’t a run for office, but rather to get the male members of his constituency to stop wearing pants that appeared to be sliding down their underwear. Complete with posters and a video, it was called “Stop the Sag.”“You can raise your level of respect if you raise your pants,” Mr. Adams said in the video, wearing, The New York Times reported, “a gray suit, green tie and white pocket square” and framing the low-slung pants by contrast as participating in — and helping perpetuate — a continuum of offensive racial stereotypes that stretched from Aunt Jemima through minstrel performers.As to why any of this mattered, he told the paper, “The first indicator that your child is having problems is the dress code.”Ultimately, he said, “It’s all in the clothing.”A “Stop the Sag” billboard in Brooklyn in 2010.Robert Mecea/Associated PressSince then, clothing has played a key role in much of his public storytelling, where he uses it as a sort of universal shorthand, a shared language almost anyone can understand. Reciting his personal narrative, for example, he described taking a garbage bag of clothes to school in case his family was evicted while he was away (clothing as a symbol of homelessness). Commemorating his 22-year career as a policeman in his Twitter bio, he wrote, “I wore a bulletproof vest to keep my neighbors safe” (clothing as a symbol of the positive side of law enforcement). Dramatizing a life lesson, he told an apparently borrowed story about confronting a rude neighbor who ignored him until he donned a hoodie (clothing as symbol of racial prejudice and threat).And celebrating his electoral victory, he said, “Today we take off the intramural jersey, and we put on one jersey: Team New York” (clothing as symbol of unity).“He clearly knows a lot more about the subject than the average politico,” Alan Flusser, a tailor in New York and the author of “Clothes and the Man,” said of Mr. Adams. As to how he learned it, Mr. Adams said his role model growing up was his uncle, Paul Watts, a longshoreman who was always in “a hat, nicely pressed suit and shined shoes,” as well as his local pastors — though he has taken their lessons and made them entirely his own.According to Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, a state assemblywoman and chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, “Eric’s style has evolved along with his career” — from police chief with an actual uniform to Brooklyn borough president with a quasi-uniform in the shape of the position’s official nylon jacket to today..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Now, Ms. Hermelyn said, “He’s projecting New York City as the capital of the world through his wardrobe. But he’s also saying he grew up on these streets.”Indeed, there are a number of stories embedded in Mr. Adams’s current shirts and suits and accessories of choice.The Stories Clothes TellMr. Adams got his ear pierced in July after winning the Democratic primary because, he said, he had met a young man during the campaign who expressed doubt over whether any politicians keep their promises. When Mr. Adams asked what he could do to prove him wrong, the young voter said he could agree to pierce his ear if he won — and then actually follow through.“Day 1, living up to my promises,” Mr. Adams said in a video of the experience. Now he wears a diamond, which serves as winking symbol of his commitment. But also an effective counterpoint to his perfectly tailored suits, one button often neatly done up to smooth the line, which both advertise his fitness (famously achieved in part by going vegan after a being diagnosed with diabetes) and put him squarely in the tradition of Wall Street power brokers.“He wears clothes in a modern way,” Mr. Flusser said — closefitting, in the vein of Daniel Craig as James Bond, often without a tie — “but with classic flourishes from the past: shirts with cutaway collars, pocket squares.” Details, Mr. Flusser said, “identified with the highfliers.”Mr. Adams in Sunset Park in Brooklyn in late October.Andrew Seng for The New York TimesIndeed, Mr. Adams is so detail-oriented in his dress that his decision to largely abandon the tie (except at debates, where he favored a four-in-hand knot with center dimple) was clearly deliberate, another visual clue that plugged him into the evolution of the modern male dress code. Also notable is the “energy stone bracelet” he wears on his right wrist, composed of stones from Asia and Africa that supporters gave him, and his propensity for a white shirt.“The white shirt is a really powerful image,” said Ms. Deihl of N.Y.U. “It conveys impeccability, crispness and currency.”Together, she said, it all lays claim to a visual genealogy that extends from Representative Adam Clayton Powell Jr. through to President Barack Obama, whose black aviator Ray-Bans Mr. Adams adopted.“After I saw President Obama wearing a similar pair, I decided I needed these to make myself look cool — Obama cool,” he told New York Magazine’s Strategist. (Other preferred brands include Florsheim Berkley penny loafers, Joseph Abboud chinos bought from Men’s Wearhouse and shirts from Century 21.)Given that clothes are the unspoken and unwritten way we signal to the world our membership in a group, be it caste or class or profession, this particular collection of styles and names offers a medley of associations that allow Mr. Adams to be a master of the universe, a next-gen executive, a representative of the wellness contingent and the street-smart local, all at the same time. It’s a button-pushing balancing act that reflects both his chameleon-like politics and ambitions. For himself and his new role.“Part of the challenge here is perceptual — that New York is on the decline, that it is not healthy, that it is not safe,” said Evan Thies, one of Mr. Adams’s senior advisers. He noted that Mr. Adams “connects dress with confidence” — in himself and now, by transference, his city.His job is changing that impression. If he can do that through not only policy but (at least to start) sheer force of image — the “broken windows” theory made personal, all wrinkles ironed out — he may not just have won the election, Mr. Thies said, but “half the game.” More

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      Catch up on Election Day results from around the United States.

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      The governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey and the New York City mayoral election were among the highlights.After voters elected President Biden and pushed Republicans fully out of power in Washington, the party rebounded with a strong election night on Tuesday, highlighted by Glenn Youngkin’s victory in Virginia’s governor’s race.Here is a run-down of election results from some of the closely watched races around the country on Tuesday.Virginia governor’s raceBusinessman Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, defeated former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat who struggled to generate enthusiasm among liberals at a moment when conservatives are energized in opposition to Mr. Biden.The victory by Mr. Youngkin, a first-time candidate in one of only two gubernatorial races before next year’s midterm election, may provide his party with a formula for how to exploit President Biden’s vulnerabilities and evade the shadow of former President Donald J. Trump in Democratic-leaning states.New Jersey governor’s raceFormer Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, a moderate Republican, surprised many analysts with a strong showing in the race for governor in New Jersey against Gov. Philip D. Murphy, a Democrat seeking a second term who was ahead in most public polling before Tuesday’s contest.The race was too close to call early Wednesday.New York CityIn the city’s mayoral race, Eric Adams, a former police captain and Brooklyn borough president, easily dispatched his long shot Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa, to become only the second Black person elected mayor in the city’s history.And Alvin Bragg was elected Manhattan district attorney. He will become the first Black person to lead the influential office, which handles tens of thousands of cases a year and is conducting a high-profile investigation into former President Donald J. Trump and his family business.Boston mayor’s raceMichelle Wu easily defeated City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George to become the first woman, first person of color and first person of Asian descent to be elected mayor in Boston. The city has been led by an unbroken string of Irish American or Italian American men since the 1930s.Minneapolis police ballot itemMinneapolis residents rejected an amendment that called for replacing the city’s long-troubled Police Department with a new Department of Public Safety, The Associated Press projected.The ballot item emerged from anger after a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd last year, galvanizing residents who saw the policing system as irredeemably broken. More

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      Eric Adams, Mayor-Elect

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      Good morning. Eric Adams, who found a place in New York City’s political consciousness as a reform-minded police officer more than 20 years ago, was elected mayor. And scroll down to meet some deep-sea look-alikes that could scare you — unless you like sharks.“New York has chosen one of its own,” Eric Adams said on election night. “I am you.”James Estrin/The New York TimesAdams claimed victory as New York City’s second Black mayor — he will take office 32 years after the first, David Dinkins — and immediately called for unity.“Today we take off the intramural jersey and we put on one jersey — team New York,” he declared during his victory celebration. He said his administration would focus on the communities of color and the poor and working-class New Yorkers who helped send him to City Hall.Adams, the Brooklyn borough president since 2014, will face monumental tests as New York addresses the continuing consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. There are persistent problems, like homelessness and affordable housing, and new ones, like an economy redefined by remote work. Adams will also be under pressure to drive down the crime rate and build jails in each borough after closing the Rikers Island complex, a move he said that he supported during the campaign.Adams acknowledged the challenges, referring to a “three-headed crisis” — “Covid, crime and economic devastation” — in his victory speech. But he also said it was neighborhoods like those in southeast Queens, where he grew up, that needed his attention as mayor.“New York has chosen one of its own,” he said. “I am you.”Adams’s victory will send a center-left administration to City Hall after eight years under Mayor Bill de Blasio, who tried to steer a more populist, leftward course — and the new political landscape will be complex. Brad Lander, elected New York City’s comptroller on Tuesday, appears to be to Adams’s left on several issues, among them policing.But Albany, a perennial concern for mayors, looks less fraught than when de Blasio and Andrew Cuomo were sparring partners. Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul, who replaced Cuomo in August and joined his victory celebration on Tuesday, have promised to have a productive relationship.The Associated Press called Adams’s victory minutes after polls closed. He defeated Curtis Sliwa, who ran as a Republican presenting his main qualifications as the decades he has spent patrolling the subways and leading the Guardian Angels, the beret-wearing vigilante group he founded.Sliwa conceded the race, saying he pledged support to Adams “if we’re going to coalesce.”How they votedAdams, the son of a working-class single mother, carried a framed photograph of her under his arm when he voted in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn on Tuesday. Sliwa took one of his cats to his polling place on the Upper West Side.But Gizmo — who lives with Sliwa, Sliwa’s wife, Nancy, and 16 other rescue cats — was denied entry. Sliwa, already angry about Gizmo, became angrier when election officials told him to take off a red jacket with his name on it, an apparent violation of electioneering regulations. “Arrest me,” Sliwa shouted.Then his ballot jammed in the scanner, and the device had to be repaired. And then an election worker used an expletive while asking him to leave.In other New York City racesManhattan district attorney — The winner was Alvin Bragg, the Democratic nominee. A former federal prosecutor, he will inherit the high-profile investigation into former President Donald J. Trump and his family business.City comptroller — Brad Lander, a Democrat and a three-term City Councilman from the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, defeated Daby Carreras, who ran as a far-right Republican aligned with the Trump wing of the G.O.P.City Council — Shahana Hanif, a Bangladeshi American, became the first Muslim woman elected to the City Council. She won a district that covers Park Slope, Kensington and parts of central Brooklyn.New Jersey governorThe incumbent governor, Philip D. Murphy, was narrowly trailing a relatively obscure Republican challenger, Jack Ciattarelli, and when the vote-counting ended for the night the race was too close to call. A mainstream liberal with ties to the White House, Mr. Murphy is now staking his hopes for victory on a strong performance in several solidly Democratic areas where votes were slow to report.Mr. Ciattarelli appeared to benefit from robust turnout in rural and conservative-leaning areas of the state while making inroads in denser areas such as Bergen County, the populous suburb of New York City.WeatherIt’s going to be a sunny day with temps in the low 50s. In the evening, expect some clouds and temps in the high 30s.alternate-side parkingIn effect until tomorrow (Diwali).Other New York newsDecades after his wife’s disappearance — and just weeks after he was convicted of murder in another woman’s death — Robert Durst was indicted in White Plains on a single count of second-degree murder.Michelle V. Agins/The New York TimesReadying replica relatives of “Jaws”A megalodon, a giant relative of the great white shark that ranks as the biggest predator fish of all time, has arrived on the Upper West Side. It is a fearsome fish so big it could eat a whale. It has lots of extremely sharp incisors that could do what extremely sharp incisors do.This one is not real, and it has landed in a landlocked spot between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.It is a fiberglass-and-epoxy replica in a workshop at the American Museum of Natural History. The last live megalodon was seen some 3.6 million years ago by whatever creatures avoided its giant jaws. If the heart-pounding theme from a certain Steven Spielberg movie is not already running through your head, this is when it might well start.The replica has been built for an exhibition that is scheduled to open next month. It is 27 feet long, and it is just the head, the only part of the megalodon that visitors will see once the exhibition is installed. The whole megalodon would have been 50 feet long, too big for the gallery the curators have in mind for it.Still, it is high on the fear factor. “When people come to an exhibition on sharks, they expect to be terrified, like on a roller coaster,” said Lauri Halderman, the museum’s vice president for exhibition. “Well, great whites are nothing compared to what we’ve got.”.css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}The megalodon and other replicas are being finished in the museum’s workshop, a warren of dusty rooms that is more art studio than biology lab. Seeing great whites and hammerheads there is like seeing the Queen Mary II in dry dock. The sharks are up in the air, on pedestals, to be shaped, sanded and painted.On a recent morning, Jason Brougham was playing shark periodontist, gluing in rows of replica teeth made on a 3-D printer. They will stay in the replica megalodon’s mouth longer the real ones did. Some megalodon teeth fell out and new ones grew in as often as twice a month.The inevitable question for Halderman and John Sparks, a curator in the museum’s department of ichthyology, was: Have you seen “Jaws”?Sparks said he saw it when it first came out. “That was terrifying,” he said.Halderman said it was filmed when she was in high school. “I wasn’t into horror films,” she said. She finally saw it last year, a work assignment in preparation for the exhibition.What we’re readingRestaurants in New York, from the budget-friendly to the high end, are preparing for a Thanksgiving rush, New York Magazine reports.The Radio City Music Hall Christmas show opens on Friday. Some of the people who put on the show are upset that the Covid protocols do not match those at Broadway theaters.Intercollegiate golf was born in 1896 when Yale swept Columbia. Earlier this month, after 125 years, Columbia finally got its rematch.METROPOLITAN diaryAfternoon breakDear Diary:I was on Riverside Drive between 89th and 88th Streets, heading home after shopping for groceries at the Food Emporium on Broadway. It was a quiet weekend afternoon and not many people were around, so I decided to take a break in the middle of the sidewalk.I dropped the plastic shopping bags I was carrying on the ground, inhaled the cool fall air coming off the Hudson River and looked upward.There, a brilliant blue sky was framed by shining golden leaves. As I looked around, I realized that the leaves on all of the trees on the drive and in Riverside Park had turned to gold.I had just pulled out my phone to take a photo of the view and was punching in my mother’s email address to send her the picture when I heard a man’s voice behind me.“It’s beautiful, huh?” he said.“Yeah,” I said, turning to look at him.He smiled and quickly walked off. I again owned the view.— Aiko SetoguchiIllustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B.P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here.Melissa Guerrero, Emma Grillo, Rick Martinez and Olivia Parker contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com.Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. More

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      Eric Adams Is Elected Mayor of New York City

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      Mr. Adams, a Democrat and former police captain, will be the second Black mayor in the city’s history.Eric Leroy Adams, a former New York City police captain whose attention-grabbing persona and keen focus on racial justice fueled a decades-long career in public life, was elected on Tuesday as the 110th mayor of New York and the second Black mayor in the city’s history.Mr. Adams, who will take office on Jan. 1, faces a staggering set of challenges as the nation’s largest city grapples with the enduring consequences of the pandemic, including a precarious and unequal economic recovery and continuing concerns about crime and the quality of city life, all shaped by stark political divisions over how New York should move forward.His victory signals the start of a more center-left Democratic leadership that, he has promised, will reflect the needs of the working- and middle-class voters of color who delivered him the party’s nomination and were vital to his general election coalition.Yet it seems likely that many of the officials Mr. Adams must work with closely — prominent City Council members, the public advocate and other Democrats who were favored to win on Tuesday — may be substantially to Mr. Adams’s left.Mr. Adams, whose win over his Republican opponent, Curtis Sliwa, appeared to be resounding, will begin the job with significant political leverage.He assembled a broad coalition, and was embraced by both Mayor Bill de Blasio, who sought to chart more of a left-wing course for New York, and by centrist leaders like Michael R. Bloomberg, Mr. de Blasio’s predecessor. Mr. Adams was the favored candidate of labor unions and wealthy donors. And he and Gov. Kathy Hochul have made clear that they intend to have a more productive relationship than Mr. de Blasio had with Andrew M. Cuomo when he was governor.The Associated Press called Mr. Adams’s victory 10 minutes after polls closed, reflecting the overwhelming edge Democrats have in New York City even amid signs of low turnout. Minutes later, the A.P. declared Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, the winner of the Manhattan district attorney’s race. The calls came before those in closely watched governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia.Observers of New York politics were awaiting results in two Long Island races for district attorney that tested suburban attitudes about the state’s recent criminal justice reforms. And in Buffalo, a fiercely contested matchup between India B. Walton, a democratic socialist and the Democratic nominee, and the incumbent mayor, Byron W. Brown, was getting national attention. The race was not expected to be decided on election night, in part because Mr. Brown waged a write-in campaign, and his votes were likely to require more scrutiny.In New York City, the difficulties that Mr. Adams, 61, will encounter were apparent even as he celebrated his victory.In one of the world’s financial capitals, workers are barely trickling back to their Midtown Manhattan offices. The tourism industry is suffering. Many of the city’s beloved restaurants and other businesses have closed for good. And even as Wall Street profits soar, the city’s unemployment rate stood at 9.8 percent in September, with job growth lagging behind the pace that some economists had predicted last spring.Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, sought to attack his rival on matters of transparency and the Democat’s legal residence.Hilary Swift for The New York TimesMr. Adams will also inherit a budget gap of about $5 billion that will require immediate action, said Andrew S. Rein, president of the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission. There will be contracts to negotiate with city workers and, eventually, the federal aid that helped pay for some city priorities will dwindle.“Every decision has long-run implications,” Mr. Rein said. “If you start sooner, you can take care of it. When you’re in an emergency situation, it’s hard to make good decisions that are not painful.”Mr. Adams has stressed that he plans to focus on rooting out inefficiency, but the scope of the fiscal challenges will most likely require more difficult choices.He has made it clear that big business has a role to play in shepherding the city’s recovery, and there are indications that he may have a far warmer relationship with business leaders than Mr. de Blasio, who was elected on a fiery populist platform.“He’s restored confidence that the city is a place where business can thrive,” said Kathryn S. Wylde, who leads the business-aligned Partnership for New York City. “He’s demonstrated that he has the courage to, basically, be politically incorrect when it comes to dealing with the demonization of wealth and business.”There is no issue the next mayor has discussed more than public safety.Mr. Adams grew up poor in Queens and Brooklyn and says he was once a victim of police brutality. He spent his early years in public life as a transit police officer and, later, a captain who pushed, sometimes provocatively, for changes from within the system. That experience cemented his credibility with many older voters of color, some of whom mistrust the police while also worrying about crime.During the primary, amid a spike in gun violence and jarring attacks on the subway that fueled public fears about crime, Mr. Adams emerged as one of his party’s most unflinching advocates for the police maintaining a robust role in preserving public safety. He often clashed with those who sought to scale back law enforcement’s power in favor of promoting greater investments in mental health and other social services.Mr. Adams, who has said he has no tolerance for abusive officers, supports the restoration of a reformed plainclothes anti-crime unit. He opposes the abuse of stop-and-frisk policing tactics but sees a role for the practice in some circumstances. And he has called for a more visible police presence on the subways.The public safety issue remained on the minds of some voters on Tuesday.“Hopefully, since he used to be in N.Y.P.D., he could get everything amicable again with the city and the N.Y.P.D., because it’s been very dangerous out here,” said Esmirna Flores, 38, as she prepared to vote for Mr. Adams in the Bronx.Yet other voters said Mr. Adams’s emphasis on policing stoked misgivings. And he will certainly face resistance on the subject from some incoming City Council members.Tiffany Cabán, a prominent new member who was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, said that on many issues, such as expanding bus and bike lanes, she was “ready to be collaborative.”“Then you’ll see that there are times where there will be tension,” Ms. Cabán said. After emphasizing potential areas of common ground on public safety matters, she pointed to the prospect of Mr. Adams’s more assertive policing policies and added: “We’re going to be ready for a fight on those things.”On the other side of the political spectrum, there are continuing tensions over vaccine mandates. Mr. Sliwa highlighted the issue, which has been difficult for labor leaders to navigate, and it appeared to fire up voters in conservative corners of the city in the race’s final days. The matter may be resolved by the time Mr. Adams takes office, but it underscores the extraordinary challenges that come with governing through a lingering pandemic.There may also be battles over education. Mr. de Blasio recently vowed to begin phasing out the gifted program in the city’s schools, which puts children on different academic tracks and has been criticized for exacerbating segregation. The issue inspires strong passions among parents.Mr. Adams has indicated that he wants to keep and expand access to the program, while also creating more opportunities for students who have learning disabilities, as he did. Mr. Adams, who speaks often about his own struggles with a learning disability, is a proponent of universal screening for dyslexia.More immediately, he faces the task of filling out his government.Throughout the campaign, Mr. Adams faced significant questions from Mr. Sliwa — and the news media — over matters of transparency, residency and his own financial dealings. The people he hires for his administration will play a significant role in setting the tone on issues of ethics and competence.Asked what he was looking for in the powerful position of first deputy mayor, Mr. Adams said on Tuesday that his “No. 1 criteria” was “emotional intelligence.”“If you don’t understand going through Covid, losing your home, living in a shelter, maybe losing your job, going through a health care crisis, if you don’t empathize with that person, you will never give them the services that they need,” he said.For some voters who went to the polls on Tuesday, it was Mr. Adams’s own life experience that compelled them to turn out.Mark Godfrey, a 65-year-old Black man, said Mr. Adams’s rise showed that “there are subtle changes that are occurring in the U.S.” related to racial equity and representation.“He’s been on both sides,” Mr. Godfrey said of Mr. Adams’s experiences with law enforcement. “He’s been a survivor, and he’s been part of the change.”Reporting was contributed by Nicholas Fandos, Nicole Hong, Jeffery C. Mays, Julianne McShane and James Thomas. More