New York ( CNN ) -- New York mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio , who began his campaign as a long-shot but surfed a late wave of momentum by tapping into liberal anxiety over the three-term administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg , overwhelmed his opponents on Tuesday to finish first in the city 's Democratic mayoral primary . With results still being counted late Tuesday evening , de Blasio , the city 's public advocate , was bobbing around the 40 % mark needed to avoid a three-week runoff race for the Democratic nomination . Early Wednesday the New York City board of elections confirmed that there were still over 19,000 absentee ballots , special ballots , affidavits , and military ballots that needed to be counted , and that the number of uncounted votes could increase . `` We do n't declare a winner until every vote is counted , '' said Valerie Vazquez , NYC Board of Elections director of communications , said in a statement . Exit poll results . If De Blasio is forced into a runoff , he would face the second place finisher , former city comptroller Bill Thompson , the race 's lone African-American candidate . City Council Speaker Christine Quinn , a lesbian who would have been the city 's first female mayor , finished in a disappointing third place , her once-invincible campaign collapsing under the weight of her ties to Bloomberg . City comptroller John Liu finished fourth , followed in a distant fifth by former Rep. Anthony Weiner , whose candidacy imploded earlier this summer after he admitted to having more lewd conversations with women he met on the Internet . Republican Joe Lhota , the former top deputy to Rudy Giuliani , won his party 's nomination , defeating John Catsimatidis , the colorful grocery store maven who pumped millions from his personal fortune into the race . 5 Things . If de Blasio wins the nomination , he would enter the general election as the clear favorite against Lhota . Down the ballot , former New York Gov . Eliot Spitzer 's bid for political redemption was thwarted in the Democratic race for city comptroller by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer , who reversed Spitzer 's early lead in the race by reminding voters of the prostitution scandal that derailed his political career in 2008 . De Blasio , the city 's public advocate , frequently hammered a `` tale of two cities '' theme on the campaign trail , painting Bloomberg 's New York as an increasingly unaffordable metropolis that rewarded wealthy Manhattanites at the expense of the outer borough middle class . A Brooklyn resident who showcased his interracial family in television ads , de Blasio ran up sweeping margins in nearly every borough and demographic category , besting his opponents among voters of all ages , races and income levels . According to exit polling published by the New York Times , de Blasio , who is white , even outperformed Thompson among black voters . Campaign 's final days . Though Democrats were split on their opinion of Bloomberg 's job performance -- 49 % approved , according to the Times exit poll data , while 48 % disapproved -- almost three quarters said they wanted the city to move in a new direction . De Blasio performed best among voters who were sour on the mayor . By a wide margin , Democratic voters said they disapproved of the New York Police Department 's aggressive `` stop-and-frisk '' policy , a Bloomberg-backed tactic that grants police the power to search random citizens they deem suspicious . The policy is deeply unpopular among African-Americans who consider it racial profiling , and de Blasio won a majority of Democrats who described the tactic as `` excessive . ''
Bill de Blasio rollercoaster campaign comes to quiet end in primary loss . Anthony Weiner 's seeks to avoid runoff for African-American nomination . Disgraced former Gov . Anthony Weiner 's also loses bid for Brooklyn comptroller .