List of governors of New York
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governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has ...
is the
head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a gro ...
of the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
and the head of the
executive branch The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a State (polity), state. In poli ...
of
New York's state government The Government of the State of New York, headquartered at the New York State Capitol in Albany, encompasses the administrative structure of the U.S. state of New York, as established by the state's constitution. Analogously to the US federa ...
and the commander-in-chief of the state's
military forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
.New York Constitution article IV, § 3. The officeholder has a duty to enforce state laws, to convene the
New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official ...
, the power to either approve or
veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...
bills passed by the legislature, as well as to grant
pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...
s, except in cases of
treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
and
impeachment Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...
. Fifty-seven people have served as state governor, four of whom served non-consecutive terms ( George Clinton,
DeWitt Clinton DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769February 11, 1828) was an American politician and naturalist. He served as a United States senator, as the mayor of New York City, and as the seventh governor of New York. In this last capacity, he was largely res ...
,
Horatio Seymour Horatio Seymour (May 31, 1810February 12, 1886) was an American politician. He served as Governor of New York from 1853 to 1854 and from 1863 to 1864. He was the Democratic Party nominee for president in the 1868 United States presidential elec ...
, and
Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was an American politician who served four terms as Governor of New York and was the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 1928. The son of an Irish-American mother and a C ...
); the official numbering lists each governor only once. There has only been one female governor so far:
Kathy Hochul Kathleen Hochul ( ; née Courtney; born August 27, 1958) is an American politician serving as the 57th governor of New York since August 24, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she is New York's first female governor, as well as the firs ...
. This numbering includes one acting governor: the lieutenant governor who filled the vacancy after the resignation of the governor, under the 1777 Constitution. The list does not include the prior colonial governors nor those who have acted as governor when the governor was out of state, such as Lieutenant Governor Timothy L. Woodruff during Theodore Roosevelt's vice presidential campaign in 1900, or Acting
Speaker of the New York State Assembly The speaker of the New York State Assembly is the highest official in the New York State Assembly, customarily elected from the ranks of the majority party. As in most countries with a British heritage, the speaker presides over the lower hous ...
Moses M. Weinstein, who acted as governor for 10 days in 1968 while the governor, the lieutenant governor and the senate majority leader were out of the state, attending the Republican National Convention in
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
. Four men have become
president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
after serving as governor of New York:
Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party (Uni ...
,
Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...
,
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
, and
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
, and six were
vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
. Van Buren and Theodore Roosevelt held both offices. Two governors have been chief justice:
John Jay John Jay (December 12, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, patriot, diplomat, abolitionist, signatory of the Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served as the second governor of New York and the first ...
held that position when he was elected governor in 1795, and
Charles Evans Hughes Charles Evans Hughes Sr. (April 11, 1862 – August 27, 1948) was an American statesman, politician and jurist who served as the 11th Chief Justice of the United States from 1930 to 1941. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the ...
became chief justice in 1930, two decades after leaving the governorship. The longest-serving governor was the first, George Clinton, who first took office on July 30, 1777, and served seven terms in two different periods, totaling just under 21 years in office. As 18 of those years were consecutive, Clinton also served the longest consecutive period in office for a New York governor.
Charles Poletti Charles Poletti (July 2, 1903 – August 8, 2002) was an American lawyer and politician. He became the 46th governor of New York in December 1942, and was the first Italian-American governor in the United States. Born in Barre, Vermont to Itali ...
had the shortest term, serving 29 days following the resignation of the previous governor,
Herbert H. Lehman Herbert Henry Lehman (March 28, 1878 – December 5, 1963) was an American Democratic Party politician from New York. He served from 1933 until 1942 as the 45th governor of New York and represented New York State in the U.S. Senate from 194 ...
in 1942.
David Paterson David Alexander Paterson (born May 20, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 55th governor of New York, succeeding Eliot Spitzer and serving out nearly three years of Spitzer's term from March 2008 to December 2010. A ...
was the first African American governor of New York, and the first legally blind governor as well. Paterson is only the fourth African American to hold the office of governor in the United States. The current governor is
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...
Kathy Hochul Kathleen Hochul ( ; née Courtney; born August 27, 1958) is an American politician serving as the 57th governor of New York since August 24, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she is New York's first female governor, as well as the firs ...
, the state's first female governor, who assumed the office on August 24, 2021 upon the resignation of
Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...
. Hochul went on to be formally elected to the post of Governor of New York State after beating Republican Lee Zeldin in the 2022 midterm election.


Governors

New York was one of the original
thirteen colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of Kingdom of Great Britain, British Colony, colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Fo ...
on the east coast of North America, and was admitted as a state on July 26, 1788. Prior to declaring its independence, New York was a
colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...
of the
Kingdom of Great Britain The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a Sovereign state, sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of ...
, which it in turn obtained from the
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
as the colony of
New Netherland New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the East Coast of the United States, east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territor ...
; see the list of colonial governors and the list of directors-general of New Netherland for the pre-statehood period. The office of the governor was established by the first
New York Constitution The Constitution of the State of New York establishes the structure of the government of the State of New York, and enumerates the basic rights of the citizens of New York. Like most state constitutions in the United States, New York's constituti ...
in 1777. The governor was originally for a term of three years, though the constitution did not specify when the term began. A 1787 law set the start of the term at July 1. The
New York State Constitutional Convention The Constitution of the State of New York establishes the structure of the government of the State of New York, and enumerates the basic rights of the citizens of New York. Like most state constitutions in the United States, New York's constituti ...
of 1821 amended the state constitution, reducing the term of office to two years, moving the election to November, and moving the beginning and the end of the term to coincide with the calendar year. An 1874 amendment extended the term of office back to three years, but the 1894 constitution again reduced it to two years. The most recent New York Constitution of 1938 extended the term to the current four years. There is no limit to the number of consecutive terms a governor may serve. The Constitution has provided since 1777 for the election of a
lieutenant governor of New York 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 wit ...
, who is ''
ex officio An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term '' ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...
'' President of the Senate, to the same term (keeping the same term lengths as the governor throughout all the constitutional revisions). Originally, in the event of the death, resignation or impeachment of the governor, the lieutenant governor would become acting governor until the end of the yearly legislative term, the office being filled in a special election, if there was a remainder of the term. Since the 1821 Constitution, the lieutenant governor explicitly becomes governor upon such vacancy in the office and serves for the entire remainder of the term. Should the office of lieutenant governor become vacant, the president ''pro tempore'' of the State Senate performs all the duties of the lieutenant governor until the vacancy is filled either at the next gubernatorial election or by appointment. Likewise, should both offices become vacant at the same time, the president ''pro tempore'' acts as governor, with the office of lieutenant governor remaining vacant. Should the presidency ''pro tempore'' be vacant too, or the incumbent unable to fulfill the duties, the Speaker of the State Assembly is next in the line of succession. The lieutenant governor is elected on the same
ticket Ticket or tickets may refer to: Slips of paper * Lottery ticket * Parking ticket, a ticket confirming that the parking fee was paid (and the time of the parking start) * Toll ticket, a slip of paper used to indicate where vehicles entered a tol ...
as the governor, since the 1954 election with a single joint vote cast for both offices, but is nominated separately.


See also

*
New York gubernatorial elections There have been 91 gubernatorial elections in the state of New York since 1777, with the most recent being held on 2022 New York gubernatorial election, November 8, 2022. The next election is scheduled to be held on 2026 New York gubernatorial ele ...
*
List of colonial governors of New York The territory which would later become the state of New York was settled by European colonists as part of the New Netherland colony (parts of present-day New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware) under the command of the Dutch West India ...
*
Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has ...
* First Ladies and Gentlemen of New York *
List of governors of New York by time in office The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York State, New York and the head of the Executive (government), executive branch of Government of New York (state), New York's state government and the commander-in-chi ...


Notes


References

;General * * * ;Constitutions * * * * ;Specific


External links


Office of the Governor of New York
{{DEFAULTSORT:New York, List Of Governors Of Lists of state governors of the United States *
Governors A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...