2018 New York gubernatorial election

2018 New York gubernatorial election

← 2014 November 6, 2018 2022 →
Turnout	48.0% 14.8pp
Nominee Andrew Cuomo Marc Molinaro Party Democratic Republican Alliance show Parties Liberal Independence Women's Equality Working Families show Parties Conservative Reform Running mate Kathy Hochul Julie Killian Popular vote 3,635,340 2,207,602 Percentage 59.62% 36.21%
County results Cuomo:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Molinaro:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
Governor before election Andrew Cuomo Democratic Elected Governor Andrew Cuomo Democratic

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v t

The 2018 New York gubernatorial election occurred on November 6, 2018. Incumbent Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo won re-election to a third term, defeating Republican Marc Molinaro and several minor party candidates. Cuomo received 59.6% of the vote to Molinaro's 36.2%.

Cuomo defeated actress and activist Cynthia Nixon in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Cuomo's running mate, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, outpolled New York City Councillor Jumaane Williams in the Democratic primary. Democratic candidates Cuomo and Hochul also ran on the ballot lines of the Independence Party, the Liberal Party and the Women's Equality Party; after Nixon and Williams withdrew from the race in October, Cuomo and Hochul received the nomination of the Working Families Party as well.

Dutchess County Executive and former New York State Assemblymember Marc Molinaro was the Republican, Conservative, and Reform 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, repeat candidate for the Green Party; 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.

Cuomo flipped Monroe, Suffolk and Ulster counties back into the Democratic column; all three had supported him in 2010 but narrowly backed Republican Rob Astorino in 2014. Molinaro, however, flipped the North Country counties of Clinton, Franklin, and Essex, as well as Broome County in the Southern Tier, into the Republican column.

As of 2021, this, along with the concurrent Attorney General election, Senate election and Comptroller election, is the last time Richmond or Suffolk counties have voted Democratic. This is also the last time as of 2021 that Dutchess or Columbia counties have voted Republican.

Background[]

Incumbent Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo decided to seek re-election in 2014 to a second term in office. Governor Cuomo defeated Zephyr Teachout 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.

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, in which candidates may appear on multiple ballot lines in the same election.^[1][2]

The results of the gubernatorial election also determine ballot access 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.^[3]

The last Republican to win a gubernatorial election in New York was George Pataki in 2002.^[4]

Democratic primary[]

On November 15, 2016, incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced his intention to seek a third term in office.^[5] On May 23, 2018, incumbent governor Andrew Cuomo secured the nomination of the Democratic Party at the state convention after winning support from more than 95% of the state delegates.^[6] No other candidates qualified for the primary ballot at the convention, as they all failed to meet the required 25% delegate threshold.^[6] Actress and activist Cynthia Nixon sought to petition her way onto the Democratic primary ballot.^[7] 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.^[8]

Candidates[]

Nominee[]

• Andrew Cuomo, incumbent governor of New York^[5]

Lost nomination[]

• Cynthia Nixon, actress and activist^[9]

Withdrew[]

• Randy Credico, perennial candidate (endorsed Nixon)^[10]
• Terry Gipson, former state senator^[11]

Declined[]

• Preet Bharara, former U.S Attorney for the Southern District of New York^[12]
• Byron Brown, Mayor of Buffalo and chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee^[13]
• Hillary Clinton, 67th United States Secretary of State; former U.S. Senator from New York; former First Lady of the United States; 2008 Democratic presidential candidate; Democratic nominee for president in 2016 (endorsed Cuomo)^[14][15]
• Thomas DiNapoli, Comptroller of New York (ran for reelection)^[16]
• Kirsten Gillibrand, current U.S. Senator from New York (ran for reelection; endorsed Cuomo)^[17]
• Stephanie Miner, former mayor of Syracuse^[18][19] (declined to seek Democratic Party nomination, ran for Governor on the Serve America Movement ticket)^[20][21]
• Eric Schneiderman, Attorney General of New York (resigned from public office May 7, 2018, following accusations of domestic violence)^[16]
• Zephyr Teachout, law professor at Fordham University, candidate for governor in 2014 and nominee for NY-19 in 2016 (endorsed Nixon; ran for attorney general)^[22]
• Jumaane Williams, member of the New York City Council^[23] (endorsed Nixon; ran for lieutenant governor)^[24]

Endorsements[]

Polling[]

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Andrew Cuomo	Cynthia Nixon	Other	Undecided
Siena College	September 4–7, 2018	509	± 4.3%	63%	22%	4%	11%
Siena College	July 22–26, 2018	630	± 3.9%	60%	29%	1%	10%
Quinnipiac University	July 12–16, 2018	415	± 6.2%	59%	23%	2%	15%
Zogby Analytics	June 27 – July 3, 2018	–	–	63%	22%	–	15%
Siena College	June 4–7, 2018	–	–	61%	26%	0%	11%
Quinnipiac University	April 26 – May 1, 2018	473	± 5.7%	50%	28%	–	22%
Siena College	April 8–12, 2018	–	–	58%	27%	5%	11%
Marist College	April 3–9, 2018	364	± 6.0%	68%	21%	–	11%
Remington (R-Big Dog Strategies)	April 7–8, 2018	2,038	± 2.2%	60%	20%	–	19%
Siena College	March 11–16, 2018	363	± 4.0%	66%	19%	1%	9%

Debates and forums[]

• Hofstra University – August 29, 2018 – WCBS-TV^[69]

Results[]

On September 13, 2018, Cuomo defeated Nixon in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.^[70]

Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Andrew Cuomo (incumbent)	1,021,160	65.53%
	Democratic	Cynthia Nixon	537,192	34.47%
Total votes			1,558,352	100%

Lieutenant governor[]

Nominee[]

• Kathy Hochul, incumbent lieutenant governor of New York

Lost nomination[]

• Jumaane Williams, New York City Councillor

Results[]

Kathy Hochul defeated New York City Councillor Jumaane Williams in the Democratic primary.^[71]

Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kathy Hochul (incumbent)	733,591	53.3%
	Democratic	Jumaane Williams	641,633	46.7%
Total votes			1,375,224	100%

Republican primary[]

On May 23, 2018, the party unanimously nominated Marc Molinaro as its candidate for Governor of New York at its state convention.^[72] 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,^[73] but withdrew his candidacy on April 25, 2018, after party leaders—who had initially given him their support—threw their support to Molinaro instead.^[74]

Governor[]

Candidates[]

Nominee[]

• Marc Molinaro, Dutchess County Executive and former member of the New York State Assembly^[75]
  • Running mate: Julie Killian, former Rye city councilwoman and state senate nominee^[76]

Withdrew[]

• John A. DeFrancisco, Deputy Majority Leader of the New York State Senate^[77][78][74]
• Joel Giambra, former Erie County Executive^[79]
• Joe Holland, former commissioner of the New York Department of Housing and Community Renewal (ran for Attorney General instead)^[80]
• Brian Kolb, Minority Leader of the New York State Assembly^[81][82]

Declined[]

• Rob Astorino, former Westchester County Executive and Republican nominee for governor in 2014^[83]
• John P. Cahill, former commissioner of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation; former chief of staff to Governor George Pataki; Republican nominee for attorney general in 2014^[84]
• John J. Flanagan, Majority Leader of the New York State Senate^[85]
• Chris Gibson, former U.S. Representative^[86][87]
• Carl Paladino, former member of the Buffalo Public Schools Board of Education and nominee for governor in 2010^[88]
• Donald Trump Jr., businessman and son of U.S. President Donald Trump^[89][90]
• Harry Wilson, businessman and nominee for State Comptroller in 2010^[91]

Endorsements[]

Polling[]

show Hypothetical polling
Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size Margin of error John DeFrancisco Marc Molinaro Other Undecided Siena College April 8–12, 2018 – – 18% 18% 0% 53% Siena College March 11–16, 2018 170 4.0% 21% 17% 0% 49%

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: On April 13, 2018, in what Party chairman Michael R. Long termed a "not very easy" decision, the Conservative Party Executive Committee selected Marc Molinaro over Deputy Senate Majority Leader John A. DeFrancisco as its gubernatorial endorsee.^[108]
  • Nominee: Marc Molinaro
• Green Party of New York: On April 12, 2018, Howie Hawkins, 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.^[109]
  • Nominee: Howie Hawkins, party co-founder and perennial candidate^[110]
    • Running mate: Jia Lee, United Federation of Teachers chapter leader and public school teacher^[111]
• Working Families Party: On April 14, 2018, by a 91–8 margin, the Working Families Party endorsed Cynthia Nixon as its gubernatorial candidate, with Jumaane Williams as her running mate.^[112] The endorsement came after the labor unions that formed part of Cuomo's political machine, who were able to force the party to nominate Cuomo instead of Zephyr Teachout in 2014, withdrew from the party, and Cuomo declined to seek the party's line.^[113] 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.^[114] On October 3, the Working Families Party offered Cuomo and Hochul their party's ballot line.^[115][116] Cuomo and Hochul accepted that offer on October 5.^[117]
  • Nominee: Andrew Cuomo (replacing the withdrawn Cynthia Nixon)
    • Running mate: Kathy Hochul (replacing the withdrawn Jumaane Williams)
• Independence Party of New York: On December 23, 2017, the Party endorsed incumbent governor Andrew Cuomo for the third consecutive election cycle.^[118]
  • Nominee: Andrew Cuomo
• Women's Equality Party: The party endorsed Cuomo for re-election, as the party remains allied with the Cuomo campaign.^[119]
  • Nominee: Andrew Cuomo
• Reform Party of New York State: On May 19, after the party's executive committee deadlocked between Marc Molinaro and Joel Giambra in April,^[120] delegates at the Reform Party state convention nominated Republican frontrunner Molinaro for governor.^[121]
  • Nominee: Marc Molinaro

Independent candidates and third parties without automatic ballot access[]

Any candidate not among the eight qualified New York political parties (Democratic, Republican, Conservative, Green, Working Families, Independence, Women's Equality and Reform, respectively) was required to submit petitions to gain ballot access. Such candidates did not face primary elections. Third parties whose respective gubernatorial candidates received at least 50,000 votes in the general election secured automatic ballot access in all state and federal elections through the 2022 elections.

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.^[122][123] On August 19, 2018, the Libertarian Party announced it had collected over 30,000 signatures to place its ticket onto the November ballot.^[124] Sharpe's petitions survived a petition challenge.^[125]

• Nominee: Larry Sharpe, business consultant and runner-up in the 2016 Libertarian Party vice presidential primary^[126][127]
  • Running mate: Andrew Hollister, candidate for Rochester City Council in 2017^[123]

Serve America Movement[]

On June 18, 2018, former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, after expressing informal interest in the Working Families and Reform nominations,^[128] entered the gubernatorial race as a third-party candidate.^[129] 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.^[20] Miner's submitted petitions far exceeded the 15,000 required to qualify for the November ballot.^[130] Persons tied to the Cuomo campaign, after reviewing the petitions, failed to find enough specific objections to challenge their validity.^[130]

• Nominee: Stephanie Miner, former state Democratic Party chairwoman and former mayor of Syracuse
  • Running mate: Michael Volpe, mayor of Pelham^[131]

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.^[132] He submitted petitions on August 21, 2018, with himself as the gubernatorial nominee and Christialle Felix as his running mate.^[133][134] When the ballot order was released, McMillan and the Rent Is Too Damn High Party had been disqualified and removed from the ballot.^[135]

General election[]

Debates[]

Host network	Date	Link(s)	Participants
			Andrew Cuomo (D)	Marc Molinaro (R)	Larry Sharpe (L)	Howie Hawkins (G)	Stephanie Miner (SAM)
WCBS-TV	October 23, 2018	[136]	Participant	Participant	Non-invitee	Non-invitee	Non-invitee
College of St. Rose	November 1, 2018	[137]	Absentee	Participant	Participant	Participant	Participant

Endorsements[]

Predictions[]

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[230]	Safe D	October 26, 2018
The Washington Post[231]	Safe D	November 5, 2018
FiveThirtyEight[232]	Safe D	November 5, 2018
Rothenberg Political Report[233]	Safe D	November 1, 2018
Sabato's Crystal Ball[234]	Safe D	November 5, 2018
RealClearPolitics[235]	Safe D	November 4, 2018
Daily Kos[236]	Safe D	November 5, 2018
Fox News[237][a]	Likely D	November 5, 2018
Politico[238]	Safe D	November 5, 2018
Governing[239]	Safe D	November 5, 2018

Polling[]

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Andrew Cuomo (D)	Marc Molinaro (R)	Stephanie Miner (SAM)	Howie Hawkins (G)	Larry Sharpe (L)	Other	Undecided
Research Co.	November 1–3, 2018	450	± 4.6%	54%	37%	–	–	–	3%	6%
Siena College	October 28 – November 1, 2018	641	± 3.9%	49%	36%	2%	2%	3%	0%	7%
Quinnipiac University	October 10–16, 2018	852	± 4.4%	58%	35%	–	–	–	2%	5%
Gravis Marketing (L-Sharpe)	October 4–8, 2018	783	± 3.5%	48%	25%	8%	6%	13%	–	–
Siena College	September 20–27, 2018	701	± 3.9%	56%	38%	–	–	–	0%	4%
Liberty Opinion Research (R-Reform Party)	August 29–30, 2018	2,783	± 1.9%	46%	43%	–	–	–	–	11%
Quinnipiac University	July 12–16, 2018	934	± 4.1%	57%	31%	–	–	–	0%	8%
Zogby Analytics	June 27 – July 3, 2018	708	± 3.7%	50%	27%	10%	4%	–	–	9%
				49%	27%	11%	–	–	–	12%
				52%	32%	–	–	–	–	15%
Siena College	June 4–7, 2018	745	± 3.7%	56%	37%	–	–	–	1%	5%
Quinnipiac University	April 26 – May 1, 2018	1,076	± 3.7%	57%	26%	–	–	–	2%	12%
Siena College	April 8–12, 2018	692	± 4.3%	57%	31%	–	–	–	0%	9%
Siena College	March 11–16, 2018	772	± 4.0%	57%	29%	–	–	–	0%	11%

show Hypothetical polling

with Cynthia Nixon as WFP nominee Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size Margin of error Andrew Cuomo (D) Marc Molinaro (R) Cynthia Nixon (WFP) Stephanie Miner (SAM) Howie Hawkins (G) Larry Sharpe (L) Other Undecided Siena College September 20–27, 2018 701 ± 3.9% 50% 28% 10% 1% 1% 2% 0% 8% Liberty Opinion Research (R-Reform Party) August 29–30, 2018 2,783 ± 1.9% 31% 30% 14% 5% 5% 5% – 10% Quinnipiac University July 12–16, 2018 934 ± 4.1% 43% 23% 13% 1% 2% 3% 1% 14% Zogby Analytics June 27 – July 3, 2018 708 ± 3.7% 44% 26% 14% 6% 3% – – 7% Gravis Marketing (L-Sharpe) June 4–7, 2018 654 ± 3.8% 43% 15% 15% – 4% 6% – 18% Quinnipiac University April 26 – May 1, 2018 1,076 ± 3.7% 40% 23% 20% – – – 0% 15% with Cynthia Nixon as Democratic nominee Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size Margin of error Cynthia Nixon (D) Marc Molinaro (R) Other Undecided Siena College June 4–7, 2018 745 ± 3.7% 46% 35% 2% 15% with John DeFrancisco Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size Margin of error Andrew Cuomo (D) John DeFrancisco (R) Other Undecided Siena College April 8–12, 2018 692 ± 4.3% 56% 32% 1% 9% Siena College March 11–16, 2018 772 ± 4.0% 57% 28% 1% 11% with Carl Paladino Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size Margin of error Andrew Cuomo (D) Carl Paladino (R) Undecided Marist College June 6–10, 2017 703 ± 3.7% 57% 26% 17% with Rob Astorino Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size Margin of error Andrew Cuomo (D) Rob Astorino (R) Undecided Marist College June 6–10, 2017 703 ± 3.7% 58% 26% 16% with Chris Gibson Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size Margin of error Andrew Cuomo (D) Chris Gibson (R) Undecided Public Policy Polling April 7–10, 2016 1,403 ± 2.6% 49% 26% 26% with Donald Trump, Jr. Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size Margin of error Andrew Cuomo (D) Donald Trump Jr. (R) Undecided Marist College June 6–10, 2017 703 ± 3.7% 62% 27% 11% with Harry Wilson Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size Margin of error Andrew Cuomo (D) Harry Wilson (R) Undecided Marist College June 6–10, 2017 703 ± 3.7% 58% 22% 20%

Fundraising[]

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (September 2021)

Campaign finance reports as of October 10, 2018
Candidate	Amount raised
Andrew Cuomo	$13,778,685.04
Marc Molinaro	$1,914,828.14
Larry Sharpe	$449,515.19
Stephanie Miner	$725,060.93
Howie Hawkins	$189,918.94
Source: New York State Board of Elections[240]

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,^[21] making him the top vote earner in any New York gubernatorial election in history.^[241]

2018 New York gubernatorial election^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Andrew Cuomo	3,424,416	56.16%	+8.64%
	Working Families	Andrew Cuomo	114,478	1.88%	-1.43%
	Independence	Andrew Cuomo	68,713	1.13%	-0.91%
	Women's Equality	Andrew Cuomo	27,733	0.45%	-0.96%
	Total	Andrew Cuomo (incumbent)	3,635,340	59.62%	+5.43%
	Republican	Marc Molinaro	1,926,485	31.60%	-0.79%
	Conservative	Marc Molinaro	253,624	4.16%	-2.41%
	Reform	Marc Molinaro	27,493	0.45%	N/A
	Total	Marc Molinaro	2,207,602	36.21%	-4.10%
	Green	Howie Hawkins	103,946	1.70%	-3.14%
	Libertarian	Larry Sharpe	95,033	1.56%	+1.12%
	SAM	Stephanie Miner	55,441	0.91%	N/A
Total votes			6,097,362	100.0%	N/A
	Democratic hold

Aftermath[]

Cuomo was sworn in for a third term as governor on January 1, 2019.^[242]

Howie Hawkins retained ballot access for the Green Party for four more years (albeit falling to Line E while the Working Families line rose to Line D).^[243]

Stephanie Miner narrowly surpassed the 50,000-vote threshold to allow the Serve America Movement ballot access, on Line H.^[244]

The Libertarian Party of New York achieved ballot access with Larry Sharpe's 95,033 votes, the first time in the over 40-year history of the party that it has achieved the feat despite several previous efforts; Sharpe performed most strongly in the rural counties upstate, finishing with nearly 10% of the vote in Schuyler County and at or near 5% in most others.^[245]

The Women's Equality Party and Reform Party of New York both lost automatic ballot access by failing to receive 50,000 votes for the candidates on their lines, respectively Cuomo and Molinaro.^[246]

References[]