Riding a wave of concern about the financial future of New York City, Mr Michael Bloomberg (59), a billionaire who runs a worldwide financial information company that bears his name, was elected on Tuesday as Mayor of the US' largest city.
Mr Bloomberg, a former Democrat, who turned Republican and who has never held public office before, spent some $50 million of his $4 billion fortune. His stunning victory in a city where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by five to one, was seen as directly related to both the endorsement of Mayor Rudy Giuliani and intense concern about the city's economic stability in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks.
The new mayor inherits a city government in crisis since the attack. Nearly 100,000 jobs have been lost due to the resulting downturn in the economy, and the next mayor faces a multi-billion-dollar budget gap.
"New York is alive and well and open for business," Mr Bloomberg told cheering supporters early yesterday. But, he added, "we are clearly going to have enormous problems".
Just five weeks ago Mr Bloomberg had trailed badly in polls behind his opponent, Mr Mark Green. But with Mr Guiliani's support - the former mayor was prevented from running again by term limits - Mr Bloomberg cruised to victory by a margin of 50 to 47 per cent.
In other races around the country, Democrats scored victories. Both New Jersey and Virginia each put a Democrat in the governor's mansion for the first time in eight years. Virginia's new Governor, Mr Mark Warner, is a wealthy businessman who has never before held office. Mr Warner, a Democrat, will have to work with a legislature that became even more Republican with 12 local victories there. In New Jersey, Democrat, Mr Jim McGreevey, a suburban mayor, defeated Mr Bret Schundler, a Republican, the conservative former Jersey City mayor.
Voters also chose new mayors across the country. In Minneapolis, Mr R.T. Rybak, a former newspaper reporter with no political experience, overwhelmingly defeated two-term incumbent, Mr Sharon Sayles Belton, the first black and first woman to hold the office.
Cleveland elected its first female mayor, County Commissioner, Ms Jane Campbell. Incumbent mayors, Mr Thomas Menino of Boston and Mr Thomas Murphy of Pittsburgh won easily.
Other races were left undecided. In Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city, Mayor Lee Brown, a former drug czar in the Clinton administration, will face City Councilman, Mr Orlando Sanche, in a runoff, after none of the six candidates got 50 per cent of the vote.
Miami voters turned out incumbent mayor, Mr Joe Carollo, but will be back at the polls next Tuesday for a runoff between former mayor, Mr Maurice Ferre, and Mr Manny Diaz, a lawyer who represented the Miami relatives of Elian Gonzalez.