1970 New York gubernatorial election

1970 New York gubernatorial election
	County results ; Rockefeller: 40-50% 50-60% 60-70%; Goldberg: 40-50% 50-60%
Governor before election; Nelson Rockefeller ; Republican	Elected Governor; Nelson Rockefeller ; Republican

Last updated November 12, 2025

The 1970 New York gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1970 to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of New York. Incumbent Republican Governor Nelson Rockefeller defeated the Democratic nominee, former UN Ambassador and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, by more than ten percentage points. On January 1, 1971, Rockefeller was sworn in for his fourth term as governor. Rockefeller received over 3.15 million votes in total, the highest total in any New York gubernatorial election until Andrew Cuomo received 3.64 million in 2018.

Goldberg's running mate, Basil Paterson, was the first African-American nominee for Lieutenant Governor of New York. His son, David Paterson, would become the first African-American lieutenant governor of New York. Paterson would serve as governor of New York from 2008 to 2010 after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer.

After this election, no Republican would be elected Governor of New York until George Pataki in 1994.

Contested nominations

Conservative

Conservative Party convention results^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Paul L. Adams	75	97.40
	Conservative	Mario Procaccino (Write-In)	2	2.60
Total votes			77	100.00

Liberal

Liberal Party State Committee vote results^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Arthur Goldberg	211	70.33
	Liberal	Robert M. Morgenthau	81	27.00
	Liberal	Howard J. Samuels	8	2.67
Total votes			300	100.00

Democratic

Democratic primary results^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Arthur Goldberg	496,648	52.16
	Democratic	Howard J. Samuels	455,482	47.84
Total votes			952,130	100.00

Results

New York gubernatorial election, 1970
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Nelson Rockefeller	3,105,220	51.64%
	Civil Service Ind.	Nelson Rockefeller	46,212	0.77%
	Total	Nelson Rockefeller (incumbent)	3,151,432	52.41%	+7.80%
	Democratic	Arthur Goldberg	2,158,355	35.90%
	Liberal	Arthur Goldberg	263,071	4.38%
	Total	Arthur Goldberg	2,421,426	40.27%	+2.16%
	Conservative	Paul L. Adams	422,514	7.03%	−1.43%
	Communist	Rasheed Storey	7,760	0.13%	N/A
	Socialist Workers	Clifton DeBerry	5,766	0.10%	−0.11%
	Socialist Labor	Stephen Emery	3,963	0.07%	−0.14%
Majority			730,006	12.14%	+5.64%
Turnout			6,012,861
	Republican hold

Bibliography

Paterson, David "Black, Blind, & In Charge: A Story of Visionary Leadership and Overcoming Adversity."

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
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[1] "Our Campaigns - NY Governor - C Convention Race - Apr 07, 1970".

[2] "Our Campaigns - NY Governor - L Convention Race - May 11, 1970".

[3] "Our Campaigns - NY Governor - D Primary Race - Jun 23, 1970".

[1]

[2]

[3]

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