(NEW YORK POST) New Yorkers handed Bill de Blasio a landslide mandate in his bid to take the city in a sharply different direction after 20 years of Republican mayors.
The victory was never in doubt — the Democrat was projected to be the 109th mayor barely a minute after voting closed, with exit polls showing him beating Republican Joe Lhota across virtually all political, ideological and ethnic lines.
The public advocate and former councilman held a commanding 74-24 percent lead with 88 percent of the votes counted.