Jonathan Mahler on the Election That Ushered in Modern NYC
By: Jonathan Mahler | Published: 2025-08-01 11:00:00 | Source: www.curbed.com
Photo-Illustration: Curbed; Photos: Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times/Redux, Gerald Herbert/AP, David Cantor/AP
Editors’ note: This essay was adapted from The Gods of New York: Egoists, Idealists, Opportunists, and the Birth of the Modern City: 1986-1990, by Jonathan Mahler, which will be published on August 12 by Random House.
A scandal-plagued incumbent. An Italian American from a working-class outer borough. A progressive front-runner looking to make history — and whom the real-estate community is determined to stop.
I am talking, of course, about New York’s 1989 mayoral race.
Let me briefly set the scene as primary day…
