The 2018 New York gubernatorial election occurred on November 6, 2018. Incumbent

Democratic 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 ...

Governor

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 Cu ...

won re-election to a third term, defeating Republican

Marc Molinaro Marcus J. Molinaro (born October 8, 1975) is an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, Molinaro is the U.S. representative-elect for New York's 19th congressional district, and is currently serving his third term as county execut ...

and several minor party candidates. Cuomo received 59.6% of the vote to Molinaro's 36.2%. Cuomo defeated actress and activist

Cynthia Nixon Cynthia Ellen Nixon (born April 9, 1966) is an American actress, activist, and theater director. For her portrayal of Miranda Hobbes in the HBO series ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), she won the 2004 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding S ...

in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Cuomo's running mate, Lieutenant Governor

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 ...

, outpolled New York City Councillor

Jumaane Williams Jumaane D. Williams ( ; born May 11, 1976) is an American activist and politician who has served as the New York City Public Advocate since 2019. He is a former member of the New York City Council from the 45th district, which includes East ...

in the Democratic primary for the lieutenant governorship. Democratic candidates Cuomo and Hochul also ran on the ballot lines of the Independence Party, and the

Women's Equality Party The Women's Equality Party (WEP) is a feminist political party set up in the United Kingdom in 2015. The idea was conceived by Catherine Mayer and Sandi Toksvig at the Women of the World Festival, when they concluded that there was a need f ...

; after Nixon and Williams withdrew from the race in October, Cuomo and Hochul received the nomination of the

Working Families Party The Working Families Party (WFP) is a minor political party in the United States, founded in New York in 1998. There are active chapters in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Ne ...

as well. Dutchess County Executive and former New York State Assemblymember

was the Republican,

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

, and

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...

Party candidate. Molinaro's running mate was former Rye City Councilmember Julie Killian. Third-party gubernatorial candidates appearing on the general election ballot included

Howie Hawkins } Howard Gresham Hawkins III (born December 8, 1952) is an American trade unionist, environmental activist, and perennial candidate from New York. A co-founder of the Green Party of the United States, Hawkins was the party's presidential nomine ...

, repeat candidate for the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundati ...

; former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, running on the newly created Serve America Movement line; and Larry Sharpe of the Libertarian Party, who was the runner-up in the 2016 Libertarian primary contest for Vice President of the United States. On election day, Cuomo ultimately won re-election by a large margin, as is typical in the now deeply-blue state 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 * '' ...

. Cuomo flipped Monroe,

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...

and

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label=Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

counties back into the Democratic column; all three had supported him in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

but narrowly backed Republican Rob Astorino in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. Molinaro, however, flipped the North Country counties of Clinton, Franklin, and

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, as well as Broome County in the Southern Tier, into the Republican column. , this, along with the concurrent Attorney General election, Senate election and Comptroller election, is the last time

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a ...

counties have voted Democratic. This is the last time Nassau County and

Rockland County Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is about from the Bronx at their closest points. The county's population, as of th ...

voted Democratic in a gubernatorial election. This is the last time the counties of

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Yo ...

and

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

voted Republican in a statewide election. This is also the last time Cuomo would win re-election to the governorship; in 2021, he would resign from office and be succeeded by Hochul.

Background

Incumbent Democratic governor

decided to seek re-election in 2014 to a second term in office. Governor Cuomo defeated

Zephyr Teachout Zephyr Rain Teachout (, born October 24, 1971) is an American attorney, author, political candidate, and associate professor of law at Fordham University. In 2014, Teachout ran for the Democratic Party nomination for governor of New York and lo ...

in a primary election, 63% to 33%, and went on to defeat the Republican nominee, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, 54% to 40%, in the general election. His margin of victory — and his vote tallies in rural upstate New York counties — declined in his bid for re-election, but Cuomo was still elected comfortably. New York gubernatorial elections operate on a split primary system: governor and lieutenant governor candidates in each party run in separate primary elections. In the general election, candidates are chosen as unified governor/lieutenant governor tickets. New York allows

electoral fusion Electoral fusion is an arrangement where two or more political parties on a ballot list the same candidate, pooling the votes for that candidate. It is distinct from the process of electoral alliances in that the political parties remain sep ...

, in which candidates may appear on multiple ballot lines in the same election. The results of the gubernatorial election also determine

ballot access Elections in the United States refers to the rules and procedures regulating the conditions under which a candidate, political party, or ballot measure is entitled to appear on voters' ballots. As the nation's election process is decentraliz ...

and ballot order. A party's gubernatorial candidate must receive 50,000 votes or more for that party to obtain automatic ballot status in New York for the following four years. The last Republican to win a gubernatorial election in New York was

George Pataki George Elmer Pataki (; born June 24, 1945) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 53rd governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. An attorney by profession, Pataki was elected mayor of his hometown of Peekskill, New York, and went ...

in 2002.

Democratic primary

On November 15, 2016, incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced his intention to seek a third term in office. On May 23, 2018, incumbent governor

secured the nomination of the Democratic Party at the state convention after winning support from more than 95% of the state delegates. No other candidates qualified for the primary ballot at the convention, as they all failed to meet the required 25% delegate threshold. Actress and activist

sought to petition her way onto the Democratic primary ballot. By July 12, Nixon had obtained 65,000 petition signatures, which is more than four times the 15,000 required to force a primary election.

Candidates

Nominee

, incumbent governor of New York

=Lost nomination

= *

, actress and activist

=Withdrew

= * Randy Credico,

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

(endorsed Nixon) * Terry Gipson, former state senator

=Declined

= *

Preet Bharara Preetinder Singh Bharara (; born October 13, 1968) is an Indian-born American lawyer, author, podcaster and former federal prosecutor who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017. He is current ...

, former U.S Attorney for the

Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...

Byron Brown Byron William Brown II (born September 24, 1958) is an American politician who is the current mayor of Buffalo, New York. He has served as Buffalo's 62nd mayor since January 2006, the City's first African-American mayor and longest serving ...

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

of Buffalo and chairman of the

New York State Democratic Committee The New York State Democratic Committee is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of New York. Its headquarters are in Manhattan, and it has an office in Albany.Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States senat ...

, 67th

United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's ...

; former

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

from New York; former

First Lady of the United States The first lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is the title held by the hostess of the White House, usually the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never ...

; 2008 Democratic presidential candidate; Democratic nominee for president in 2016 (endorsed Cuomo) *

Thomas DiNapoli Thomas Peter DiNapoli II (born February 10, 1954) is an American politician serving as the 54th and current New York State Comptroller since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he was previously the New York State Assemblyman for the 16th dist ...

, Comptroller of New York (ran for reelection) *

Kirsten Gillibrand Kirsten Elizabeth Gillibrand (; ; born December 9, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from New York since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as member of the U.S. House of ...

, current U.S. Senator from New York ( ran for reelection; endorsed Cuomo) * Stephanie Miner, former mayor of Syracuse (declined to seek Democratic Party nomination, ran for Governor on the Serve America Movement ticket) *

Eric Schneiderman Eric Tradd Schneiderman (born December 31, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 65th Attorney General of New York from 2011 until his resignation in May 2018. Schneiderman, a member of the Democratic Party, spent ten years ...

Attorney General of New York The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government o ...

(resigned from public office May 7, 2018, following accusations of domestic violence) *

, law professor at

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

, candidate for governor in

and nominee for

NY-19 New York's 19th congressional district is located in New York's Catskills and mid- Hudson Valley regions. It lies partially in the northernmost region of the New York metropolitan area and mostly south of Albany. This district is currently r ...

in 2016 (endorsed Nixon; ran for attorney general) *

, member of the New York City Council (endorsed Nixon; ran for lieutenant governor)

Endorsements

Polling

Debates and forums

* Hofstra University – August 29, 2018 – WCBS-TV

Results

On September 13, 2018, Cuomo defeated Nixon in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.

Lieutenant governor

Nominee

, incumbent lieutenant governor of New York

= Lost nomination

= *

, New York City Council member

= Results

Kathy Hochul narrowly defeated New York City Councillor

in the Democratic primary.

Republican primary

On May 23, 2018, the party unanimously nominated

as its candidate for Governor of New York at its state convention. No challengers attempted to petition onto the primary ballot, so no Republican primary took place. Deputy Senate Majority Leader John A. DeFrancisco ran for the Republican nomination, but withdrew his candidacy on April 25, 2018, after party leaders—who had initially given him their support—threw their support to Molinaro instead.

Governor

Candidates

=Nominee

= *

Dutchess County Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later or ...

Executive and former member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

** Running mate: Julie Killian, former Rye city councilwoman and state senate nominee

=Withdrew

= * John A. DeFrancisco, Deputy Majority Leader of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

* Joel Giambra, former Erie County Executive * Joe Holland, former commissioner of the New York Department of Housing and Community Renewal ( ran for Attorney General instead) * Brian Kolb, Minority Leader of the

=Declined

= * Rob Astorino, former Westchester County Executive and Republican nominee for governor in

* John P. Cahill, former commissioner of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation; former chief of staff to Governor

; Republican nominee for attorney general in

* John J. Flanagan,

Majority Leader of the New York State Senate The Majority leader of the New York State Senate is elected by the majority of the members of the New York State Senate. The position usually coincides with the title of temporary president of the State Senate, who presides over the session of th ...

* Chris Gibson, former U.S. Representative * Carl Paladino, former member of the

Buffalo Public Schools Buffalo Public Schools serves approximately 34,000 students in Buffalo, New York, the second largest city in the state of New York. It is located in Erie County of western New York and operates nearly 70 facilities. History The Buffalo Public S ...

Board of Education and nominee for governor in

* Donald Trump Jr., businessman and son of U.S. President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...

* Harry Wilson, businessman and nominee for State Comptroller in

Endorsements

Polling

Third-party candidates and independent candidates

Third parties with automatic ballot access

In addition to the Democratic and Republican Parties, six other political parties will have automatic ballot access; all six have chosen to exercise it. In order of ballot appearance, those parties are: *

Conservative Party of New York State 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 ...

: On April 13, 2018, in what Party chairman Michael R. Long termed a "not very easy" decision, the Conservative Party Executive Committee selected

over Deputy Senate Majority Leader John A. DeFrancisco as its gubernatorial endorsee. **Nominee:

Green Party of New York The Green Party of New York is the affiliate of the Green Party of the United States in the U.S. state of New York. It was founded in 1992 and is a part of the Green Party movement. The Party has had ballot access at various points in its hist ...

: On April 12, 2018,

, after initially implying after the 2014 election that he would not seek the office again, launched his third consecutive campaign for the position, his 21st campaign for public office. **Nominee:

, party co-founder and perennial candidate ***Running mate: Jia Lee,

United Federation of Teachers The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) is the labor union that represents most teachers in New York City public schools. , there were about 118,000 in-service teachers and 17,000 paraprofessional educators in the union, as well as about 54,000 ...

chapter leader and public school teacher *

: On April 14, 2018, by a 91–8 margin, the Working Families Party endorsed

as its gubernatorial candidate, with

as her running mate. The endorsement came after the labor unions that formed part of Cuomo's

political machine In the politics of representative democracies, a political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives (such as money or political jobs) and that is characterized by a high degree of leadership co ...

, who were able to force the party to nominate Cuomo instead of

in 2014, withdrew from the party, and Cuomo declined to seek the party's line. On September 13, 2018, after being defeated by Cuomo in the Democratic primary, Nixon declined to say whether she would continue to run for governor on the Working Families Party line. On October 3, the Working Families Party offered Cuomo and Hochul their party's ballot line. Cuomo and Hochul accepted that offer on October 5. **Nominee: Andrew Cuomo (replacing the withdrawn Cynthia Nixon) ***Running mate: Kathy Hochul (replacing the withdrawn Jumaane Williams) *

Independence Party of New York The Independence Party is a political party in the U.S. state of New York. The party was founded in 1991 by Dr. Gordon Black, Tom Golisano, and Laureen Oliver from Rochester, New York, and acquired ballot status in 1994. They lost their ballot s ...

: On December 23, 2017, the Party endorsed incumbent governor Andrew Cuomo for the third consecutive election cycle. **Nominee:

: The party endorsed Cuomo for re-election, as the party remained allied with the Cuomo campaign. **Nominee:

Reform Party of New York State The Reform Party of New York State was the New York branch of the Reform Party of the United States of America. The branch was founded in 2000 after the Independence Party of New York, which had been affiliated with the national Reform Party fro ...

: On May 19, after the party's executive committee deadlocked between

and Joel Giambra in April, delegates at the Reform Party state convention nominated Republican frontrunner Molinaro for governor. ** Nominee:

Independent candidates and third parties without automatic ballot access

Any candidate not among the eight

qualified New York political parties In New York State, to qualify for automatic ballot access, a party must have qualify every two years by receiving the greater 130,000 votes or 2% of the vote in the previous gubernatorial election or presidential election.Only two minor parties in New York will keep their ballot access

Libertarian Party

On July 12, 2017, Larry Sharpe, business consultant and runner-up in the 2016 Libertarian Party vice presidential primary, officially announced that he would run for Governor of New York in 2018. Sharpe was the first person to announce his candidacy to run against incumbent governor Andrew Cuomo. On August 19, 2018, the Libertarian Party announced it had collected over 30,000 signatures to place its ticket onto the November ballot. Sharpe's petitions survived a petition challenge. * Nominee: Larry Sharpe, business consultant and runner-up in the 2016 Libertarian Party vice presidential primary ** Running mate: Andrew Hollister, candidate for

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

City Council in 2017

Serve America Movement

On June 18, 2018, former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, after expressing informal interest in the Working Families and Reform nominations, entered the gubernatorial race as a third-party candidate. Miner "plans to run under the banner of an upstart new group, the Serve America Movement, which calls itself SAM, formed by people disaffected by the existing party structure after the 2016 elections. She will be the group's first candidate." Miner circulated designating petitions to create a SAM Party in New York, and on August 21, her campaign announced that it had submitted over 40,000 petition signatures. Miner's submitted petitions far exceeded the 15,000 required to qualify for the November ballot. Persons tied to the Cuomo campaign, after reviewing the petitions, failed to find enough specific objections to challenge their validity. *Nominee: Stephanie Miner, former state Democratic Party chairwoman and former mayor of

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States * Syracuse, New York ** East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...

**Running mate: Michael Volpe, mayor of Pelham

Rent Is Too Damn High Party (disqualified)

Jimmy McMillan, the party's founder and figurehead indicated on the party website that he would make another attempt at the office. He submitted petitions on August 21, 2018, with himself as the gubernatorial nominee and Christialle Felix as his running mate. When the ballot order was released, McMillan and the Rent Is Too Damn High Party had been disqualified and removed from the ballot.

General election

Debates

Endorsements

Predictions

Polling

;Aggregate polls ;with Cynthia Nixon as WFP nominee ;with Cynthia Nixon as Democratic nominee ;with John DeFrancisco ;with Carl Paladino ;with Rob Astorino ;with Chris Gibson ;with Donald Trump, Jr. ;with Harry Wilson

Fundraising

Results

On November 6, 2018, the Cuomo-Hochul ticket defeated the Molinaro-Killian ticket by a margin of 59.6%–36.2%. Cuomo received 3,635,430 votes, making him the top vote earner in any

gubernatorial election in history.

Aftermath

Cuomo was sworn in for a third term as governor on January 1, 2019. He would resign from the governorship on August 10, 2021, following sexual harassment allegations and a nursing home scandal that plagued his third term. Cuomo also faced poor polling numbers; he barely polled ahead of Republican

Lee Zeldin Lee Michael Zeldin (born January 30, 1980) is an American attorney, politician, and officer in the United States Army Reserve. A Republican, he has represented New York's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representative ...

and Rob Astorino in 2021. Molinaro's crushing election defeat and the Republican loss of the State Senate caused many members in the New York GOP to turn openly against then-Chairman Edward Cox, who they blamed for failing to financially or structurally support the party's election campaigns. On May 27, 2019, Cox announced that he would not run for another term as chair that year, choosing to join Donald Trump's reelection campaign instead. On July 2, the state party committee elected

Nick Langworthy Nicholas A. Langworthy (born February 27, 1981) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for New York's 23rd district since 2023. He also chairs the New York State Republican Committee. Langworthy was named chair of the comm ...

as the new party chairman.

lost ballot access for the

under new requirements as of December 2021. Stephanie Miner also lost her ballot access for the Serve America Movement as of New York State election law of December 2021. The Libertarian Party of New York lost their ballot access with Larry Sharpe's 95,033 votes under new New York State election law requirements as of December, 2021. The

and Reform Party of New York both lost automatic ballot access by failing to meet the requirements of the New York State election law of December 2021.

References

External links

Candidates
at

Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in si ...

Candidates
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

;Official campaign websites
Andrew Cuomo (D, I, WEP, WF) for GovernorHowie Hawkins (G) for GovernorStephanie Miner (SAM) for GovernorMarc Molinaro (R, C, REF) for GovernorLarry Sharpe (L) for Governor
{{2018 United States elections

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

Andrew Cuomo Howie Hawkins