The 2018 New York gubernatorial election occurred on November 6, 2018. Incumbent Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo won a third term, defeating Republican Marc Molinaro and several minor party candidates.
Cuomo defeated actress and activist Cynthia Nixon in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Cuomo's running mate, Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul, beat New York City councillor Jumaane Williams in the Democratic primary for the lieutenant governorship. Democratic candidates Cuomo and Hochul also ran on the ballot lines of the Independence 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.
Cuomo was sworn in for a third term as governor on January 1, 2019. He would announced his resignation from the governorship on August 10, 2021, following sexual harassment allegations and a nursing home scandal that plagued his third term. He officially resigned on August 23.
Background Incumbent governor Andrew Cuomo was first elected governor in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. As of 2018, New York gubernatorial elections operated on a split primary system; candidates for governor and lieutenant governor in each party ran in separate primary elections. In the general election, however, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor formed united tickets within each party. Also, New York allows electoral fusion, in which candidates may appear on multiple ballot lines in the same election.
The results of the gubernatorial election determined ballot access and ballot order. As of 2018, a party's gubernatorial candidate had to receive 50,000 votes or more for that party to obtain automatic ballot status in New York for the following four years. The last Republican to win a gubernatorial election in New York was George Pataki in 2002.
Democratic primary
On November 15, 2016, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his intention to seek a third term in office. On May 23, 2018, Cuomo secured the nomination of the Democratic Party at its state convention, winning support from more than 95% of the state delegates. No other candidates qualified for the primary ballot at the convention, as they all failed to meet the 25% delegate threshold. Actress and activist Cynthia Nixon sought to petition her way onto the Democratic primary ballot. By July 12, Nixon had obtained 65,000 signatures, which was more than four times the 15,000 signatures needed to force a primary election.
Candidates Nominee Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York
Eliminated in primary Cynthia Nixon, actress and activist
Withdrew
Randy Credico, perennial candidate (endorsed Nixon) Terry Gipson, former state senator
Declined
Preet Bharara, former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Byron Brown, mayor of Buffalo and chairman of the New York State Democratic Party Hillary Clinton, 67th US Secretary of State; former U.S. senator from NY; former First Lady of the United States; 2008 Democratic presidential candidate; Democratic nominee for president in 2016 (endorsed Cuomo) Thomas DiNapoli, Comptroller of New York (ran for reelection) Kirsten Gillibrand, incumbent U.S. senator from New York (ran for reelection; endorsed Cuomo) Stephanie Miner, former mayor of Syracuse (declined to seek Democratic Party nomination, ran for governor on the Serve America Movement ticket) Eric Schneiderman, Attorney General of New York (resigned from public office May 7, 2018, following accusations of domestic violence) 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) Jumaane Williams, member of the NYC Council (endorsed Nixon; ran for lieutenant governor)
Endorsements
Polling Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error AndrewCuomo CynthiaNixon Other UndecidedSiena CollegeSiena College September 4–7, 2018 509 ± 4.3% 63% 22% 4% 11%Siena CollegeSiena College July 22–26, 2018 630 ± 3.9% 60% 29% 1% 10%Quinnipiac UniversityQuinnipiac University July 12–16, 2018 415 ± 6.2% 59% 23% 2% 15%Zogby AnalyticsZogby Analytics June 27 – July 3, 2018 – – 63% 22% – 15%Siena CollegeSiena College June 4–7, 2018 – – 61% 26% 0% 11%Quinnipiac UniversityQuinnipiac University April 26 – May 1, 2018 473 ± 5.7% 50% 28% – 22%Siena CollegeSiena College April 8–12, 2018 – – 58% 27% 5% 11%Marist CollegeMarist College April 3–9, 2018 364 ± 6.0% 68% 21% – 11%Remington (R-Big Dog Strategies)Remington (R-Big Dog Strategies) April 7–8, 2018 2,038 ± 2.2% 60% 20% – 19%Siena CollegeSiena College March 11–16, 2018 363 ± 4.0% 66% 19% 1% 9%
Debates and forums Hofstra University – August 29, 2018 – WCBS-TV
Results
On September 13, 2018, Cuomo defeated Nixon in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Lieutenant governor
Nominee Kathy Hochul, incumbent lieutenant governor of New York
Eliminated in primary Jumaane Williams, New York City Council member
Results
Incumbent Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul narrowly defeated New York City Councillor Jumaane Williams in the Democratic primary.
Republican primary On May 23, 2018, the party unanimously nominated Marc Molinaro as its candidate for governor of New York at its state convention. 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, but withdrew his candidacy on April 25, 2018 after party leaders—who had initially given him their support—threw their support to Molinaro instead.
Governor
Candidates Nominee
Marc Molinaro, Dutchess County Executive and former member of the New York State Assembly Running mate: Julie Killian, former Rye city councilwoman and state senate nominee
Withdrew
John A. DeFrancisco, Deputy Majority Leader of the New York State Senate Joel Giambra, former Erie County Executive Joe Holland, former commissioner of the New York Department of Housing and Community Renewal (ran for Attorney General instead) Brian Kolb, Minority Leader of the New York State Assembly
Declined
Rob Astorino, former Westchester County Executive and Republican nominee for governor in 2014 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 John J. Flanagan, Majority Leader of the New York State SenateLovett, Kenneth (November 27, 2017). State GOP boss claims tax hikes would be ‘worst thing’. Daily News (New York). Retrieved November 27, 2017 Chris Gibson, former U.S. representative Carl Paladino, former member of the Buffalo Public Schools Board of Education and nominee for governor in 2010 Donald Trump Jr., businessman and son of U.S. president Donald Trump Harry Wilson, businessman and nominee for State Comptroller in 2010
Endorsements
Polling
Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error JohnDeFrancisco MarcMolinaro Other UndecidedSiena College April 8–12, 2018 – – 18% 18% 0% 53%Siena College March 11–16, 2018 170 4.0% 21% 17% 0% 49%
Independent and third-party candidates Third parties with automatic ballot access In addition to the Democratic and Republican Parties, six other political parties had automatic ballot access; all six chose 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. 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. Nominee: Howie Hawkins, party co-founder and perennial candidate Running mate: Jia Lee, United Federation of Teachers chapter leader and public school teacher 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. 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. 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. On October 3, the Working Families Party offered Cuomo and Hochul their party's ballot line. Cuomo and Hochul accepted that offer on October 5. 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. Nominee: Andrew Cuomo Women's Equality Party: The party endorsed Cuomo for re-election, as the party remained allied with the Cuomo campaign. 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, delegates at the Reform Party state convention nominated Republican frontrunner Molinaro for governor. 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. At the time, 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, but due to a 2020 law to change the requirements, four parties lost that access in 2020 (Libertarian, Independence, Working Families, Serve America Movement).Only two minor parties in New York will keep their ballot access .
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. On August 19, 2018, the Libertarian Party announced it had collected over 30,000 signatures to place its ticket onto the November ballot. Sharpe's petitions survived a petition challenge. Nominee: Larry Sharpe, business consultant and runner-up in the 2016 Libertarian Party vice presidential primary Running mate: Andrew Hollister, candidate for Rochester City Council in 2017
Serve America Movement
On June 18, 2018, former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, after expressing informal interest in the Working Families and Reform nominations, entered the gubernatorial race as a third-party candidate. Miner circulated designating petitions to create a Serve America Movement (SAM) Party in New York. On August 21, her campaign announced that it had submitted over 40,000 petition signatures. Nominee: Stephanie Miner, former state Democratic Party chairwoman and former mayor of Syracuse Running mate: Michael Volpe, mayor of Pelham
Rent Is Too Damn High Party (disqualified)