Bill de Blasio, New York City public advocate and a former council member, is poised to cruise to a mayoral victory by a historically high margin in America's largest city. Doing so would end five terms of GOP or independent rule in New York and bring a strikingly liberal political record to City Hall. Mr. de Blasio has pushed for strengthening tenants' rights, increasing affordable housing, changing police "stop and frisk" practices, and narrowing the city's income inequality by raising taxes on high-income New Yorkers.
Republican contender Joe Lhota, former chairman of the city's transit authority, has trailed de Blasio by about 40 points in recent polls.
