| The Politics of New
York State tend to be more left-leaning than in most of
the rest of the United States, with in recent decades a solid majority of
Democratic voters, concentrated
in New York City and its suburbs, and in the cities of Buffalo and Albany. Republican voters, in the minority, are
concentrated in more rural Upstate New York, particularly in the
Adirondack Mountains, the Finger Lakes area and in parts of the Hudson
Valley. Despite the imbalance in registration, New York voters have shown a willingness to elect relatively centrist Republicans to local offices, though rarely in recent years to the Presidency.
The balance of the parties was formerly less decided, with a large Democratic majority in populous New York City, but
Republican dominance elsewhere. In recent years, with the political transformation of former Republican strongholds of Long Island, the Hudson
Valley and the Syracuse area, New York has grown more
reliably Democratic.
Over the last century, New York elected Democratic Senators Robert Wagner and Robert F. Kennedy as well as Conservative Senator James
Buckley. Democrats Al Smith, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and W.
Averell Harriman served as governor, as did Republicans Thomas Dewey
and Nelson Rockefeller, who was elected four times.
The current Governor of New York is a Republican,
George Pataki. He was reelected by large margins in 1998 and 2002, after only narrowly defeating incumbent Democrat Mario Cuomo in 1994. Both U.S. Senators are Democrats, Chuck Schumer and Hillary Rodham
Clinton. However, it wasn't too long ago when New York had Republicans in high political offices Republican Senator Alfonse D'Amato served until he was defeated in 1998 and before him longtime Senator Jacob Javits also served
and was also a Republican, although he ran as a Liberal in 1980. Republican Congressmen William Miller and Jack Kemp
were both from New York and were running mates for Barry Goldwater in
1964 and Bob Dole in 1996 respectively. Despite the strong Democratic presence in New York City, Republican Rudolph Giuliani
served two terms as mayor, and Michael Bloomberg was elected as a
Republican in 2001.
New York and the Presidency
In the past, New York was a powerful swing state with the most votes in
the U.S. Electoral College, forcing presidential
candidates to invest a large amount of money and time campaigning there.
New York State gave small margins of victory to Democrats John F.
Kennedy in 1960, Hubert
Humphrey in 1968, Jimmy Carter in
1976 and Michael Dukakis in
1988, as well as Republicans Herbert
Hoover in 1928, Thomas Dewey in
1948 and Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Today, although New York is still the third largest prize in the U.S. Electoral College with 31 votes, it is usually considered
an uncontested solid blue state and tends to be ignored by presidential
candidates except for fundraising events and sometimes symbolism.
New York politicians have historically tended to loom large on the national political scene, reflecting the importance of
their state, and more presidential candidates have been Governor of New York than anything else. Although local politicians are still often prominently
featured in the national media, because of New York's current unique political orientation they face some special challenges when
seeking national office.
One challenge all potential candidates would face is the state's relatively late primaries, and the strong possibility that a
party's nomination could be effectively decided before New York selects its many delegates to the nominating convention.
Prominent Republicans like Governor George Pataki and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani tend to be pro-choice moderates who could have trouble winning Republican primaries in more conservative states. If a New York Republican could pass this crucial test, the possibility of winning a
very Democratic home state in the general election would still be a great challenge, but also a tremendous opportunity.
Prominent Democrats, like Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer, though often among the leaders of the national party,
would have little to offer in home-state advantage in a general election where the state is already presumed Democratic.
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