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It was close, but Mayor Bloomberg, seen here with Jackie Robinson's widow, Rachel, last week, did not win Brooklyn, even as he rolled to his third term.

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Mayor Bloomberg rolled to a third term on Tuesday, but he didn’t win Brooklyn.

Challenger Bill Thompson won a majority of the ballots cast by borough residents, getting 49.8 percent of the vote to Bloomberg’s 46 percent.

The close vote total revealed deep divisions in Brooklyn’s electorate, with the Republican incumbent running strong in white-majority neighborhoods from Bay Ridge to Borough Park, as well as Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill, while predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods in central Brooklyn and Sunset Park came out strong for Thompson.

In the end, Thompson won 169,071 Brooklyn votes to Bloomberg’s 157,296.

Citywide, of course, the mayor beat Thompson 50.6 percent to 46 percent.

The close results betrayed the predictions of virtually all of the borough’s political elite calling the race wrong. Borough President Markowitz, for instance, told The Brooklyn Paper that Bloomberg would win by “eight to 10 percent,” while Gov. Paterson said Thompson would win.

On the night, the mayoral race was the only close contest in Brooklyn.

In four contested Council races, Democrats rolled over their competition:

• In the 39th Council District, which covers Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill, Brad Lander got 70 percent of the vote to Republican Joe Nardiello’s 16.6 percent and Green Party candidate David Pechefsky’s 7 percent.

• In the 34th Council District, which covers Bushwick and Williamsburg, incumbent Diana Reyna shot down a challenge from Working Families Party-backed challenger Maritza Davila, 60-34 percent. Davila had been supported by Brooklyn Democratic Party boss, Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who declined to support the nominee of his own party.

• In the 33rd Council District, which covers Williamsburg, DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights and part of Park Slope, Democrat Steve Levin won 91 percent of the vote against Conservative challenger Elizabeth Tretter.

• And in the 43rd Council District, Democratic incumbent Vince Gentile beat back Republican Bob Capano with 60 percent of the vote.

And in the lone borough-wide race, Borough President Markowitz rolled to a third term, trouncing Republican challenger Marc D’Attavio, 85-13.2 percent.

©2009 Community Newspaper Group