1994 United States Senate election in New York

1994 United States Senate election in New York

←  1988 November 8, 1994 2000  →

Nominee Pat Moynihan Bernadette Castro Party Democratic Republican Alliance Liberal Conservative Popular vote 2,646,541 1,988,308 Percentage 55.25% 41.51%

County results Moynihan:      40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90% Castro:      40–50%     50–60%     60–70%

U.S. senator before election Pat Moynihan Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Pat Moynihan Democratic

The 1994 United States Senate election in New York was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan won re-election to a fourth term. As of 2024 ^[update] , this is the last time a man has won the Class 1 Senate seat from New York.

Democratic Primary

Candidates

• Daniel Patrick Moynihan, incumbent U.S. Senator
• Al Sharpton, civil rights activist, Baptist minister and talk show host

Results

Democratic Primary Results by County:

  Moynihan

•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%
•   80–90%
•   90–100%

Democratic Primary Results ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Daniel Patrick Moynihan (incumbent)	526,766	74.72%
	Democratic	Al Sharpton	178,231	25.28%
Total votes			704,997	100.00%

Conservative Primary

Candidates

• Bernadette Castro, CEO of Castro Convertibles
• Henry Hewes, real estate developer and perennial candidate

Results

Conservative Primary Results ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Bernadette Castro	12,300	62.91%
	Conservative	Henry Hewes	7,251	37.09%
Total votes			19,551	100.00%

General election

Candidates

• Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D/L), incumbent U.S. Senator
• Bernadette Castro (R/C), CEO of Castro Convertibles

Campaign

1994 was significant for the Republican Revolution, mostly as a referendum against President Bill Clinton and his health care plan, and was seen as a tough year for Democratic incumbents. Moynihan, however, was New York State's most popular politician at the time, and ran ahead of all other Democrats competing statewide. ^[3]

Republican Castro was running for office for the first time and had trouble raising funds due to being seen as unlikely to win; at times during the race she trailed by up to 30 percentage points. ^[3] She portrayed herself as a fiscally conservative, socially moderate Republican in the mold of Governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman, and attempted to portray Moynihan as excessively liberal and prone to government spending. ^[3] But Moynihan repeated his past strong performance among upstate voters, in addition to the usual Democratic strongholds in New York City. ^[3]

Results

General Election Results ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Patrick Moynihan	2,528,387	52.78
	Liberal	Patrick Moynihan	118,154	2.47
	Total	Patrick Moynihan (Incumbent)	2,646,541	55.25	11.77
	Republican	Bernadette Castro	1,711,760	35.73
	Conservative	Bernadette Castro	276,548	5.77
	Total	Bernadette Castro	1,988,308	41.51	10.46
	Right to Life	Henry Hewes	95,954	2.00	0.93
	Independence	Ismael Betancourt, Jr.	26,650	0.56	N/A
	Libertarian	Norma Segal	17,991	0.38	0.18
	Socialist Workers	Naomi Craine	14,892	0.31	0.12
Majority			658,233	13.74	−22.16
Total votes			4,790,336	100.00
	Democratic hold

See also

• 1994 United States Senate elections

References

1. "1994 Sep 13 • Democratic Primary • United States Senator • State of New York | New York State Board of Elections". New York State Board of Elections Elections Database. Retrieved March 26, 2025.
2. "1994 Sep 13 • Conservative Primary • United States Senator • State of New York | New York State Board of Elections". New York State Board of Elections Elections Database. Retrieved March 26, 2025.
3. Finder, Alan (November 9, 1994). "Defying Anti-Incumbent Mood, Moynihan Wins Easily". The New York Times .
4. "Vote Cast for United States Senator by Party of Candidate New York State by County". New York State Board of Elections.