List of governors of New York
The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York and the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces.[1] The officeholder has a duty to enforce state laws, to convene the New York State Legislature,[1] the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the legislature,[2] as well as to grant pardons, except in cases of treason and impeachment.[3]
Fifty-seven people have served as state governor, four of whom served non-consecutive terms (George Clinton, DeWitt Clinton, Horatio Seymour, and Al Smith); the official numbering lists each governor only once. There has only been one female governor so far: Kathy Hochul. This numbering includes one acting governor: the lieutenant governor who filled the vacancy after the resignation of the governor, under the 1777 Constitution.[4] 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 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.[5]
Four men have become president of the United States after serving as governor of New York: Martin Van Buren, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and six were vice president. Van Buren and Theodore Roosevelt held both offices. Two governors have been chief justice: John Jay held that position when he was elected governor in 1795, and Charles Evans Hughes 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 had the shortest term, serving 29 days following the resignation of the previous governor, Herbert H. Lehman in 1942. David Paterson 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 Kathy Hochul, the state's first female governor, who assumed the office on August 24, 2021 upon the resignation of Andrew Cuomo.[6]
Governors
New York was one of the original thirteen colonies 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 of the Kingdom of Great Britain, which it in turn obtained from the Dutch as the colony of New Netherland; 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 in 1777. The governor was originally for a term of three years,[7] though the constitution did not specify when the term began. A 1787 law set the start of the term at July 1.[8] The New York State Constitutional Convention of 1821 amended the state constitution, reducing the term of office to two years,[9] moving the election to November,[10] and moving the beginning and the end of the term to coincide with the calendar year.[11] An 1874 amendment extended the term of office back to three years,[12] but the 1894 constitution again reduced it to two years.[13] The most recent New York Constitution of 1938 extended the term to the current four years.[14] 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, who is ex officio 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.[15] 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.[16] Should the office of lieutenant governor become vacant, the president pro tempore of the State Senate[lower-alpha 1] performs all the duties of the lieutenant governor until the vacancy is filled either at the next gubernatorial election or by appointment.[lower-alpha 2] 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.[17] The lieutenant governor is elected on the same ticket as the governor, since the 1954 election with a single joint vote cast for both offices, but is nominated separately.[18]
No. | Governor | Term in office | Time in office | Party | Election | Lieutenant Governor | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | George Clinton | July 30, 1777 – June 30, 1795 (not candidate for election) |
17 years, 336 days | Democratic– Republican |
1777 | Pierre Van Cortlandt | |||
1780 | |||||||||
1783 | |||||||||
1786 | |||||||||
1789 | |||||||||
1792 | |||||||||
2 | John Jay | July 1, 1795 – June 30, 1801 (not candidate for election) |
6 years, 0 days | Federalist | 1795 | Stephen Van Rensselaer | |||
1798 | |||||||||
(1) | George Clinton | July 1, 1801 – June 30, 1804 (not candidate for election)[lower-alpha 3] |
3 years, 0 days | Democratic– Republican |
1801 | Jeremiah Van Rensselaer | |||
3 | Morgan Lewis | July 1, 1804 – June 30, 1807 (lost election) |
3 years, 0 days | Democratic– Republican |
1804 | John Broome (died August 8, 1810) | |||
4 | Daniel D. Tompkins | July 1, 1807 – February 24, 1817 (resigned)[lower-alpha 4] |
9 years, 238 days | Democratic– Republican |
1807 | ||||
1810 | |||||||||
Vacant | |||||||||
John Tayler (acting) (took office January 29, 1811)[lower-alpha 5] | |||||||||
DeWitt Clinton (elected May 2, 1811) | |||||||||
1813 | John Tayler | ||||||||
1816 | |||||||||
5 | John Tayler (Acting) |
February 24, 1817 – June 30, 1817 (not candidate for election) |
127 days | Democratic– Republican |
Lieutenant Governor acting as Governor |
Philetus Swift (acting) | |||
6 | DeWitt Clinton | July 1, 1817 – December 31, 1822 (not candidate for election) |
5 years, 184 days | Democratic– Republican |
1817 | John Tayler | |||
1820[lower-alpha 6] | |||||||||
7 | Joseph C. Yates | January 1, 1823 – December 31, 1824 (not candidate for election) |
2 years, 0 days | Democratic– Republican |
1822 | Erastus Root | |||
(6) | DeWitt Clinton | January 1, 1825 – February 11, 1828 (died in office) |
3 years, 41 days | Democratic– Republican |
1824 | James Tallmadge Jr. | |||
1826 | Nathaniel Pitcher | ||||||||
8 | Nathaniel Pitcher | February 11, 1828 – December 31, 1828 (not candidate for election) |
325 days | Democratic– Republican |
Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor |
Peter R. Livingston (acting) | |||
Charles Dayan (acting from October 17, 1828) | |||||||||
9 | Martin Van Buren | January 1, 1829 – March 12, 1829 (resigned)[lower-alpha 7] |
70 days | Democratic | 1828 | Enos T. Throop | |||
10 | Enos T. Throop | March 12, 1829 – December 31, 1832 (not candidate for election) |
3 years, 295 days | Democratic | Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor |
Charles Stebbins (acting) | |||
William M. Oliver (acting) | |||||||||
1830 | Edward Philip Livingston | ||||||||
11 | William L. Marcy | January 1, 1833 – December 31, 1838 (lost election) |
6 years, 0 days | Democratic | 1832 | John Tracy | |||
1834 | |||||||||
1836 | |||||||||
12 | William H. Seward | January 1, 1839 – December 31, 1842 (not candidate for election) |
4 years, 0 days | Whig | 1838 | Luther Bradish | |||
1840 | |||||||||
13 | William C. Bouck | January 1, 1843 – December 31, 1844 (not candidate for election) |
2 years, 0 days | Democratic | 1842 | Daniel S. Dickinson | |||
14 | Silas Wright | January 1, 1845 – December 31, 1846 (lost election) |
2 years, 0 days | Democratic | 1844 | Addison Gardiner (resigned July 5, 1847) | |||
15 | John Young | January 1, 1847 – December 31, 1848 (not candidate for election) |
2 years, 0 days | Whig | 1846 | ||||
Albert Lester (acting) | |||||||||
Hamilton Fish (took office January 1, 1848) | |||||||||
16 | Hamilton Fish | January 1, 1849 – December 31, 1850 (not candidate for election) |
2 years, 0 days | Whig | 1848 | George W. Patterson | |||
17 | Washington Hunt | January 1, 1851 – December 31, 1852 (lost election) |
2 years, 0 days | Whig | 1850 | Sanford E. Church | |||
18 | Horatio Seymour | January 1, 1853 – December 31, 1854 (lost election) |
2 years, 0 days | Democratic | 1852 | ||||
19 | Myron H. Clark | January 1, 1855 – December 31, 1856 (not candidate for election) |
2 years, 0 days | Whig (fusion) |
1854 | Henry Jarvis Raymond | |||
20 | John A. King | January 1, 1857 – December 31, 1858 (not candidate for election) |
2 years, 0 days | Republican | 1856 | Henry R. Selden | |||
21 | Edwin D. Morgan | January 1, 1859 – December 31, 1862 (not candidate for election)[lower-alpha 8] |
4 years, 0 days | Republican | 1858 | Robert Campbell | |||
1860 | |||||||||
(18) | Horatio Seymour | January 1, 1863 – December 31, 1864 (lost election) |
2 years, 0 days | Democratic | 1862 | David R. Floyd-Jones | |||
22 | Reuben Fenton | January 1, 1865 – December 31, 1868 (not candidate for election) |
4 years, 0 days | Union | 1864 | Thomas G. Alvord | |||
1866 | Stewart L. Woodford | ||||||||
23 | John T. Hoffman | January 1, 1869 – December 31, 1872 (not candidate for election) |
4 years, 0 days | Democratic | 1868 | Allen C. Beach | |||
1870 | |||||||||
24 | John Adams Dix | January 1, 1873 – December 31, 1874 (lost election) |
2 years, 0 days | Republican | 1872 | John C. Robinson | |||
25 | Samuel J. Tilden | January 1, 1875 – December 31, 1876 (not candidate for election)[lower-alpha 9] |
2 years, 0 days | Democratic | 1874 | William Dorsheimer | |||
26 | Lucius Robinson | January 1, 1877 – December 31, 1879 (lost election) |
3 years, 0 days | Democratic | 1876[lower-alpha 10] | ||||
27 | Alonzo B. Cornell | January 1, 1880 – December 31, 1882 (not candidate for election) |
3 years, 0 days | Republican | 1879 | George Gilbert Hoskins | |||
28 | Grover Cleveland | January 1, 1883 – January 6, 1885 (resigned)[lower-alpha 11] |
2 years, 5 days | Democratic | 1882 | David B. Hill | |||
29 | David B. Hill | January 6, 1885 – December 31, 1891 (not candidate for election)[lower-alpha 12] |
6 years, 360 days | Democratic | Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor |
Dennis McCarthy (acting) | |||
1885 | Edward F. Jones | ||||||||
1888 | |||||||||
30 | Roswell P. Flower | January 1, 1892 – December 31, 1894 (not candidate for election) |
3 years, 0 days | Democratic | 1891 | William F. Sheehan | |||
31 | Levi P. Morton | January 1, 1895 – December 31, 1896 (not candidate for election) |
2 years, 0 days | Republican | 1894[lower-alpha 13] | Charles T. Saxton | |||
32 | Frank S. Black | January 1, 1897 – December 31, 1898 (not candidate for election) |
2 years, 0 days | Republican | 1896 | Timothy L. Woodruff | |||
33 | Theodore Roosevelt | January 1, 1899 – December 31, 1900 (not candidate for election)[lower-alpha 14] |
2 years, 0 days | Republican | 1898 | ||||
34 | Benjamin Odell | January 1, 1901 – December 31, 1904 (not candidate for election) |
4 years, 0 days | Republican | 1900 | ||||
1902 | Frank W. Higgins | ||||||||
35 | Frank W. Higgins | January 1, 1905 – December 31, 1906 (not candidate for election) |
2 years, 0 days | Republican | 1904 | Matthew Linn Bruce | |||
John Raines (acting) | |||||||||
36 | Charles Evans Hughes | January 1, 1907 – October 6, 1910 (resigned)[lower-alpha 15] |
3 years, 278 days | Republican | 1906 | Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler | |||
1908 | Horace White | ||||||||
37 | Horace White | October 6, 1910 – December 31, 1910 (not candidate for election) |
87 days | Republican | Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor |
George H. Cobb (acting) | |||
38 | John Alden Dix | January 1, 1911 – December 31, 1912 (not candidate for election) |
2 years, 0 days | Democratic | 1910 | Thomas F. Conway | |||
39 | William Sulzer | January 1, 1913 – October 17, 1913 (impeached and removed)[lower-alpha 16] |
289 days | Democratic | 1912 | Martin H. Glynn | |||
40 | Martin H. Glynn | October 17, 1913 – December 31, 1914 (lost election) |
1 year, 76 days | Democratic | Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor |
Robert F. Wagner (acting) | |||
41 | Charles Seymour Whitman | January 1, 1915 – December 31, 1918 (lost election) |
4 years, 0 days | Republican | 1914 | Edward Schoeneck | |||
1916 | |||||||||
42 | Al Smith | January 1, 1919 – December 31, 1920 (lost election) |
2 years, 0 days | Democratic | 1918 | Harry C. Walker | |||
43 | Nathan L. Miller | January 1, 1921 – December 31, 1922 (lost election) |
2 years, 0 days | Republican | 1920 | Jeremiah Wood (resigned September 26, 1922) | |||
Clayton R. Lusk (acting) | |||||||||
(42) | Al Smith | January 1, 1923 – December 31, 1928 (not candidate for election)[lower-alpha 17] |
6 years, 0 days | Democratic | 1922 | George R. Lunn | |||
1924 | Seymour Lowman | ||||||||
1926 | Edwin Corning | ||||||||
44 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | January 1, 1929 – December 31, 1932 (not candidate for election)[lower-alpha 18] |
4 years, 0 days | Democratic | 1928 | Herbert H. Lehman | |||
1930 | |||||||||
45 | Herbert H. Lehman | January 1, 1933 – December 3, 1942 (resigned)[lower-alpha 19] |
9 years, 336 days | Democratic | 1932 | M. William Bray | |||
1934 | |||||||||
1936 | |||||||||
1938[lower-alpha 20] | Charles Poletti | ||||||||
46 | Charles Poletti | December 3, 1942 – December 31, 1942 (not candidate for election) |
29 days | Democratic | Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor |
Joe R. Hanley (acting) | |||
47 | Thomas E. Dewey | January 1, 1943 – December 31, 1954 (not candidate for election) |
12 years, 0 days | Republican | 1942 | Thomas W. Wallace | |||
1946 | Joe R. Hanley | ||||||||
1950 | Frank C. Moore (resigned September 30, 1953) | ||||||||
Arthur H. Wicks (acting) | |||||||||
Walter J. Mahoney (acting) | |||||||||
48 | W. Averell Harriman | January 1, 1955 – December 31, 1958 (lost election) |
4 years, 0 days | Democratic | 1954 | George DeLuca | |||
49 | Nelson Rockefeller | January 1, 1959 – December 18, 1973 (resigned)[lower-alpha 21] |
14 years, 351 days | Republican | 1958 | Malcolm Wilson | |||
1962 | |||||||||
1966 | |||||||||
1970 | |||||||||
50 | Malcolm Wilson | December 18, 1973 – December 31, 1974 (lost election) |
1 year, 14 days | Republican | Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor |
Warren M. Anderson (acting) | |||
51 | Hugh Carey | January 1, 1975 – December 31, 1982 (not candidate for election) |
8 years, 0 days | Democratic | 1974 | Mary Anne Krupsak | |||
1978 | Mario Cuomo | ||||||||
52 | Mario Cuomo | January 1, 1983 – December 31, 1994 (lost election) |
12 years, 0 days | Democratic | 1982 | Alfred DelBello | |||
Warren M. Anderson (acting) | |||||||||
1986 | Stan Lundine | ||||||||
1990 | |||||||||
53 | George Pataki | January 1, 1995 – December 31, 2006 (not candidate for election) |
12 years, 0 days | Republican | 1994 | Betsy McCaughey Ross[lower-alpha 22] | |||
1998 | Mary Donohue | ||||||||
2002 | |||||||||
54 | Eliot Spitzer | January 1, 2007 – March 17, 2008 (resigned)[lower-alpha 23] |
1 year, 76 days | Democratic | 2006 | David Paterson | |||
55 | David Paterson | March 17, 2008 – December 31, 2010 (not candidate for election) |
2 years, 290 days | Democratic | Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor |
Joseph Bruno (acting) | |||
Dean Skelos (acting) | |||||||||
Malcolm Smith (acting) | |||||||||
Pedro Espada Jr. (acting)[lower-alpha 24] | |||||||||
Richard Ravitch (contested)[lower-alpha 25] | |||||||||
Malcolm Smith (acting)[lower-alpha 26] | |||||||||
Richard Ravitch[lower-alpha 27] | |||||||||
56 | Andrew Cuomo | January 1, 2011 – August 23, 2021 (resigned)[lower-alpha 28] |
10 years, 234 days | Democratic | 2010 | Robert Duffy | |||
2014 | Kathy Hochul | ||||||||
2018 | |||||||||
57 | Kathy Hochul | August 24, 2021 – Incumbent[lower-alpha 29] |
1 year, 70 days | Democratic | Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor |
Andrea Stewart-Cousins (acting) | |||
Brian Benjamin[19] | |||||||||
Andrea Stewart-Cousins (acting) | |||||||||
Antonio Delgado | |||||||||
See also
- New York gubernatorial elections
- List of colonial governors of New York
- Governor of New York
- First Ladies and Gentlemen of New York
- List of governors of New York by time in office
Notes
- The state constitutions refer to this position as the "temporary president of the senate".
- On September 22, 2009, the New York Court of Appeals upheld the right of the governor to appoint a lieutenant governor to fill the vacancy.
- Clinton instead successfully ran for Vice President of the United States.
- Tompkins resigned to be Vice President of the United States.
- At the time, the position of president pro-tempore of the Senate was only filled during a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor, so Tayler was not elected to fill the position until January 29, 1811.
- First term under the 1821 constitution, which shortened terms to two years.
- Van Buren resigned to be United States Secretary of State.
- Morgan instead successfully ran for United States Senate.
- Tilden instead unsuccessfully ran for President of the United States.
- First term under an 1874 amendment to the constitution, which lengthened terms to three years.
- Cleveland resigned to be President of the United States.
- Hill had been elected to the United States Senate for a term starting March 4, 1891, but did not take office until his gubernatorial term expired.
- First term under the 1894 constitution, which shortened terms to two years.
- Roosevelt instead successfully ran for Vice President of the United States.
- Hughes resigned to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
- Sulzer was impeached and removed from office for campaign contribution fraud.
- Smith instead unsuccessfully ran for President of the United States.
- Roosevelt instead successfully ran for President of the United States.
- Lehman resigned to be Director of Foreign Relief and Rehabilitation Operations at the United States Department of State.
- First term under the 1938 constitution, which lengthened terms to four years.
- Rockefeller resigned to devote himself to his Commission on Critical Choices for Americans.
- Elected as Betsy McCaughey, but married and changed name in 1995.
- Spitzer resigned due to a prostitution scandal.
- Espada was a Democrat, but combined with the Republicans in a change of leadership which triggered the 2009 New York State Senate leadership crisis.
- Ravitch was appointed on July 8, 2009, but the appointment was contested in the courts. On August 20, the Appellate Division rejected the appointment; Ravitch vacated the office.
- Smith succeeded Espada on July 9 as temporary President of the New York State Senate and claimed to be Acting Lieutenant Governor under the provisions of the New York State Constitution while the appointment of Ravitch was contested.
- On September 22, the New York Court of Appeals reversed the Appellate Division's ruling, thus re-instating Ravitch to the lieutenant governorship, beginning on July 8.
- Cuomo resigned due to allegations of sexual harassment.[6]
- Hochul's first term expires at midnight on January 1, 2023.
References
- General
- "Governors of New York". State of New York. Archived from the original on March 15, 2008. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
- "Governors Database: New York". National Governors Association. National Governors Association. 2008. Archived from the original on November 1, 2007. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
- Jenkins, John Stilwell (1851). Lives of the Governors of the State of New York. Auburn N.Y.: Derby and Miller. p. 862.
- Constitutions
- "New York Constitution". New York Department of State. Archived from the original on July 23, 2010. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
- "1777 New York Constitution of New York". The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
- "1821 New York Constitution". The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
- "1894 New York Constitution". The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
- Specific
- New York Constitution article IV, § 3.
- New York Constitution article IV, § 7.
- New York Constitution article IV, § 4.
- "Governors of New York". State of New York. Archived from the original on March 15, 2008. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
- McFadden, Robert D. (December 3, 2007). "Moses Weinstein, 95, Legislator and Judge, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved September 7, 2008.
- "New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigns". NBC News. August 10, 2021. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
- 1777 New York Constitution, article XVIII.
- "Governors of New York". New York Department of State. Archived from the original on March 21, 2008. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
- 1821 New York Constitution article III, § 1.
- 1821 New York Constitution article I, § 15.
- 1821 New York Constitution article I, § 16.
- John Joseph Lalor, ed. (1883). "New York". Cyclopædia of Political Science, Political Economy, and the Political History of the United States. Vol. II. Chicago: Melbert B. Cary & Company. p. 1017. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
- 1894 New York Constitution article IV, § 1
- New York Constitution article IV, § 1.
- 1777 New York Constitution, article X.
- New York Constitution, article IV § 5.
- New York Constitution, article IV § 6.
- "Executive Branch of the Several States". The Green Papers. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
- Hogan, Bernadette (September 9, 2021). "Brian Benjamin sworn in to replace Hochul as NY's lieutenant governor".