Adams was heavily supported by business interests and real estate in particular. However, that was not the primary reason he won the Democratic primary, nor does it mean he will be in developers’ pockets when he takes office in January: His campaign platform calls for “aggressive” housing construction, but he has also blamed development for increasing rents in communities of color, criticized Brooklyn developers and recommended slashing the height of proposed towers that were opposed by NIMBY groups.

Adams, the Brooklyn-born son of a house cleaner and a butcher, and former captain in the NYPD, was also seen as someone who could navigate the tricky balance between maintaining law and order civil liberties.

Adams was a Democrat for most of his life but took a detour as a registered Republican from 1997 to 2001. He left the Police Department and won election in 2006 to the state Senate, where he often clashed with his more liberal colleagues. In 2013, he was elected Brooklyn borough president, all the while planning to run for mayor in 2021, when term limits forced him and Mayor Bill de Blasio from office.

(source: therealdeal.com picture: wikipedia.org)