The Governor of New York is the head of the executive branch of New York's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the New York legislature, to convene the legislature, and to grant pardons, except in cases of treason and impeachment. The current governor is David Paterson, who became governor on March 17, 2008 upon the resignation of Eliot Spitzer.
The office of governor was established by the first New York State Constitution 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 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 constitution of 1938 extended the term to the current four years.The state constitution has provided since 1777 for the election of a lieutenant governor, who also acts as president of the state senate, to the same term (keeping the same term lengths as the governor throughout all the constitutional revisions).[J] Originally, in the event of the death, resignation or impeachment of the governor, or absence from the state, the lieutenant governor would take on the governor's duties and powers.[J] Since the 1938 constitution, the lieutenant governor explicitly becomes governor upon such vacancy in the office. Should the office of lieutenant governor become vacant, the president pro tempore of the state senate[1] performs the duties of a lieutenant governor until the governor can take back the duties of the office, or the next election; likewise, should both offices become vacant, the president pro tempore acts as governor, with the office of lieutenant governor remaining vacant. Should the president pro tempore be unable to fulfill the duties, the speaker of the assembly is next in the line of succession. The lieutenant governor is elected on the same ticket as the governor, but nominated separately.
Party | Governors |
---|---|
Democratic | 25 |
Republican | 18 |
Democratic-Republican | 9 |
Whig | 5 |
Federalist | 1 |
Fifty-five individuals have served as governor, four of whom served non-consecutive terms, totaling 59 distinct terms; the official numbering only lists each governor once, so there have officially been fifty-five governors. This numbering includes acting governors that filled an entire term.Miami, Florida.
The list does not include people who have acted as governor when the governor was out of state, such as Speaker of the New York State Assembly Moses M. Weinstein, who acted as governor for ten days in 1968 while the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the senate majority leader were out of the state, attending the Republican National Convention inThe 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. Charles Poletti had the shortest term, serving 29 days following the resignation of the previous governor.
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New York was one of the original thirteen colonies, 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 lists of colonial governors and of directors-general of New Netherland for the pre-statehood period.
Democratic-Republican Federalist Democratic Whig Republican
# | Name | Took office | Left office | Party | Lt. Governor | Terms[3] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | George Clinton | July 30, 1777 | July 1, 1795 | Democratic-Republican | Pierre Van Cortlandt | 6[4][5] |
2 | John Jay | July 1, 1795 | July 1, 1801 | Federalist | Stephen Van Rensselaer III | 2 |
1 | George Clinton | July 1, 1801 | July 1, 1804 | Democratic-Republican | Jeremiah Van Rensselaer | 1 |
3 | Morgan Lewis | July 1, 1804 | July 1, 1807 | Democratic-Republican | John Broome | 1 |
4 | Daniel D. Tompkins | July 1, 1807 | February 24, 1817 | Democratic-Republican | John Broome | 3½[6] |
John Tayler (acting) | ||||||
DeWitt Clinton | ||||||
John Tayler | ||||||
5 | John Tayler | February 24, 1817 | July 1, 1817 | Democratic-Republican | Philetus Swift (acting) | ½[7] |
6 | DeWitt Clinton | July 1, 1817 | December 31, 1822 | Democratic-Republican | John Tayler | 2[8] |
7 | Joseph C. Yates | January 1, 1823 | December 31, 1824 | Democratic-Republican | Erastus Root | 1[9] |
6 | DeWitt Clinton | January 1, 1825 | February 11, 1828 | Clinton Republican | James Tallmadge, Jr. | 1½[10] |
Nathaniel Pitcher | ||||||
8 | Nathaniel Pitcher | February 11, 1828 | December 31, 1828 | Democratic-Republican | Peter R. Livingston (acting) | ½[11] |
Charles Dayan (acting) | ||||||
9 | Martin Van Buren | January 1, 1829 | March 5, 1829 | Jacksonian Democratic | Enos T. Throop | ½[12] |
10 | Enos T. Throop | March 5, 1829 | December 31, 1832 | Jacksonian Democratic | Charles Stebbins (acting) | 1½[13] |
William M. Oliver (acting) | ||||||
Edward Philip Livingston | ||||||
11 | William L. Marcy | January 1, 1833 | December 31, 1838 | Democratic | John Tracy | 3 |
12 | William H. Seward | January 1, 1839 | December 31, 1842 | Whig | Luther Bradish | 2 |
13 | William C. Bouck | January 1, 1843 | December 31, 1844 | Democratic | Daniel S. Dickinson | 1 |
14 | Silas Wright | January 1, 1845 | December 31, 1846 | Democratic | Addison Gardiner | 1 |
15 | John Young | January 1, 1847 | December 31, 1848 | Whig | Addison Gardiner | 1 |
Hamilton Fish | ||||||
16 | Hamilton Fish | January 1, 1849 | December 31, 1850 | Whig | George Washington Patterson | 1 |
17 | Washington Hunt | January 1, 1851 | December 31, 1852 | Whig | Sanford E. Church | 1 |
18 | Horatio Seymour | January 1, 1853 | December 31, 1854 | Democratic | Sanford E. Church | 1 |
19 | Myron H. Clark | January 1, 1855 | December 31, 1856 | Whig (fusion) | Henry Jarvis Raymond | 1 |
20 | John Alsop King | January 1, 1857 | December 31, 1858 | Republican | Henry R. Selden | 1 |
21 | Edwin D. Morgan | January 1, 1859 | December 31, 1862 | Republican | Robert Campbell | 2 |
18 | Horatio Seymour | January 1, 1863 | December 31, 1864 | Democratic | David R. Floyd-Jones | 1 |
22 | Reuben Fenton | January 1, 1865 | December 31, 1868 | Union | Thomas G. Alvord | 2 |
Stewart L. Woodford | ||||||
23 | John Thompson Hoffman | January 1, 1869 | December 31, 1872 | Democratic | Allen C. Beach | 2 |
24 | John Adams Dix | January 1, 1873 | December 31, 1874 | Republican | John C. Robinson | 1 |
25 | Samuel J. Tilden | January 1, 1875 | December 31, 1876 | Democratic | William Dorsheimer | 1 |
26 | Lucius Robinson | January 1, 1877 | December 31, 1879 | Democratic | William Dorsheimer | 1[14] |
27 | Alonzo B. Cornell | January 1, 1880 | December 31, 1882 | Republican | George Gilbert Hoskins | 1 |
28 | Grover Cleveland | January 1, 1883 | January 6, 1885 | Democratic | David B. Hill | ½[15] |
29 | David B. Hill | January 6, 1885 | December 31, 1891 | Democratic | Dennis McCarthy (acting) | 2½[13] |
Edward F. Jones | ||||||
30 | Roswell P. Flower | January 1, 1892 | December 31, 1894 | Democratic | William F. Sheehan | 1 |
31 | Levi P. Morton | January 1, 1895 | December 31, 1896 | Republican | Charles T. Saxton | 1[16] |
32 | Frank S. Black | January 1, 1897 | December 31, 1898 | Republican | Timothy L. Woodruff | 1 |
33 | Theodore Roosevelt | January 1, 1899 | December 31, 1900 | Republican | Timothy L. Woodruff | 1 |
34 | Benjamin Barker Odell, Jr. | January 1, 1901 | December 31, 1904 | Republican | Timothy L. Woodruff | 2 |
Frank W. Higgins | ||||||
35 | Frank W. Higgins | January 1, 1905 | December 31, 1906 | Republican | M. Linn Bruce | 1 |
John Raines (acting) | ||||||
36 | Charles Evans Hughes | January 1, 1907 | October 6, 1910 | Republican | Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler | 1½[17] |
Horace White | ||||||
37 | Horace White | October 6, 1910 | December 31, 1910 | Republican | George H. Cobb (acting) | ½[11] |
38 | John Alden Dix | January 1, 1911 | December 31, 1912 | Democratic | Thomas F. Conway | 1 |
39 | William Sulzer | January 1, 1913 | October 17, 1913 | Democratic | Martin H. Glynn | ½[18] |
40 | Martin H. Glynn | October 17, 1913 | December 31, 1914 | Democratic | Robert F. Wagner (acting) | ½[11] |
41 | Charles S. Whitman | January 1, 1915 | December 31, 1918 | Republican | Edward Schoeneck | 2 |
42 | Al Smith | January 1, 1919 | December 31, 1920 | Democratic | Harry C. Walker | 1 |
43 | Nathan Lewis Miller | January 1, 1921 | December 31, 1922 | Republican | Jeremiah Wood | 1 |
Clayton R. Lusk (acting) | ||||||
42 | Al Smith | January 1, 1923 | December 31, 1928 | Democratic | George R. Lunn | 3 |
Seymour Lowman | ||||||
Edwin Corning | ||||||
44 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | January 1, 1929 | December 31, 1932 | Democratic | Herbert H. Lehman | 2 |
45 | Herbert H. Lehman | January 1, 1933 | December 3, 1942 | Democratic | M. William Bray | 3½[19][20] |
Charles Poletti | ||||||
46 | Charles Poletti | December 3, 1942 | December 31, 1942 | Democratic | Joe R. Hanley (Acting) |
½[11] |
47 | Thomas Dewey | January 1, 1943 | December 31, 1954 | Republican | Thomas W. Wallace | 3 |
Joe R. Hanley | ||||||
Frank C. Moore | ||||||
Arthur H. Wicks (Acting) |
||||||
Walter J. Mahoney (Acting) |
||||||
48 | W. Averell Harriman | January 1, 1955 | December 31, 1958 | Democratic | George DeLuca | 1 |
49 | Nelson Rockefeller | January 1, 1959 | December 18, 1973 | Republican | Malcolm Wilson | 3½[21] |
50 | Malcolm Wilson | December 18, 1973 | December 31, 1974 | Republican | Warren M. Anderson (Acting) |
½[11] |
51 | Hugh Carey | January 1, 1975 | December 31, 1982 | Democratic | Mary Anne Krupsak | 2 |
Mario Cuomo | ||||||
52 | Mario Cuomo | January 1, 1983 | December 31, 1994 | Democratic | Alfred DelBello | 3 |
Warren M. Anderson (Acting) |
||||||
Stan Lundine | ||||||
53 | George Pataki | January 1, 1995 | December 31, 2006 | Republican | Betsy McCaughey Ross | 3 |
Mary O. Donohue | ||||||
54 | Eliot Spitzer | January 1, 2007 | March 17, 2008 | Democratic | David Paterson | ½[22] |
55 | David Paterson | March 17, 2008 | Incumbent | Democratic | Joseph Bruno (Acting) |
½[11][23] |
Dean Skelos (Acting) |
This is a table of congressional and other federal offices, and ranking diplomatic positions in foreign countries held by New York governors.
All representatives and senators mentioned represented New York. * denotes those offices which the governor resigned to take. † denotes those offices from which the governor resigned to take the governorship.Name | Gubernatorial term | U.S. Congress | Other offices held | |
---|---|---|---|---|
House | Senate | |||
George Clinton | 1777–1795, 1801–1804 | Delegate to the Continental Congress, Vice President of the United States | ||
John Jay | 1795–1801 | President of the Continental Congress, U.S. Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Minister to Spain, Chief Justice of the United States† | ||
Daniel D. Tompkins | 1807–1817 | H | Vice President of the United States* | |
DeWitt Clinton | 1817–1822, 1825–1828 | S | ||
Nathaniel Pitcher | 1828 | H | ||
Martin Van Buren | 1829 | S† | U.S. Secretary of State*, Minister to the United Kingdom, Vice President of the United States, President of the United States | |
Enos T. Throop | 1829–1832 | H | ||
William L. Marcy | 1833–1838 | S† | U.S. Secretary of War, U.S. Secretary of State | |
William H. Seward | 1839–1842 | S | U.S. Secretary of State | |
Silas Wright | 1845–1845 | H | S† | |
John Young | 1847–1848 | H | ||
Hamilton Fish | 1849–1850 | H | S | U.S. Secretary of State |
Washington Hunt | 1851–1852 | H | ||
John Alsop King | 1857–1858 | H | ||
Edwin D. Morgan | 1859–1862 | S | ||
Reuben Fenton | 1865–1868 | H† | S | |
John Adams Dix | 1873–1874 | S | Minister to France, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury | |
Grover Cleveland | 1883–1884 | President of the United States* | ||
David B. Hill | 1885–1891 | S | ||
Roswell P. Flower | 1892–1894 | H | ||
Levi P. Morton | 1895–1896 | H | Minister to France, Vice President of the United States | |
Frank S. Black | 1897–1898 | H† | ||
Theodore Roosevelt | 1899–1900 | Vice President of the United States, President of the United States | ||
Benjamin B. Odell, Jr. | 1901–1904 | H | ||
Charles Evans Hughes | 1907–1910 | U.S. Secretary of State, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court*, Chief Justice of the United States. | ||
William Sulzer | 1913 | H† | ||
Martin H. Glynn | 1913–1914 | H | ||
Franklin D. Roosevelt | 1929–1932 | President of the United States | ||
Herbert H. Lehman | 1933–1942 | S | ||
W. Averell Harriman | 1955–1958 | U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Ambassador to the Soviet Union | ||
Nelson Rockefeller | 1959–1973 | Vice President of the United States | ||
Hugh Carey | 1975–1982 | H† |
As of June 2008, four former governors were alive, the oldest being Hugh Carey (1975–1982, born 1919). The most recent governor to die was Charles Poletti (1942), on August 8, 2002. The most recently-serving governor to die was Malcolm Wilson (1973–1974), on March 13, 2000.
Name | Gubernatorial term | Date of birth |
---|---|---|
Hugh Carey | 1975–1982 | April 11, 1919 |
Mario Cuomo | 1983–1994 | June 15, 1932 |
George Pataki | 1995–2006 | June 24, 1945 |
Eliot Spitzer | 2007–2008 | June 10, 1959 |
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