But as Mr. de Blasio, an activist-turned-operative and now the city's public advocate, celebrated a remarkable come-from-behind surge, it was not clear if he had won the 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff election on Oct. 1 with William C. Thompson Jr., who finished second. At night's end, he had won just over 40 percent of the ballots counted; thousands of paper ballots had yet to be tallied, which could take days.
Mr. de Blasio, who campaigned as the most liberal Democrat in the field, immediately pivoted into a less strident general-election mode. In a victory speech just after midnight at a music club in Brooklyn, he soberly invoked Wednesday's 12th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
"We were reminded that day of a crucially important lesson," he said, "that the job of those of us in positions of authority is to keep our city safe, to be constantly vigilant, to use every tool at our disposal to protect our people."
The winner of the unusually spirited Republican contest was Joseph J. Lhota, a no-nonsense former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. He defeated John A. Catsimatidis, a voluble billionaire who ran an often whimsical campaign.
In the unexpectedly heated race for the sleepy office of city comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, who was supported by the Democratic establishment, defeated a last-minute comeback attempt by Eliot Spitzer, who resigned as governor over his use of prostitutes.
Mr. Lhota, who served as deputy mayor to Rudolph W. Giuliani, will carry his tough-minded approach to crime-fighting and city spending into the general election on Nov. 5.
Mr. Lhota, a vocal supporter of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's policies, called his nomination "the first step in continuing a strong future for our city."
By contrast, Mr. de Blasio's vow to make a clean break from the Bloomberg era struck a chord with Democratic voters worried about jobs and schools. Roughly three in four wanted to move the city in a different direction after 12 years with Mr. Bloomberg, an exit poll found.
Until a few months ago, Mr. de Blasio had been a distant fourth in the crowded Democratic field, well behind Christine C. Quinn, the longtime front-runner, who rose to prominence as the speaker of the City Council and a close ally of Mr. Bloomberg. Mr. de Blasio, propelled by an unrelenting critique of the mayor, frustrated Ms. Quinn's painstakingly cultivated effort to become the first woman and the first openly gay person to lead the city.
Mr. Thompson, addressing his supporters at a Midtown hotel, vowed to continue his campaign at least until all the primary ballots are counted. "Tonight is for every one of you out there who have ever been counted out," he told a jubilant crowd chanting "Three more weeks."
Mr. Thompson, who nearly unseated Mr. Bloomberg in 2009, struggled to win over nonwhite voters who were crucial to his campaign as the only black candidate in the race.
Mr. de Blasio, a white Brooklynite who frequently showcased his biracial family, built a broad coalition of support among nearly every category of Democratic primary voters on Tuesday, according to the exit poll by Edison Research. Men and women, whites and Hispanics, and residents of all boroughs except the Bronx favored Mr. de Blasio.
"I love his message about the tale of two cities, the big inequality gap," said Jelani Wheeler, 19, a politics student at St. John's University in Queens.
"We can start correcting many important issues the city is facing, issues often ignored by the Bloomberg administration," he added.
Though Democrats outnumber Republicans in New York by six to one, the city has not elected a Democratic mayor since 1989. But the white voters who helped elect Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Bloomberg are a less potent political force in a city where ethnic and racial minorities now make up a majority of the population.
Mr. de Blasio inspired Democrats angry about how the economy and police practices affected them personally, as well as those who felt uncomfortable on their behalf.
Allison Kopicki, Nate Schweber and Megan Thee-Brenan contributed reporting.
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