Late in the primary, Green was roundly criticized for the actions of supporters that were construed as racist, involving literature with New York Post caricatures of Ferrer and Al Sharpton distributed in white enclaves of Brooklyn and Staten Island.

An investigation by the Brooklyn District Attorney came to the conclusion that "Mark Green had no knowledge of these events, and that when he learned of them, he repeatedly denounced the distribution of this literature and sought to find out who had engaged in it".

[4] Nevertheless, the incident is thought to have diminished minority turnout in the general election, and helped the Republican candidate win in an overwhelmingly Democratic city.

Green made a controversial decision during the primary run-off to support Giuliani's unprecedented attempt to extend his own mayoral term, in the name of the emergency of 9/11.

[7][8] The Economist wrote: "The billionaire businessman [Bloomberg] is usually seen as one of the post-September 11th winners (if such a word can be so used): He would probably have lost the mayoralty to Mark Green, a leftish Democrat, had the terrorist strike not happened.