Herman Carl McCall is an American politician of the Democratic Party. A former New York State Comptroller and New York State Senator, McCall was the Democratic candidate for Governor of New York in 2002. McCall was the first African-American to be elected New York State Comptroller. He is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, and is on the board of directors of several corporations. From October 17, 2011, until his retirement on June 30, 2019, McCall was chairman of the State University of New York Board of Trustees.
George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who served as the 53rd Governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. He previously served in the State Legislature from 1985 to 1994, and as the Mayor of Peekskill from 1981 to 1984. Pataki was the third Republican since 1923 to win New York's governorship, after Thomas E. Dewey and Nelson Rockefeller, and is the most recent one to do so.
Blase Thomas Golisano is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist.
The Conservative Party of New York State is an American political party founded in 1962 following conservative dissatisfaction with the Republican Party in New York. Running on the Conservative Party line, James L. Buckley won election to the U.S. Senate in 1970 and served for one term. Since 2010, the party has held "Row C" on New York ballots—the third-place ballot position, directly below the Democratic and Republican parties—because it received the third-highest number of votes of any political party in the 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022 New York gubernatorial elections. The party is known for its strategy of attempting to influence the Republican Party in a more conservative direction.
The 2006 New York gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2006, to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of New York, concurrently with elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections, then incumbent Republican governor George Pataki chose not to run for re-election in a fourth term. Democrat Eliot Spitzer, the New York Attorney General, won the election over former Republican state Assembly minority leader John Faso. As of 2024, this is the last time the Governor’s office in New York changed partisan control. This was the first open-seat election since 1982. Primary elections were held on September 12. This is the last gubernatorial election where any of the following counties voted Democratic: Genesee, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Niagara, Fulton, Steuben, Tioga & Schoharie.
The Independence Party was a political party in the U.S. state of New York. The party was founded in 1991 by Gordon Black, Tom Golisano, and Laureen Oliver and acquired ballot status in 1994. They lost their ballot status in 2020 under a change in the New York state election law that required at least 130,000 votes on the party line every two years. Although often associated with Ross Perot, as the party came to prominence in the wake of Perot's 1992 presidential campaign, it was created prior to Perot's run. In 2020, it affiliated with the Alliance Party, but disaffiliated in 2021. It used to have one elected member of the New York State Assembly, Fred Thiele, until Thiele switched his party affiliation to the Democratic Party in 2022. On December 9, 2022, New York governor Kathy Hochul signed S1851A, banning the use of the words "Independent" and "Independence" from use in political party names in New York state.
Arthur Jay Finkelstein was a New York state-based Republican Party (GOP) consultant who worked for conservative and right-wing candidates in the United States, Canada, Israel, Central Europe, and Eastern Europe over four decades.
Mary O'Connor Donohue is an American retired educator, attorney, politician and Judge of the New York Court of Claims, who served as the lieutenant governor of New York from 1999 to 2006. Donohue was first elected lieutenant governor in 1998, and was re-elected in 2002.
Sandra L. Frankel is the former Supervisor of the Town of Brighton, Monroe County, New York. A former Brighton school board member and BOCES I Monroe Board of Education, Vice President of both, Frankel served for 20 years as town supervisor, the elected executive of an urban suburb of 35,000 population.
The lieutenant governor of New York is a constitutional office in the executive branch of the Government of the State of New York. It is the second highest-ranking official in state government. The lieutenant governor is elected on a ticket with the governor for a four-year term. Official duties dictated to the lieutenant governor under the present New York Constitution are to serve as president of the state senate, serve as acting governor in the absence of the governor from the state or the disability of the governor, or to become governor in the event of the governor's death, resignation or removal from office via impeachment. Additional statutory duties of the lieutenant governor are to serve on the New York Court for the Trial of Impeachments, the State Defense Council, and on the board of trustees of the College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The lieutenant governor of New York is the highest-paid lieutenant governor in the country.
Laureen Oliver is an American political activist, candidate, and consultant who co-founded the Independence Party of New York (IPNY) in the 1990s. She was the party's first state chair and was twice its nominee for statewide offices including lieutenant governor during the period it was affiliated with the Reform Party of the United States of America. As campaign advisor to Tom Golisano, she led his 1994, 1998, and 2002 bids for governor of New York. She also served on the presidential committee for Governor Richard Lamm of the Reform Party.
Herbert Ira London was an American conservative activist, commentator, author, and academic. London was the president of the Hudson Institute from 1997 to 2011. He was a frequent columnist for The Washington Times. London was president of the London Center for Policy Research, a conservative think tank hosted at The King's College in New York City, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 5, 2002, in 36 states and two territories. The Republicans won eight seats previously held by the Democrats, as well as the seat previously held by Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, who was elected on the Reform Party ticket but had since renounced his party affiliation. The Democrats won 10 seats previously held by the Republicans, as well as the seat previously held by Maine governor Angus King, an independent. The elections were held concurrently with the other United States elections of 2002.
The 2010 New York gubernatorial election was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. Incumbent Democratic Governor David Paterson, elected as lieutenant governor in 2006 as the running mate of Eliot Spitzer, initially ran for a full term but dropped out of the race. Democratic New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo defeated Republican Carl Paladino to become the next governor of New York.
The 1994 New York gubernatorial election was an election for the state governorship held on November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic Governor Mario Cuomo ran for a fourth term, but was defeated by Republican George Pataki in an upset victory. Pataki had previously been described by the New York Daily News as "a little-known Republican state senator." The conservative New York Post attributed the result to how voters "had grown tired of the 12-year incumbent Cuomo and his liberalism."
The 1990 New York gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990, to elect the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of New York. Democratic Governor Mario Cuomo won a third term in office, making him the first Democrat elected to three terms as Governor of New York since Herbert H. Lehman.
The prevailing political ethos of the residents of upstate New York varies from that of their downstate counterparts.
The 2014 New York gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2014. Incumbent Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo sought re-election to a second term in office, though incumbent Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy did not seek re-election. Cuomo and his running mate, former U.S. Representative Kathy Hochul, won contested primaries, while Republican Rob Astorino, the Westchester County Executive, and his running mate were unopposed for their party's nomination. Astorino and Moss were also cross-nominated by the Conservative Party and the Stop Common Core Party.
The 191st New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 4, 1995, to December 31, 1996, during the first and second years of George Pataki's governorship, in Albany.
The 2018 New York gubernatorial election occurred on November 6, 2018. Incumbent Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo won re-election to a third term, defeating Republican Marc Molinaro and several minor party candidates. Cuomo received 59.6% of the vote to Molinaro's 36.2%.
