During two televised debates, Giuliani framed himself as an agent of change, saying, "I'm the reformer",[REF] that "If we keep going merrily along, this city's going down", and that electing Dinkins would represent "more of the same, more of the rotten politics that have been dragging us down" [REF].
In the end, Giuliani lost to Dinkins by a margin of 47,080 votes out of 1,899,845 votes cast, in the closest election in New York City's history.