But the question that will dominate the coming process is much simpler: Can Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who raced out to a lead after an initial count of early and primary day in-person voting, hold on to his advantage?

Adams, a retired captain in the New York Police Department, came out to chants of "the champ is here" -- Muhammad Ali's famous boast, sampled in a Jadakiss song -- at his headquarters in Brooklyn late Tuesday and, after acknowledging the ranked-choice process to come, spoke as if the race was over.

"We know that this is going to be layers, this is the first early voting count -- we know that.

The demands for an equitable economic recovery, along with public safety free from police abuse will present the new mayor with a series of challenges unlike any in a generation.

Before the general election can begin, Adams will hope -- and he clearly expects -- to maintain his early lead over former sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia and civil rights attorney Maya Wiley, his two closest competitors in the initial vote preferences.

Those results could change once absentee ballots are included and the ranked-choice tabulation is run, a point Garcia stressed in her own election night remarks.

"This is going to be a ranked choice election," Garcia said.

That process will continue with the remaining candidates until two are left with the winner determined by who has the most votes in that final round.

New York City's Board of Elections plans to release the first set of results from this ranked-choice voting process on June 29, but those results will only include votes from early in-person and election day voters, not absentee ballots.

The board will release the results of the ranked-choice voting process again on July 6, this time including as many absentee ballots as they've been able to process.