Editing Rudy Giuliani (section)

=== 1989 ===
{{main article|1989 New York City mayoral election}}
[[File:Bush Contact Sheet P06586 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Giuliani greeting President [[George H. W. Bush]] in 1989]]
Giuliani first ran for New York City mayor in 1989, when he attempted to unseat three-term incumbent [[Ed Koch]]. He won the September 1989 Republican Party [[Partisan primary|primary election]] against business magnate [[Ronald Lauder]] in a campaign marked by claims that Giuliani was [[Republican In Name Only|not a true Republican]] after an acrimonious debate between the two men.<ref name="Seeley-2007">{{cite news |first=Katharine Q. |last=Seeley |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/us/politics/03giuliani.html |title=In G.O.P. Debate Today, Which Tack for Giuliani? |work=The New York Times |date=May 3, 2007 |access-date=March 31, 2008 |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124000250/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/us/politics/03giuliani.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In the Democratic primary, Koch was upset by Manhattan [[Borough president]] [[David Dinkins]].

In the general election, Giuliani ran as the [[Electoral fusion (New York)|fusion]] candidate of both the Republican and the [[Liberal Party of New York|Liberal]] parties. The [[Conservative Party of New York|Conservative Party]], which had often co-lined the Republican party candidate, withheld support from Giuliani and ran Lauder instead.<ref>{{cite news |first=Frank |last=Lynn |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/21/nyregion/giuliani-files-2-challenges-to-take-lauder-off-ballot.html |title=Giuliani Files{{spaces}}2 Challenges To Take Lauder off Ballot |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 21, 1989 |access-date=March 30, 2007 |archive-date=September 21, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090921084115/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/21/nyregion/giuliani-files-2-challenges-to-take-lauder-off-ballot.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Conservative Party leaders were unhappy with Giuliani on ideological grounds. They cited the Liberal Party's endorsement statement that Giuliani "agreed with the Liberal Party's views on [[affirmative action]], [[gay rights]], [[gun control]], [[school prayer]], and tuition [[tax credit]]s".<ref>{{cite news |last=McKinley |first=James C. Jr. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/09/nyregion/liberal-party-backs-giuliani.html |title=Liberal Party Backs Giuliani |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 9, 1989 |access-date=August 3, 2015 |archive-date=May 25, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525113017/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/09/nyregion/liberal-party-backs-giuliani.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

During two televised debates, Giuliani framed himself as an agent of change, saying, "I'm the reformer,"<ref name="Roberts-1989">{{cite news |first=Sam |last=Roberts |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/05/nyregion/in-their-first-debate-dinkins-and-giuliani-go-at-it-gently.html |title=In Their First Debate, Dinkins and Giuliani Go At It, Gently |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 5, 1989 |access-date=June 24, 2007 |archive-date=July 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220708145657/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/05/nyregion/in-their-first-debate-dinkins-and-giuliani-go-at-it-gently.html |url-status=live }}</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 name="Seeley-2007" /> Giuliani pointed out that Dinkins had not filed a tax return for many years and several other ethical missteps, in particular a stock transfer to his son.<ref name="Roberts-1989" /> Dinkins filed several years of returns and said the tax matter had been fully paid off. He denied other wrongdoing, saying that "what we need is a mayor, not a prosecutor" and that Giuliani refused to say "the R-word{{snd}}he doesn't like to admit he's a Republican".<ref name="Roberts-1989" /> Dinkins won the endorsements of three of the four daily New York newspapers, while Giuliani won approval from the ''[[New York Post]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.blackpressusa.com/history/archive_essay.asp?NewsID=1538&Week=45 |title=David Dinkins Elected First Black Mayor of New York |work=AfroTimes |date=November 11, 1989 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509173630/http://www.blackpressusa.com/history/archive_essay.asp?NewsID=1538&Week=45 |first=Clint |last=Wilson |archive-date=May 9, 2012 |access-date=May 24, 2023 }}</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. The closeness of the race was particularly noteworthy, considering the small percentage of New York City residents who are registered Republicans, and it resulted in Giuliani being the presumptive nominee for a rematch with Dinkins at the next election.<ref name="New York City" />