Billionaire Bloomberg, who spent a record million of his personal fortune to finance his campaign, defeated political veteran Mark Green, the city's Public Advocate, in one of the narrowest races in recent city history.

Unofficial projections showed the margin of victory was as slim as 40,000 votes. Official results will not be announced for four or five days.

"Tonight is not about Republicans or Democrats. It's about New Yorkers," said the 59-year-old founder of financial news and information company Bloomberg LP in his victory speech.

Bloomberg trailed badly in polls as recently as two weeks ago, but he enjoyed a come-from-behind surge in recent days after being endorsed by the hugely popular Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who legally could not seek a third consecutive term.

Bloomberg was a longtime Democrat but switched parties last year to run in the less crowded Republican field for mayor.

He set a record for campaign spending in New York, saturating the television advertising market.

The race was overshadowed by the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks on the World Trade Center and the anthrax scares. New Yorkers, understandably, paid scant attention to the contest after the twin towers collapsed, killing nearly 4,800 people.

Bloomberg argued throughout his campaign that his business acumen-- founding a successful company, creating jobs, overseeing a large staff, balancing budgets -- served as his qualifications for mayor.

November 1, 2001 Mayor Ed Koch And Governor Hugh Carey Endorse Mike Bloomberg for Mayor

"New York is alive and well and open for business," Bloomberg said in his speech. "What we have to do now is put aside any divisions, anything that separates us apart. What we have to look for are those things that unite us, those things we have in common.

"We are clearly going to have enormous problems but I know we are up to the task," he said. "We are going to do this together."

Republicans rarely win the top City Hall job in New York City, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans five-to-one.

Only three Republicans had been elected mayor in the last 100 years, the last being Giuliani in 1993. And Bloomberg's victory marks the first time two Republicans were elected back to back in modern history.

In this race, the candidates' campaigns all came to a halt on Sept. 11. They gradually resumed television advertising and public appearances about two weeks later, with most of the earlier issues overtaken by concerns for the city's recovery.