NEW YORK 31 Electoral Votes
Population 
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, New York State Board of Elections)
Total Population, July 2008 est. 19,490,297
Total Enrollment, Nov. 1, 2008 (active)
10,816,500 tot. incl inactive: 12,031,312
Dem. 5,243,960 (48.48%)   Rep. 2,789,863 (25.79%)   Ind'pce 353,760 (3.27%)   Cons'v. 137,380 (1.27%)   WF 35,289 (0.33%)   Grn. 22,966 (0.21%)   Lib.  1,395   Misc. 21   Others 2,231,866 (20.63%)
New York has: 58 counties (this counts New York City as one county). 
Largest counties (one million-plus): Kings, Queens, New York, Suffolk, Bronx, Nassau. >
Largest cities: New York, Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, Syracuse. >
...6.7 million of the 10.8 million active enrolled voters are in the 57 counties outside NYC; 4.1 million are in the 5 boroughs of NYC.

Government
Governor: David Paterson (D). Eliot Spitzer, elected Nov. 2006, resigned effective Mar. 17, 2008.
State Legislature: NY State Assembly: 150 seats   NY State Senate: 61 seats
Local: Municipalities, Counties  NACO Counties
U.S. House: 23D, 6R - 1. T.Bishop (D) | 2. S.Israel (D) | 3. P.King (R) | 4. C.McCarthy (D) | 5. G.Ackerman (D) | 6. G.Meeks (D) | 7. J.Crowley (D) | 8. J.Nadler (D) | 9. A.Weiner (D) | 10. E.Towns (D) | 11. Y.Clarke (D) | 12. N.Velázquez (D) | 13. V.Fossella (R) | 14. C.Maloney (D) | 15. C.Rangel (D) | 16. J.Serrano (D) | 17. E.Engel (D) | 18. N.Lowey (D) | 19. J.Hall (D) | 20. K.Gillibrand (D) | 21. M.McNulty (D) | 22. M.Hinchey (D) | 23. J.McHugh (R) | 24. M.Arcuri (D) | 25. J.Walsh (R) | 26. T.Reynolds (R) | 27. B.Higgins (D) | 28. L.Slaughter (D) | 29. J.R.Kuhl, Jr. (R)
U.S. Senate: Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) re-elected in 2006, Charles E. Schumer (D) re-elected in 2004. 
2008 update    
U.S. House:  New York had four House seats opened up by retirements (3R and 1D); Democrats picked up two of those seats and also ousted an incumbent.  In the open 13th CD seat (Fosella/Staten Island), Michael McMahon (D) defeated Bob Straniere (R) by a wide margin for a pick up.  In the open 21st CD (McNulty/Albany area), Paul Tonko (D) easily defeated Jim Buhrmaster (R).  In the open 25th CD (Walsh/Syracuse area), Dan Maffei (D) defeated Dale Sweetland (R) and Howie Hawkins (G) by 54.82% to 41.88% and  3.30% for a pick up.  In the open 26th CD seat (Reynolds/Western NY), business executive Chris Lee (R) defeated Alice Kryzan (D) by 54.97% to 40.55% and 4.48% for another candidate.  Democrats also picked up the 29th CD (Rochester), where second-time candidate Eric Massa (D) defeated freshman Rep. J.R. Kuhl, Jr. (R) by 50.97% to 49.03%.  The U.S. House delegation goes from 23D, 6R to 26D, 3R for the 111th Congress. 
    > Democrats pick up three U.S. House seats and gain control of the Senate chamber.
Post-election: On Dec. 1, 2008, President-Elect Obama announced Sen. Hillary Clinton (D) as his choice for Secretary of State; Clinton resigned on Jan. 21, 2009 and Gov. Paterson named Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) to fill the seat on Jan. 23.  The 20th CD (Albany region) special election occurred on March 31, 2009; Scott Murphy (D) defeated Assemblyman Jim Tedisco (R) by 726 votes (Tedisco did not concede until April 24).  MORE

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NYT: City Room


The Empire State


 

General Election -- Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Voting Eligible Population*: 13,183,464.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 58.0%.




Official Results >


+Obama/Biden (Dem./WF)
4,804,701
(62.91)
McCain/Palin (Rep./Cons./Ind.) 2,752,728
(36.04)
McKinney/Clemente (Grn.)
12,801
(0.17)
Barr/Root (Lib.)
19,595
(0.26)
Nader/Gonzalez (PLT) 41,248
(0.54)
La Riva/Puryear (PSL) 1,639
(0.02)
Calero/Kennedy (SWP) 3,615
(0.05)
Official Write Ins
702
(0.01)
Total........7,637,029


Write Ins included 634 for Baldwin and 35 for Keyes.

Total incl. 84,689 Blank, Void, Scattering: 7,721,718

5,080,049 votes (65.8%) were cast in counties outside NYC and 
2,641,669 votes (34.2%) were cast in NYC.
2008 Overview
Money and media attracted both major candidates to New York (visits).  There were als several joint appearances.  On Sept. 11 the two candidates joined for the commemoration at Ground Zero and participated in a ServiceNation forum at Columbia University.  On Oct. 15 they participated in the final presidential debate at Hofstra University, and the next evening both were at the Alfred E. Smith dinner at the Waldorf Astoria. 

Obama easily carried the Empire State, gaining a plurality of 2,051,973 votes (26.87 percentage points).

Outside of NYC Obama outpolled McCain by slightly more than half a million votes (2,730,786 to 2,227,984); in NYC Obama won with a plurality of more than 1.5 million votes (2,073,915 to 524,744).

Obama/Allies  |  McCain/Allies, 1  |  Nader
[Primary Election: Sept. 9, 2008]
Presidential Preference Primary: Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Democrats
281 Delegates (232 Pledged, 49 Unpledged) and 39 Alternates.
6.94% of the 4,049 Delegate Votes.

Clinton  |  Obama

Official Results
+Hillary Clinton
1,068,496
56.50%
Bill Richardson
8,227
0.44%
Joe Biden
4,321
0.23%
John Edwards
21,924
1.15%
Barack Obama
751,019
39.71%
Dennis Kucinich
8,458
0.45%
Blank, Void, Scat.
28,698
1.52%
Total
1,891,143

Republicans
101 Delegates: 3 RNC; 11 at-large; 87 by CD (3 x 29 CDs).
4.24% of the 2,380 Delegates.

Allocation: At large and CD delegates are winner-take-all per statewide vote.

Huckabee  |  McCain  |  Paul
former Giuliani

Official Results
Ron Paul
40,113
5.99%
Rudy Giuliani
23,260
3.47%
Mitt Romney
178,043
26.57%
Mike Huckabee
68,477
10.22%
+John McCain
333,001
49.70%
Blank, Void, Scat.
27,184
4.06%
Total
670,078

Note: New York had an abundance of presidential hopefuls.  Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) competed for the Democratic nomination until June 2008. >  Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) ended his campaign for the Republican nomination on Jan. 30, 2008. >  There was abundant speculation that current NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) might run as an Independent candidate; he ruled out a run on Feb. 28, 2008. >  Former Gov. George E. Pataki (R) considered a White House bid. >  Rev. Al Sharpton (D) was also mentioned a few times as a possible candidate in the pre-campaign period.

Setting the Primary Date
Leaders in the legislature acted to move the state's presidential primary from March 4 to February 5 to help home-state candidates Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R).  On March 7, 2007 they introduced S.3544/A.6430, to move the spring primary (held in presidential years for electing delegates to the national conventions) from the first Tuesday in March to the first Tuesday in February (the regular primary will still be held on the first Tuesday after the second Monday in September).

According to the justification for the Assembly bill, "Numerous states have moved, or are considering moving, their presidential primary to an earlier date.  Specifically, other influential states that have similar demographic profiles and similar public-policy issues to New York State`s are contemplating shifting their primaries to February 5.  A similar change will give New Yorkers an early voice in the selection of the best presidential candidates for the state and the nation and will reflect New York`s impact on and importance to our nation."

The bill passed both Houses of the State Legislature on March 21, 2007.  Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) signed it into law on April 9 stating, “Moving the primary date to February, we will help secure New York’s large and diverse population an influential voice in selecting the 2008 presidential nominees."

General Election -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004
Voting Eligible Population*: 12,738,056.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 58.0%.
Bush/Cheney (Rep./Cons'v)
2,962,567
(40.08)
+Kerry/Edwards (Dem./WF)
4,314,280
(58.37)
Nader* (Ind'pce/P&J)
99,873
(1.35)
Calero/Hawkins (SWP)
2,405
(0.03)
Badnarik/Campagna (Lib.)
11,607
(0.16)
Official Write Ins (5)
517
-
Total........7,391,249

*Nader/Pierce (Independence): 84,247 and Nader/Camejo (Peace And Justice): 15,626

Write Ins: David Cobb (138), Michael Halpin (4), John Joseph Kennedy (8), Michael A. Peroutka (363), Bill Van Auken (4)

Total incl. 57,017 Blank, Void, Scattering: 7,448,266

4,988,613 votes (67.0%) were cast in counties outside NYC and 
2,459,653 votes (33.0%) were cast in NYC.

2004 Overview
Kerry finished with a plurality of 1,351,713 votes (18.29 percentage points). 

Outside of NYC Kerry outpolled Bush 2,486,265 to 2,375,033.  In NYC Kerry won with a plurality of 1.24 million votes (1,828,015 to 587,534).
Kerry/Allies  |  Bush-Cheney '04
General Election Details

[State Primary: September 14, 2004]
General Election -- Tuesday, November 7, 2000
Voting Eligible Population*: 12,380,208.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 55.1%.
Bush/Cheney (Rep./Cons'v)
2,403,374
(35.23)
+Gore/Lieberman (Dem/Lib'l/WF)
4,107,697
(60.21)
Hagelin/Goldhaber (Indp'ce)
24,361
(0.36)
Buchanan/Foster (RtL/BuchRef)
31,599
(0.46)
Nader/LaDuke (Grn.)
244,030
(3.58)
Phillips/Frazier (Const.)
1,498
(0.02)
Browne/Olivier (Lib.)
7,649
(0.11)
Harris/Trowe (SWP)
1,789
(0.03)
Official Write Ins (5)
2
Total........6,821,999

Total incl. 138,216 Blank, Void, Scattering: 6,960,215

4,691,713 votes (67.4%) were cast in counties outside NYC and 
2,268,502 votes (32.6%) were cast in NYC.

2000 Overview
The presidential outcome was essentially a foregone conclusion. Statewide, Gore's plurality was 1,704,323 votes (24.98 percentage points). Outside New York City Bush carried 36 counties to 21 for Gore; Gore carried all five boroughs in NYC. 

Outside of NYC Gore outpolled Bush 2,404,333 to 2,004,648.  In NYC Gore won with a plurality of about 1.3 million votes (1,703,364 to 398,726).

In the really big race, the U.S. Senate campaign, Rick Lazio spent $40.1 million and Hillary Rodham Clinton spent $29.3 million.

General Election Activity


1992 and 1996 General Elections

1992
Clinton (D/L)...........3,444,450 (49.72)
Bush (R/C/RtL.)......2,346,649 (33.88)
Perot (NoPty).........1,090,721
 (15.75)
Others (4+w/ins).........45,113
(0.65)
Total........6,926,933

1996
Clinton (D/L)...........3,756,177 (59.47)
Dole (R/C/F)...........1,933,492 (30.61)
Perot (Ind.)................503,458
 (7.97)
Nader (Grn.)................75,956
(1.20)
Others (5)...................47,046
(0.75)
Blank/Scat................123,000
Total........6,439,129
2004 page >
2000 page >
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.