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.
On Election Day, Cuomo defeated Molinaro by a 59.6%-36.2% margin. As of 2018, Cuomo's 3.6 million votes are the highest received by a candidate in a gubernatorial election in New York's history.
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.
As of 2018, the last Republican to win a gubernatorial election in New York was George Pataki in 2002.
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.
On September 13, 2018, Cuomo defeated Nixon in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Incumbent Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul narrowly defeated New York City Councillor Jumaane Williams in the Democratic 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 leadersâÂÂwho had initially given him their supportâÂÂthrew their support to Molinaro instead.
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:
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).
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.
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.
Jimmy McMillan, the party's founder and figurehead, indicated on the party website that he would make another attempt at the office. He submitted petitions on August 21, 2018, with himself as the gubernatorial nominee and Christialle Felix as his running mate. When the ballot order was released, McMillan and the Rent Is Too Damn High Party had been disqualified and removed from the ballot.
Aggregate polls<br />
with Cynthia Nixon as WFP nominee<br />
with Cynthia Nixon as Democratic nominee<br />
with John DeFrancisco<br />
with Carl Paladino<br />
with Rob Astorino<br />
with Chris Gibson<br />
with Donald Trump Jr.<br />
with Harry Wilson<br />
On November 6, 2018, the Cuomo-Hochul ticket defeated the Molinaro-Killian ticket by a margin of 59.6%âÂÂ36.2%. Cuomo received 3,635,430 votes, making him the top vote earner in any New York gubernatorial election in history. Cuomo won New York City by 81.5% to Molinaro's 15.2%. He also prevailed by 10% in Long Island and Rockland County and won Westchester County by 36%.
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
Cuomo won 20 of 27 congressional districts, including two held by Republicans. Molinaro won seven, including three that elected Democrats.
Cuomo was sworn in for a third term as governor on January 1, 2019. He would resign from the governorship on August 10, 2021, following sexual harassment allegations and a nursing home scandal that plagued his third term.
Official campaign websites