Who was the 49th governor 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] 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[edit]

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[a] performs all the duties of the lieutenant governor until the vacancy is filled either at the next gubernatorial election or by appointment.[b] 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)[c]	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)[d]	9 years, 238 days	Democratic– Republican	1807
1810
Vacant
	John Tayler (acting) (took office January 29, 1811)[e]
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[f]
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)[g]	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)[h]	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)[i]	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[j]
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)[k]	2 years, 5 days	Democratic	1882		David B. Hill
29		David B. Hill	January 6, 1885 – December 31, 1891 (not candidate for election)[l]	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[m]		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)[n]	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)[o]	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)[p]	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)[q]	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)[r]	4 years, 0 days	Democratic	1928	Herbert H. Lehman
1930
45		Herbert H. Lehman	January 1, 1933 – December 3, 1942 (resigned)[s]	9 years, 336 days	Democratic	1932	M. William Bray
1934
1936
1938[t]	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)[u]	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[v]
1998	Mary Donohue
2002
54			Eliot Spitzer	January 1, 2007 – March 17, 2008 (resigned)[w]	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)[x]
Richard Ravitch (contested)[y]
Malcolm Smith (acting)[z]
Richard Ravitch[aa]
56		Andrew Cuomo	January 1, 2011 – August 23, 2021 (resigned)[ab]	10 years, 234 days	Democratic	2010	Robert Duffy
2014	Kathy Hochul
2018
57		Kathy Hochul	August 24, 2021 – Incumbent[ac]	1 year, 126 days	Democratic	Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor	Andrea Stewart-Cousins (acting)
Brian Benjamin[19]
Andrea Stewart-Cousins (acting)
Antonio Delgado
2022

See also[edit]

• 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[edit]

1. ^ The state constitutions refer to this position as the "temporary president of the senate".
2. ^ 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.
3. ^ Clinton instead successfully ran for Vice President of the United States.
4. ^ Tompkins resigned to be Vice President of the United States.
5. ^ 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.
6. ^ First term under the 1821 constitution, which shortened terms to two years.
7. ^ Van Buren resigned to be United States Secretary of State.
8. ^ Morgan instead successfully ran for United States Senate.
9. ^ Tilden instead unsuccessfully ran for President of the United States.
10. ^ First term under an 1874 amendment to the constitution, which lengthened terms to three years.
11. ^ Cleveland resigned to be President of the United States.
12. ^ 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.
13. ^ First term under the 1894 constitution, which shortened terms to two years.
14. ^ Roosevelt instead successfully ran for Vice President of the United States.
15. ^ Hughes resigned to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
16. ^ Sulzer was impeached and removed from office for campaign contribution fraud.
17. ^ Smith instead unsuccessfully ran for President of the United States.
18. ^ Roosevelt instead successfully ran for President of the United States.
19. ^ Lehman resigned to be Director of Foreign Relief and Rehabilitation Operations at the United States Department of State.
20. ^ First term under the 1938 constitution, which lengthened terms to four years.
21. ^ Rockefeller resigned to devote himself to his Commission on Critical Choices for Americans.
22. ^ Elected as Betsy McCaughey, but married and changed name in 1995.
23. ^ Spitzer resigned due to a prostitution scandal.
24. ^ Espada was a Democrat, but combined with the Republicans in a change of leadership which triggered the 2009 New York State Senate leadership crisis.
25. ^ 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.
26. ^ 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.
27. ^ 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.
28. ^ Cuomo resigned due to allegations of sexual harassment.[6]
29. ^ Hochul's second full term will begin at midnight on January 1, 2023 and will expire at midnight January 1, 2027.

References[edit]

• "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.

• "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.

1. ^ a b New York Constitution article IV, § 3.
2. ^ New York Constitution article IV, § 7.
3. ^ New York Constitution article IV, § 4.
4. ^ "Governors of New York". State of New York. Archived from the original on March 15, 2008. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
5. ^ McFadden, Robert D. (December 3, 2007). "Moses Weinstein, 95, Legislator and Judge, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved September 7, 2008.
6. ^ a b "New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigns". NBC News. August 10, 2021. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
7. ^ 1777 New York Constitution, article XVIII.
8. ^ "Governors of New York". New York Department of State. Archived from the original on March 21, 2008. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
9. ^ 1821 New York Constitution article III, § 1.
10. ^ 1821 New York Constitution article I, § 15.
11. ^ 1821 New York Constitution article I, § 16.
12. ^ 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.
13. ^ 1894 New York Constitution article IV, § 1
14. ^ New York Constitution article IV, § 1.
15. ^ 1777 New York Constitution, article X.
16. ^ New York Constitution, article IV § 5.
17. ^ New York Constitution, article IV § 6.
18. ^ "Executive Branch of the Several States". The Green Papers. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
19. ^ Hogan, Bernadette (September 9, 2021). "Brian Benjamin sworn in to replace Hochul as NY's lieutenant governor".

External links[edit]

• Office of the Governor of New York

Who is the longest

Who were all the governors of New York?

Has New York ever had a Republican governor?

Who was the 52nd governor of New York?