2006 New York gubernatorial election

The 2006 New York gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2006, to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of New York, concurrently with elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections, then incumbent Republican governor George Pataki chose not to run for re-election in a fourth term. Democrat Eliot Spitzer, the New York Attorney General, won the election over former Republican state Assembly minority leader John Faso. As of 2023, this is the last time the Governor’s office in New York changed partisan control.

Primary elections were held on September 12.

Spitzer was slated to serve between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2010, but he announced his resignation on March 12, 2008 (effective March 17, 2008), amid news of his involvement in a prostitution scandal.  Spitzer was succeeded on March 17 by Lieutenant Governor David Paterson. This was the first open-seat election since 1982.

To date, he is the last Democratic candidate for governor to have carried any of the following counties: Genesee County, Chautauqua County, Cattaraugus County, Niagara County, Fulton County, Steuben County, Tioga County or Schoharie County.

Republican primary

Candidates 
John Faso, former New York Assembly minority leader (1998–2002) and Republican nominee for Comptroller in 2002
Running mate: C. Scott Vanderhoef, Rockland County Executive

Withdrew 
Randy Daniels, Secretary of the State of New York
Patrick R. Manning, Assemblyman from Dutchess County
Bill Weld, former Governor of Massachusetts (following loss at convention)

Declined 

 George Pataki, incumbent Governor since 1995 (declined on July 27, 2005)
 Donald Trump, president of the Trump Organization and host of The Apprentice (Democratic Party; endorsed Eliot Spitzer)

Campaign 
Following the early campaign announcement of Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in late 2004, attention turned to the state Republican Party, especially the future of three-term governor George Pataki. Polling throughout 2004 and into 2005 consistently showed Spitzer defeating Pataki in theoretical matchups. Pataki announced on July 27, 2005, that he would not seek re-election and would step down at the end of his term in January 2007.

In 2005, John Faso announced his intention to run for governor. He positioned himself early as a conservative upstate candidate, while stressing his childhood roots in Long Island. He initially faced former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, former Secretary of State Randy Daniels, and Assemblyman Patrick Manning. Weld, a moderate, was supported by party leadership.

On February 14, Faso launched a statewide campaign ad announcing his candidacy for governor. Later that month, he was endorsed by Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long and by Congressman John Sweeney. Daniels and Manning both dropped out and Faso became the primary challenger to Weld. It was reported that in early 2006, Weld offered Faso the chance to join his ticket as a candidate for lieutenant governor, an offer Faso reportedly declined. Faso gained increasing support from party leaders in various counties, including Westchester and Suffolk, both of which had large delegate counts to the state convention.

In late May 2006, Faso received the nomination of the Conservative Party for governor, which guaranteed him a spot on the November ballot. He pledged to continue running for governor on the Conservative line if he lost the Republican primary to Weld. On the day he received the Conservative nomination, Faso announced his selection of Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef as his running mate for lieutenant governor.

On June 1, 2006, the Republican State Convention voted 61% to 39% to endorse Faso. By receiving over 50 percent of the vote, Faso was the designated Republican Party candidate, but Weld still received enough support to force a primary. As The Washington Post put it, "[n]ow it turns out whoever loses the GOP primary will stay in the race—in a position likely to siphon votes from the Republican nominee." For this reason, Weld was under tremendous pressure to drop out of the race.  On June 5,  Stephen J. Minarik, the chairman of the state Republican Party, who had been Weld's most prominent backer, called on Weld to withdraw in the interest of party unity. Weld formally announced his withdrawal from the race, and his support of Faso, the following day.

Democratic primary

Candidates 
Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of New York (1999–2006)
Running mate: David Paterson, New York Senate minority leader
Thomas Suozzi, Nassau County Executive

Campaign 
On December 7, 2004, Eliot Spitzer announced his intention to seek the Democratic nomination for the 2006 election for Governor of New York. Spitzer's campaign manager was Ryan Toohey of Global Strategy Group, which Spitzer had hired for his 1998 campaign for attorney general and for the gubernatorial campaign. While long rumored, Spitzer's announcement was nevertheless considered unusually early—nearly two years before the election. Some pundits believed the timing was due to Spitzer's desire to see if Senator Charles Schumer, a more senior Democrat, would run. Schumer, who was largely favored in opinion polls in a hypothetical matchup against Spitzer, announced in November that he would not run for governor, instead accepting an offer to sit on the powerful Finance Committee and head the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. After Schumer announced he would maintain his Senate seat, another Democrat, Andrew Cuomo, announced his plans to run for Spitzer's vacated Attorney General's seat.

Spitzer won an early vote of confidence on January 22, 2005, by gaining the endorsement of the Working Families Party, which has taken advantage of New York's electoral fusion system to act as a kingmaker over Democratic nominees. It is backed heavily by figures from community group ACORN and labor unions, particularly those that broke from the AFL–CIO to form the Change to Win Federation. In the months after the WFP endorsement, several Change to Win unions have announced that they are endorsing Spitzer under their own name, including UNITE HERE, the Teamsters, and the United Food and Commercial Workers. By July 2005, Spitzer had forced Governor Pataki from the race.

In the latter half of 2005, Spitzer sought to further solidify support for his campaign by touring the state, seeking and giving political endorsements. These included cross endorsements with former-Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer in the New York City Mayoral election, Matthew Driscoll in the Syracuse Mayoral election, and State Senator Byron Brown in the Buffalo Mayoral election. The benefit to Spitzer in these endorsement deals was valuable media attention as he stumped for the candidates. As a result of Spitzer's relative speed in uniting state Democrats to his side, he had gained the respect of Democratic leaders nationwide. Bill Richardson dubbed Spitzer the "future of the Democratic Party", at a fundraiser held in June 2005 for Spitzer's gubernatorial campaign.

With a large polling lead in the Democratic primary, the June 2006 Quinnipiac University Polling Institute poll showed him leading Nassau county executive Thomas Suozzi 76–13 percent, compared to a 73–13 percent lead in a May 17, 2006 poll.

An additional consideration for Spitzer was the status of billionaire businessman Tom Golisano, a three-time candidate on the Independence Party ballot line. It was rumored that Golisano might run again, and that Republican Party insiders would seek to nominate him on their own party's line, thus fusing the Republican and Independence tickets for the first time in a gubernatorial election. Golisano recently switched his party affiliation to the GOP.  However, on February 1, 2006, Golisano announced that he would not run for governor.

Spitzer selected African-American New York State Senate minority leader David Paterson as his choice for Lieutenant Governor and running mate in January 2006. In New York gubernatorial elections, the most important factor in the gubernatorial candidate's choice of a lieutenant governor is the need to "balance the ticket"—that is, to widen the candidate's appeal, whether by reaching out to someone from a different geographic area, ethnic background, or has a different political base. Paterson's father Basil Paterson was also a candidate for Lt. Governor in 1970.

In February 2006, Spitzer received the endorsement of then-Democrat businessman Donald Trump, who had been courted by the Republicans to run against him.

Results 
In the Democratic primary, held on September 12, 2006, Spitzer handily defeated Suozzi, securing his party's nomination with 82% of the vote.

General election

Candidates
John Clifton (Libertarian)
Running mate: Donald Silberger (withdrew)
Running mate: Chris Edes
Maura DeLuca, activist (Socialist Workers)
Running mate: Ben O'Shaughnessy
John Faso, former Minority Leader of the New York Assembly (Republican and Conservative)
Running mate: C. Scott Vanderhoef, Rockland County Executive
Phoebe Legere, singer and host of Roulette TV (Integrity)
Running mate: Nancy Beattie
Jennifer Liese (Right to Life)
Running mate: Wendy Holibaugh
Malachy McCourt, author, actor, talk radio host, and brother of Frank McCourt (Green)
Running mate: Alison Duncan
Jimmy McMillan, Vietnam War veteran, former letter carrier, and candidate for mayor of New York City in 2005 (Rent is Too High)
Running mate: None
Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of New York (Democratic, Independence and Working Families)
Running mate: David Paterson, Minority Leader of the New York Senate
McMillan sought to run for governor as the candidate of the "My Rent Is Too Damn High Party". The State Board of Elections allowed him on the ballot, but only under the rubric of the "Rent Is Too High Party". That version appeared on Row H.

Predictions

Polling

Results

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Counties that flipped from Independence to Democratic
 Monroe (largest municipality: Rochester)

See also
Governorship of George Pataki
2006 United States Senate election in New York
2006 New York attorney general election
2006 New York Comptroller election
2006 United States gubernatorial elections
1970 New York gubernatorial election, in which David Paterson's father was also the running mate of the last Jewish nominee for Governor

Further reading
Paterson, David "Black, Blind, & In Charge: A Story of Visionary Leadership and Overcoming Adversity." New York, New York, 2020

References

External links
 Online Guide to New York Politics, politics1.com

Candidates
 Eliot Spitzer for Governor
 John Faso for Governor
 John Clifton for Governor
 Malachy McCourt for Governor

Gubernatorial
2006
New York
Eliot Spitzer
David Paterson