Kathryn Garcia Concedes NYC Mayoral Race

NEW YORK CITY — With the Women's Rights Pioneers Monument in Central Park as a backdrop, Kathryn Garcia conceded her bid fell to become the city's first woman mayor in 400 years fell short.

"This campaign has come closer than any other moment in history to breaking that glass ceiling and selecting New York City's first female mayor," she said. "We cracked the hell out of it, and it's ready to be broken, but we have not cracked that glass ceiling."

Garcia congratulated Eric Adams on his narrow projected win in the Democratic mayoral primary after absentee votes were counted in ranked-choice voting tallies Tuesday evening.

Just 8,426 votes separated Adams and Garcia after eight rounds of ranked-choice counts, according to the unofficial results from the city's Board of Elections.

The tally was a strong showing for Garcia, who noted during her concession speech that she began her campaign near the bottom of the pack.

But Garcia gained in the polls as prospective voters looked at her history as a public servant and she racked up endorsements from the New York Times and New York Daily News.

Some polls even had Garcia eclipsing Adams as she embarked on a strategy to pull in enough second-choice votes to do just that.

Ultimately, Adams handily won the first-choice votes and Garcia, though she narrowed the gap to a razor's edge, couldn't pull enough second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-choice votes to close it completely.

Garcia, in her concession speech, promised to stay active in the city. She pressed the next mayor — whether Adams or Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa — to focus on reforming the city's foster care system.

"I will help the next mayor in the fight to make our foster care system more just, less racist and support to build forever families," she said.