In the initial primary, Koch won a narrow victory over the field despite carrying none of New York's five boroughs and only 19.8% of the popular vote.

In the general election, which Cuomo decided to contest on the Liberal ticket, Koch was again victorious, coming within a few hundred votes of an outright majority.

[1]) A 982-page report from the Securities and Exchange Commission blamed Beame's mismanagement for the city's financial mess, which his opponents seized on as an electoral issue.

[2] Beame's struggles with the economy and crime, which had led to a decrease in the population of New York City, encouraged several Democrats to challenge him.

According to historian Jonathan Mahler, the blackout and the subsequent rioting helped catapult Koch and his message of restoring public safety to front-runner status.

Koch criticized Beame for losing control of the streets and failing to ask Governor Carey to call in the National Guard.

While Koch had a reputation as a crusading reformer, that summer he quietly promised plum city jobs to the political powerbrokers in the boroughs in exchange for their support.

[2] Other vote was: Kenneth F. Newcombe – Communist – 5,300; Catarino Garza – Socialist Workers – 3,294; Vito Battista – United Taxpayers Party – 2,119; Louis Wein – Independent – 1,127; William Lawry – Free Libertarian – 1,068; Elijah Boyd – Labor – 873.