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Election Day was an inspirational night for democrats and supporters of William Thompson Jr. all over New York City, especially when the results for the mayoral election started leaking in. Bloomberg and his supporters believed it would be a landslide but despite a record low turnout at the polls, the race was much more of a close call then the billionaire Bloomberg expected.

of supporters came out to Thompson’s election party to show their love and support at the Hilton New York Hotel on Avenue of the Americas. There were so many hopefuls in the ballroom, you could feel the energy the minute you got off the elevator. The festivities began early but as soon as the polls came to a close, the room collectively turned to the television and held their breath.  With 15% of the vote in, it was 61% to 36% in favor of Bloomberg.  No one held their head down, almost as if they knew something the television didn’t.  Minutes later with 36% of the vote, the race got a lot closer becoming neck and neck at 48% to 49%, still in favor of Bloomberg, but looking a lot more like the race everyone in the room was looking for.  Cheers erupted all around the room.

The rally really began at that point.  Council members from all over the five boroughs gave speeches throughout the night about Thompson and his dedication to this campaign. Shouting out sayings like, "we will not be bought," or "8 years is enough" they made it clear that they thought the Bloomberg era should be over.

Bill Thompson hoped that when New York City’s residents arrived at the polls, they would elect him as the new mayor.  For years, many New Yorkers had heard of the man without quite putting a face with the title, but the Brooklyn native, Thompson, 58, served as the city’s chief financial officer under the title of Comptroller. As the city’s CFO, he was responsible for auditing the performance and finances of city agencies, making recommendations regarding proposed contracts, issuing reports on the state of the city’s economy, marketing, and selling municipal bonds, managing the city’s debt, and serving as the managing trustee of the public employees pensions funds. Prior to being elected Comptroller, for five years Thompson was the President of the City’s Board of Education and during his term in office, he fought for more comprehensive school programs, improved teacher quality and an expanded arts curriculum.

On election night his position as Comptroller came to an end, replaced by newly elected former City Councilor John Liu. For Thompson his only chances for maintaining a seat actively in politics come January was to defeat Bloomberg in the mayoral race.

If Thompson had succeeded in garnering sufficient votes and had become mayor, he would have faced what has been described as the toughest job in his career: managing and running New York City. Yet, even though he received an endorsement from President Obama, lukewarm to say the least, one may think that that would have been sufficient to galvanize voters to his camp; his opponent, however, sees it differently.

When the night was over the room filled with support and love for Bill Thompson eventually fell to sadness as the picture on the screen read projected winner under a picture of Mayor Bloomberg.  There wasn’t too much to be down about though.  Polls from just a week earlier had Thompson down by as many as 18 points.  To come within 5 points of Bloomberg was more than a moral victory, it was a sign that change was possible, if only there was a stronger push.  With a final result of 50.6% to 46% in favor of Bloomberg, there were more reasons to be inspired than anyone at the Bloomberg party could relate to.   

When Bill Thompson took the stage at the end of the night his speech put the final touches on a positive night. His message came across as to never give up on your dream, no matter what the odds or what doubters may say, advice every New Yorker could appreciate. Thompson declared, ”the election was never about me, it was about the hardworking men and women in New York, who are the backbone of the city.” He held his head proudly, smiled at his supporters, kissed his wife, thanked those around him and reminded everyone in the room that “change” isn’t impossible when you want it bad enough. If nothing else, hopefully people take a moment to learn a lesson from what Thompson brought to this race, although he didn’t win, Bill Thompson proved he has the heart of a true New Yorker, the will of a true fighter and the courage of many of us are missing, traits we should all aspire to have.