Dinkins beats Giuliani in 1993

[The Mikado]

The NYC Mayoral election in 1993 was still extremely close: Rudy won 51-48. If Dinkins gets reelected, Rudy Giuliani never becomes mayor of NYC. How is the US different?

[Kingpoleon]

For one thing, the Mayor of NYC during 9/11 becomes extremely popular and eventually a presidential candidate. So who would that be?

I think Susan Molinari is the only Republican it would make sense to be.

[brucejoel99]

If Dinkins had beaten Giuliani in 1993, that'd mean he'd have now lost in both 1989 & 1993, so his political career would be effectively over. With a 2nd Dinkins term, a standard machine Democratic politician (Fernando Ferrer, perhaps) would probably be elected Mayor in 1997.

Now, while Giuliani himself is mainly credited w/ solving the city's crime problem, starting hyper-gentrification, & remaining calm & responsive during 9/11, let's remember that, in real life, the crime drop can pretty much be mainly credited to other factors, hyper-gentrification is more tied to Bloomberg (though it'd been long planned &/or desired by NYC's elite, so it would've very likely occurred anyway, even without Bloomberg), & I don't see how the city government's response to 9/11 would've been significantly different under a different Mayor, so nothing all that major would really change.

[TrumanJohnson]

For one thing, the Mayor of NYC during 9/11 becomes extremely popular and eventually a presidential candidate. So who would that be?

I think Susan Molinari is the only Republican it would make sense to be.

Molinari is name you don't hear often and it would be nice to see her with a larger politic career.

[Suburbia]

If Mayor Dinkins won reelection against Giuliani in '93, you may see another NYPD riot against Dinkins.

In September 1992, in the heat of the '92 presidential election and Dinkins' middling approval ratings, the PBA had a riot in City Hall that saw Rudy Giuliani speak to a bunch of drunk off-duty cops from Staten Island and Long Island....


The Molinaris couldn't win in 1997, the NYCGOP would have been disbanded after Rudy losing because there was no bench after Rudy. Staten Islanders don't win citywide.

Ferrer or some other Democrat would have won, but they would not need Staten Island because Staten Island would have seceded in 1994 with Dinkins still in charge.

[Suburbia]

For one thing, the Mayor of NYC during 9/11 becomes extremely popular and eventually a presidential candidate. So who would that be?

I think Susan Molinari is the only Republican it would make sense to be.

That would have angered a private citizen Giuliani. He'd probably run a third time in 1997, and he could probably won especially if Dinkins was still seen unpopular by a lot of people. However, he would have won reelection in 2001 in a landslide post-9/11 in an alternate universe as he did in reality for Mike Bloomberg, his endorsement post-9/11 and the ethnic and political division of the New York Democratic Party giving Bloomberg fluke wins....

https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2019/10/how-rudolph-giuliani-became-new-york-citys-mayor/176823/