Content area
Full Text
It was nip and tuck last night whether Mayor Edward I. Koch wouldwin re-election by a mere landslide or break the record for this century. "I not only like to be liked, I like to to be loved," Koch said in an interview at his City Hall office. If affection can be measured in votes, New York City's electorate was madly in love with Ed Koch.
Capturing about 76 percent in unofficial returns, Koch appeared to surpass the old record he himself set four years ago, when he got 75 percent as the candidate of both the Democratic and Republican Parties. He scored yesterday's triumph running on the Democratic line only.
"We have won in every community and brought this town together on this day, indicating their support for what this administration has done, mistakes and all," the jubilant mayor told a throng of fans at his victory party in the Sheraton Centre's Imperial Ballroom.
"It would be false modesty if I would say I was suffering with high anxiety" about the outcome of the not-so-hotly contested race, Koch told them with a broad smile.
After hard-fought primaries for mayor and other offices, the general election campaign was an anti-climax. With Koch's re-election and most other contests foregone conclusions, turnout was low, barely more than a third of the city's 3.1 million registered voters.
Here were the highlights of the results:
Threatening to pull the only upset of the election, Susan Molinari, 27, made a strong bid to become the sole Republican on the 35-member City Council. In unofficial returns with...