2002 New York gubernatorial election

The 2002 New York gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 2002. Republican governor George Pataki was re-elected to a third term, defeating Democrat Carl McCall and Rochester billionaire Tom Golisano, who ran on the Independence Party line. As of 2024, this was the last time a Republican won a statewide election in New York, and the last time Albany, Tompkins and Westchester counties have voted Republican in a statewide election.

2002 New York gubernatorial election

← 1998 November 5, 2002 2006 →

Nominee George Pataki H. Carl McCall Tom Golisano Party Republican Democratic Independence Alliance Conservative Working Families Running mate Mary Donohue Dennis Mehiel Mary Donohue[a] Popular vote 2,262,255 1,534,064 654,016 Percentage 49.40% 33.50% 14.28%

County results Pataki:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% McCall:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% Golisano:      30–40%

Governor before election George Pataki Republican Elected Governor George Pataki Republican

On Election Day, Pataki was easily re-elected, but fell short of receiving 50% of the vote. McCall received 33% of the vote, carrying New York City (other than Staten Island) and nearly carrying Albany County. In contrast to the norm for multiple third party campaigns, Golisano did better than his previous elections, receiving 14% of the vote and carrying his home county of Monroe in western New York. This election was the first New York gubernatorial election since 1978 in which the winner of the gubernatorial election was of the same party as the incumbent president.

Republican primary

Candidates

• George Pataki, Governor of New York since 1995

Declined

• Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City (1994–2001)

Polling

Source	Date	George Pataki	Rudolph Giuliani
Quinnipiac	December 14, 2000	60%	29%

Results

Pataki won the nomination unopposed.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• H. Carl McCall, New York State Comptroller

Withdrew

• Andrew Cuomo, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and son of Mario Cuomo

Campaign

Comptroller Carl McCall defeated Andrew Cuomo at the Democratic State Convention, and Cuomo withdrew from the race less than a week before the Democratic primary.

Polling

Source	Date	Carl McCall	Andrew Cuomo
Quinnipiac	December 14, 2000	33%	39%
Quinnipiac	February 14, 2001	35%	36%
Quinnipiac	March 28, 2001	33%	40%
Quinnipiac	April 24, 2001	33%	39%
Quinnipiac	June 26, 2001	31%	44%
Quinnipiac	October 2, 2001	29%	41%
Quinnipiac	November 14, 2001	29%	37%
Quinnipiac	January 23, 2002	38%	38%
Quinnipiac	February 27, 2002	35%	40%
Quinnipiac	April 18, 2002	30%	44%
Quinnipiac	May 1, 2002	33%	43%
Quinnipiac	July 2, 2002	32%	47%
Quinnipiac	August 15, 2002	47%	31%
Quinnipiac	September 3, 2002	53%	31%

Lieutenant governor

Source	Date	Dennis Mehiel	Charlie King
Quinnipiac	September 3, 2002	24%	17%

Debate

2002 New York gubernatorial election democratic primary debate

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Democratic	Democratic
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Andrew Cuomo	Carl McCall
1	Aug. 18, 2002	WCBS-TV	Marcia Kramer	C-SPAN	P	P

Results

Results by county:

  McCall

•   70–80%
•   80–90%
•   90–100%

2002 New York Democratic gubernatorial primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Carl McCall	539,883	85.28%
	Democratic	Andrew Cuomo (withdrew)	93,195	14.72%
Total votes			633,088	100.00%

Other nominations

Conservative and Independence

Independence primary results by county:

  Pataki

•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%
•   80–90%
•   90–100%

  Golisano

•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%
•   80–90%
•   90–100%

  Tie

•   50%

Conservative primary results by county:

  Pataki

•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%
•   80–90%
•   90–100%

  Golisano

•   50–60%

Besides his standard Republican nomination, Governor Pataki sought the nominations of the Conservative and the Independence Party. Golisano, who sought (and ultimately won) the nomination of the Independence Party, also ran against the Governor in the Conservative primary, spending over $20 million (or over $2,000 per vote) during the primaries. Pataki secured the Republican and Conservative lines, while Golisano successfully defended his hold on the Independence Party ticket.^[1]

Candidate	Conservative vote	percentage	Independence vote	percentage
George Pataki	18,185	(86.86%)	9,026	(48.53%)
Tom Golisano	2,751	(13.14%)	9,572	(51.47%)

Liberal

Andrew Cuomo was nominated by the Liberal Party before his withdrawal from the race, and his withdrawal came too late for his name to be removed from the Liberal Party line. Since Liberal Party supporters could not support McCall on their own party's line (and thus ensure that the Liberal Party would maintain ballot access by virtue of having 50,000 votes or more), Cuomo's defeat effectively helped to destroy the Liberal Party.^{[citation needed]}

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[2]	Likely R	October 31, 2002
Sabato's Crystal Ball[3]	Likely R	November 4, 2002

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[b]	Margin of error	George Pataki (R)	Carl McCall (D)	Tom Golisano (I)	Gerald Cronin (RTL)	Other / Undecided
SurveyUSA[4]	October 28–30, 2002	567 (LV)	± 4.3%	47%	32%	17%	2%	1%

Source	Date	H. Carl McCall (D)	George Pataki (R)	Thomas Golisano (I)
Quinnipiac	December 14, 2000	36%	48%	-
Quinnipiac	February 14, 2001	36%	43%	-
Quinnipiac	March 28, 2001	35%	48%	-
Quinnipiac	April 24, 2001	36%	43%	-
Quinnipiac	June 26, 2001	35%	46%	-
Quinnipiac	October 2, 2001	26%	59%	-
Quinnipiac	November 14, 2001	24%	56%	-
Quinnipiac	January 23, 2002	27%	57%	-
Quinnipiac	February 27, 2002	29%	57%	-
Quinnipiac	April 18, 2002	29%	56%	-
Quinnipiac	May 1, 2002	27%	58%	-
Quinnipiac	July 2, 2002	26%	53%	7%
Marist	September 9, 2002	32%	48%	11%
Quinnipiac	September 25, 2002	35%	46%	14%
Marist	October 1, 2002	32%	48%	9%
Quinnipiac	October 16, 2002	31%	47%	18%
The New York Times	October 17, 2002	31%	42%	17%
Marist	October 30, 2002	27%	47%	17%
Marist	November 4, 2002	27%	47%	19%
Quinnipiac	November 4, 2002	29%	45%	14%

Source	Date	Andrew Cuomo (D)	George Pataki (R)	Thomas Golisano (I)
Quinnipiac	December 14, 2000	37%	48%	-
Quinnipiac	February 14, 2001	37%	46%	-
Quinnipiac	March 28, 2001	36%	48%	-
Quinnipiac	April 24, 2001	36%	46%	-
Quinnipiac	June 26, 2001	39%	47%	-
Quinnipiac	October 2, 2001	25%	60%	-
Quinnipiac	November 14, 2001	25%	57%	-
Quinnipiac	January 23, 2002	28%	59%	-
Quinnipiac	February 27, 2002	28%	59%	-
Quinnipiac	April 18, 2002	30%	54%	-
Quinnipiac	May 1, 2002	26%	59%	-
Quinnipiac	July 2, 2002	26%	54%	6%

Source	Date	Andrew Cuomo (D)	Rudolph Giuliani (R)
Quinnipiac	December 14, 2000	39%	47%

Source	Date	H. Carl McCall (D)	Rudolph Giuliani (R)
Quinnipiac	December 14, 2000	39%	45%

Hypothetical polling

Results

New York gubernatorial election, 2002^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	George Pataki	2,085,407	45.54%
	Conservative	George Pataki	176,848	3.86%
	Total	George Pataki (incumbent)	2,262,255	49.40%	-4.91%
	Democratic	Carl McCall	1,442,531	31.50%
	Working Families	Carl McCall	90,533	1.98%
	Total	Carl McCall	1,534,064	33.50%	+0.34%
	Independence	Tom Golisano	654,016	14.28%	+6.59%
	Right to Life	Gerard Cronin	44,195	0.97%	−0.28%
	Green	Stanley Aronowitz	41,797	0.91%	−0.63%
	Marijuana Reform	Thomas K. Leighton	21,977	0.48%	−0.18%
	Liberal	Andrew M. Cuomo (withdrawn)	15,761	0.34%	−0.68%
	Libertarian	Scott Jeffrey	5,013	0.11%	+0.01%
Majority			728,191	15.90%	−5.25%
Turnout			4,579,078
	Republican hold		Swing

Results by county

County	Pataki%	Pataki#	McCall%	McCall#	Golisano%	Golisano#	Cronin%	Cronin#	Aronowitz%	Aronowitz#	Others%	Others#	Total
Albany	40.29%	45,804	40.24%	45,748	15.04%	17,101	0.79%	901	1.08%	1,225	1.02%	1,165	113,679
Allegany	59.02%	8,134	14.82%	2,042	19.47%	2,683	1.42%	196	0.70%	96	0.88%	121	13,782
Bronx	29.57%	58,600	61.08%	121,050	3.98%	7,893	0.41%	822	0.37%	734	0.44%	875	198,195
Broome	48.64%	32,339	19.45%	12,956	26.24%	17,478	0.64%	425	1.12%	746	0.83%	550	66,604
Cattaraugus	55.74%	12,400	19.34%	4,302	19.27%	4,287	1.60%	355	0.62%	139	0.85%	190	22,247
Cayuga	55.16%	14,203	21.04%	5,417	17.84%	4,593	0.89%	228	0.89%	228	0.90%	233	25,749
Chautauqua	59.41%	22,869	21.62%	8,323	14.93%	5,747	0.89%	341	0.44%	170	0.94%	360	38,493
Chemung	62.79%	16,398	17.69%	4,619	15.39%	4,018	0.83%	216	0.70%	183	0.64%	166	26,116
Chenango	59.50%	8,676	17.34%	2,529	17.81%	2,597	0.79%	115	1.54%	225	0.94%	137	14,582
Clinton	72.36%	17,113	14.82%	2,529	6.55%	1,550	0.64%	151	0.61%	145	1.05%	248	23,650
Columbia	52.06%	11,995	28.01%	6,454	13.42%	3,091	0.69%	160	1.97%	454	1.50%	346	23,040
Cortland	54.33%	7,851	24.37%	3,522	16.56%	2,393	0.80%	116	1.44%	208	0.80%	115	14,450
Delaware	58.99%	9,139	18.58%	2,878	14.98%	2,320	0.86%	134	1.42%	220	1.43%	221	15,492
Dutchess	57.26%	44,289	24.05%	18,606	13.80%	10,671	1.31%	1,015	0.94%	729	0.92%	715	77,348
Erie	43.18%	130,377	28.27%	85,360	22.75%	68,702	1.59%	4,791	0.61%	1,831	0.96%	2,905	301,929
Essex	71.84%	10,550	12.22%	1,794	8.06%	1,183	0.70%	103	0.74%	108	1.15%	169	14,686
Franklin	68.37%	8,628	15.92%	2,009	7.87%	993	0.83%	105	0.68%	86	0.97%	122	12,619
Fulton	56.09%	9,012	19.01%	3,055	20.54%	3,301	0.91%	146	0.38%	61	1.00%	160	16,067
Genesee	52.23%	9,588	13.91%	2,553	29.43%	5,402	1.21%	223	0.44%	81	0.82%	150	18,358
Greene	57.90%	9,363	20.29%	3,281	16.23%	2,625	1.15%	186	0.80%	129	1.34%	216	16,170
Hamilton	59.86%	1,740	18.92%	550	16.62%	483	1.10%	32	0.28%	8	1.24%	36	2,907
Herkimer	59.86%	11,834	15.80%	3,178	20.58%	4,140	0.92%	186	0.48%	97	0.96%	194	20,113
Jefferson	65.18%	17,616	14.42%	3,897	16.33%	4,414	0.66%	179	0.30%	82	0.64%	172	27,027
Kings (Brooklyn)	34.60%	141,846	56.12%	230,040	4.10%	16,787	0.40%	1,655	1.38%	5,674	0.21%	875	409,909
Lewis	62.30%	5,823	14.66%	1,370	16.71%	1,562	0.92%	86	0.29%	27	0.88%	82	9,347
Livingston	43.10%	8,757	17.97%	3,651	34.77%	7,066	0.82%	167	0.69%	140	1.01%	205	20,320
Madison	51.87%	10,393	20.99%	4,206	22.43%	4,493	1.18%	236	0.82%	164	0.95%	191	20,035
Monroe	34.27%	81,110	24.65%	58,334	37.17%	87,967	0.77%	1,820	0.81%	1,929	0.86%	2,039	236,691
Montgomery	52.64%	9,285	18.97%	3,346	20.26%	3,573	0.87%	153	0.37%	65	1.04%	183	17,640
Nassau	60.56%	232,785	25.98%	99,865	9.33%	35,860	1.45%	5,574	0.37%	1,572	0.74%	2,855	384,408
New York (Manhattan)	32.53%	117,863	55.78%	202,101	5.45%	19,743	0.25%	916	2.05%	7,415	1.40%	5,054	362,277
Niagara	47.65%	32,005	19.30%	12,966	27.21%	18,278	1.36%	916	0.31%	210	0.96%	648	67,165
Oneida	56.14%	40,186	19.17%	13,719	19.94%	14,274	1.31%	940	0.35%	251	0.93%	668	71,580
Onondaga	50.47%	74,694	26.43%	39,110	18.56%	27,459	0.92%	1,366	0.84%	1,239	0.97%	1,437	147,986
Ontario	45.38%	15,480	16.16%	5,512	33.65%	11,478	0.72%	247	0.87%	297	1.01%	343	34,111
Orange	61.22%	53,950	20.27%	17,866	13.52%	11,914	1.42%	1,251	0.79%	695	0.81%	715	88,121
Orleans	48.15%	5,426	13.92%	1,568	34.34%	3,869	0.88%	99	0.41%	46	0.75%	84	11,268
Oswego	52.97%	17,393	20.79%	6,826	21.66%	7,111	0.86%	284	0.45%	147	0.99%	325	32,836
Otsego	54.40%	9,846	22.70%	4,109	15.60%	2,824	0.97%	175	1.95%	353	1.75%	316	18,099
Putnam	69.50%	19,998	14.79%	4,284	11.11%	3,217	1.24%	359	0.83%	240	1.09%	317	28,961
Queens	43.74%	155,599	45.18%	160,746	6.06%	21,556	0.90%	3,219	0.68%	2,402	0.62%	2,196	355,756
Rensselaer	48.91%	27,120	27.94%	15,491	17.87%	9,908	1.08%	601	0.92%	512	1.14%	631	55,447
Richmond (Staten Island)	67.06%	59,656	20.50%	18,239	8.52%	7,583	0.81%	722	0.46%	409	0.66%	586	88,958
Rockland	61.26%	53,025	25.48%	22,054	8.73%	7,557	0.75%	649	0.68%	589	0.87%	750	86,551
St. Lawrence	62.64%	19,365	19.89%	6,234	11.55%	3,621	0.53%	166	0.46%	145	0.95%	297	31,348
Saratoga	54.21%	38,797	23.59%	16,881	17.39%	12,448	0.92%	659	1.03%	735	1.13%	811	71,567
Schenectady	46.96%	24,201	27.90%	14,378	19.63%	10,116	1.06%	546	0.80%	410	1.02%	527	51,537
Schoharie	53.11%	5,731	21.28%	2,296	19.84%	2,141	1.12%	121	1.01%	109	1.38%	149	10,791
Schuyler	58.93%	3,535	17.39%	1,043	16.49%	989	0.95%	57	2.02%	121	0.95%	57	5,999
Seneca	55.65%	5,969	18.52%	1,986	21.16%	2,270	0.74%	79	0.76%	81	1.22%	131	10,726
Steuben	62.26%	17,523	12.15%	3,419	20.33%	5,721	1.03%	290	0.82%	232	0.81%	229	28,147
Suffolk	57.79%	209,361	22.85%	82,776	14.16%	51,288	1.54%	5,589	0.55%	1,978	0.89%	3,216	362,280
Sullivan	54.89%	11,279	24.09%	4,949	15.25%	3,133	1.10%	226	0.83%	170	1.17%	240	20,548
Tioga	59.54%	9,561	14.92%	2,396	21.54%	3,459	0.82%	131	1.07%	172	0.78%	125	16,059
Tompkins	39.00%	10,995	38.62%	10,887	11.84%	3,338	0.53%	150	5.03%	1,418	2.13%	601	28,192
Ulster	50.88%	29,801	26.58%	15,567	15.72%	9,205	0.87%	511	2.25%	1,318	1.79%	1,046	58,572
Warren	56.75%	11,964	22.91%	4,831	15.09%	3,182	0.89%	188	0.68%	143	1.08%	227	21,083
Washington	55.23%	9,491	21.92%	3,767	17.53%	3,012	0.93%	160	0.88%	152	1.26%	217	17,183
Wayne	45.00%	12,553	14.95%	4,171	36.45%	10,169	0.89%	248	0.54%	152	0.87%	242	27,898
Westchester	54.37%	140,329	31.81%	82,099	8.95%	23,113	0.85%	2,200	0.77%	1,982	1.05%	2,715	258,104
Wyoming	53.57%	6,931	15.72%	2,034	25.50%	3,299	1.84%	238	0.32%	41	0.87%	112	12,938
Yates	52.26%	3,781	18.23%	1,319	24.44%	1,768	1.04%	75	1.06%	77	1.16%	84	7,235
Totals	49.40%	2,262,255	33.50%	1,534,064	14.28%	654,016	0.97%	44,195	0.91%	41,797	0.93%	42,751	4,579,078

Counties that flipped from Republican to Independence

• Monroe (largest city: Rochester)

See also

• Governorship of George Pataki

Notes

1. Jointly nominated by the GOP and Independence parties
2. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear

References

1. www.elections.state.ny.us 2002 Primary Canvas.
2. "Governor Updated October 31, 2002 | The Cook Political Report". The Cook Political Report. October 31, 2002. Archived from the original on December 8, 2002. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
3. "Governors Races". www.centerforpolitics.org. November 4, 2002. Archived from the original on December 12, 2002. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
4. SurveyUSA
5. "NYS Board of Elections Governor Election Returns Nov. 5, 2002" (PDF).

External links

• Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism coverage of election
• Gotham Gazette coverage of election
• Marist Poll coverage of election