Basil Paterson

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Basil Paterson is a longtime political leader in New York and Harlem. He is the first African American to be the nominee of a major party for statewide office in New York.

Secretary Paterson became involved in Democratic politics in Harlem in the 1950s and 1960s. Along with former New York Mayor David Dinkins, former Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton, and Congressman Charles Rangel, Secretary Paterson has been a leader of the Harlem Clubhouse. The Clubhouse has dominated Harlem politics since the 1960s.

During the 1960s, Secretary Paterson served as a state senator representing Harlem. He gave up his Senate seat in 1970 to run for lieutenant governor, as the running mate of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg. The Goldberg/Paterson ticket lost to the Republican ticket of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and Lt. Gov. Malcolm Wilson.

In 1978, Secretary Paterson was appointed as a Deputy Mayor of New York City by Mayor Ed Koch. He stepped down as deputy mayor in 1979, when he was appointed by Gov. Hugh Carey as New York Secretary of State. He was the first African American to serve as secretary of state in New York history. He served as secretary of state until the end of the Carey Administration in 1983.

Secretary Paterson is the father of New York Lieutenant Governor-Elect David Paterson, who was elected to the lieutenant governorship on Nov. 7, 2006 on a ticket with Gov.-Elect Eliot Spitzer. Lieutenant Governor-Elect Paterson held his father's Senate seat for two decades and served as minority leader of the Senate.