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That could weaken his power and make his third term more difficult at City Hall, where Democrats poised to sweep into citywide offices indicated they would not shy away from disagreeing with the mayor.
"It will be a very different experience than what he experienced the last eight years," said Democrat Bill de Blasio, heavily favored to win the job of City Hall ombudsman.
Councilman John Liu was expected to become the first Asian-American elected to citywide office as comptroller. New York City voters were also to elect a new Manhattan prosecutor and five borough presidents and several City Council seats were in play.
Public opinion surveys find the mayor with a much narrower lead over Thompson this year than the lead he held in 2005, when Bloomberg steamrolled Fernando Ferrer by almost 20 points. A Quinnipiac University survey on Monday of 1,360 likely voters had Thompson 12 points behind Bloomberg.
Analysts say the smaller margin expected this year is partly due to voter resentment over the way Bloomberg hastily persuaded the City Council to change term-limit law last year so that he could run again. The anger is not widely predicted to boil up enough for a Thompson upset.
"The term limits thing did hurt - but the numbers still say 'Bloomberg easy,'" said Maurice Carroll, Quinnipiac University's polling director.
The former Republican mayor, not in any party but still running on the GOP and Independence Party lines, had long insisted he supported term limits before changing course last year.
New Yorkers who voted against Bloomberg Tuesday overwhelmingly mentioned his changed position on term limits and exorbitant spending. He spent $85 million to win re-election in 2005.
"I didn't like the idea that King Mike thinks he can buy anything he wants, including my vote," said Democrat Kevin Anterline, a 56-year-old university employee who voted for Thompson.
Marjorie Shea, a retired high school teacher, said the spending was "overkill" but voted for him anyway, saying his wealth and businessman's mind makes him an independent thinker.
"The team he has in place is doing very well. And he's not beholden to anyone," said Shea, a Democrat voting on Manhattan's Upper West side.
Helen Newman, 32, voted for a Green Party candidate, but said she wasn't bothered by the mayor's spending.
"I didn't really see anyone show up who had a chance against him," she said. "But then I guess no one showed up who had a chance against him because he has so much money."
Bloomberg would become the first three-term mayor in the city since Democrat Ed Koch, who has endorsed Bloomberg.
In other city races, Liu - a native of Taiwan - was expected to easily defeat his Republican challenger in the election for city comptroller, becoming the first Asian-American to hold citywide office.
De Blasio was heavily favored to win the election for public advocate over Republican Alex Zablocki from Staten Island. All five borough presidents were up for re-election.
Defense lawyer Cy Vance was poised to officially become Manhattan's first new district attorney in 35 years. Vance won a competitive Democratic primary in September to succeed 90-year-old Robert Morgenthau as head of one of the biggest prosecutor's jobs in the country.
Vance would take over a 500-lawyer office that handles cases ranging from corporate fraud to celebrity misdeeds. It serves as a basis for television's "Law & Order" franchise.
