From the Daily News:
"Today I am proud to stand next to a great New Yorker and throw my full support behind him," Thompson said, with de Blasio at his side. "And I ask every single person who campaigned for me, supported me, and voted for me, to do the same thing.
As of this morning, de Blasio had just over the 40% of the vote needed to avoid a runoff, but the process of counting (and recounting) could have dragged on another couple of weeks. Thompson's gracious concession precludes that, and allows de Blasio and the Democrats to move fully into general election mode.
de Blasio thanked his one-time rival, a man who himself came within five points of knocking off Mike Bloomberg only four years ago:
"There is nothing more beautiful than Democratic unity," de Blasio said.
"For years, I've had the honor of working with Bill and in this city, in this party, there's no man of greater integrity. ... . “I am profoundly honored, I am profoundly humbled to receive the support of Bill Thompson.”
Andrew Cuomo was there, holding both Thompson's and de Blasio's hand aloft. Other prominent Thompson supporters endorsed de Blasio as well: Congressman Charles Rangel of Harlem, Congressman Gregory Meeks from Queens, and United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew.
It's been twenty years since a Democrat was mayor of New York City, where Democrats outnumber Republicans six to one. Today begins the final phase of the campaign to right that wrong and bring a strong progressive voice to City Hall.
PS-I posted yesterday about de Blasio's success in winning votes across lines of race, gender, educational status, and religion, and compared that success to the story about New York and race that right-wingers like to tell, one centered on fear of black people and liberal race-traitors. Given today's news, I thought I'd link to that post again for anyone interested.