List of governors of New York

The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York, the head of the executive branch of New York's state government, and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces.^[1] The officeholder has a duty to enforce state laws, to convene the New York State Legislature,^[1] the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the legislature,^[2] as well as to grant pardons, except in cases of treason and impeachment.^[3]

Kathy Hochul has been governor since August 24, 2021.

Fifty-seven people have served as state governor, four of whom served non-consecutive terms (George Clinton, DeWitt Clinton, Horatio Seymour, and Al Smith); the official numbering lists each governor only once. There has only been one female governor so far: Kathy Hochul. This numbering includes one acting governor: the lieutenant governor who filled the vacancy after the resignation of the governor, under the 1777 Constitution.^[4] The list does not include the prior colonial governors nor those who have acted as governor when the governor was out of state, such as Lieutenant Governor Timothy L. Woodruff during Theodore Roosevelt's vice presidential campaign in 1900, or Acting Speaker of the New York State Assembly Moses M. Weinstein, who acted as governor for 10 days in 1968 while the governor, the lieutenant governor and the senate majority leader were out of the state, attending the Republican National Convention in Miami.^[5]

Four men have become president of the United States after serving as governor of New York: Martin Van Buren, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and six were vice president. Van Buren and Theodore Roosevelt held both offices. Numerous Governors have also sought the Presidency, and won their party's respective nomination, but lost the general election, such as Al Smith, Samuel J. Tilden, Horatio Seymour, Thomas E. Dewey, and Charles Evans Hughes. Two governors have been chief justice: John Jay held that position when he was elected governor in 1795, and Charles Evans Hughes became chief justice in 1930, two decades after leaving the governorship.

The longest-serving governor was the first, George Clinton, who first took office on July 30, 1777, and served seven terms in two different periods, totaling just under 21 years in office. As 18 of those years were consecutive, Clinton also served the longest consecutive period in office for a New York governor. Charles Poletti had the shortest term, serving 29 days following the resignation of the previous governor, Herbert H. Lehman in 1942. Lehman was the state's first Jewish governor; David Paterson was the first African American governor of New York, and the first legally blind governor as well. Paterson is only the fourth African American to hold the office of governor in the United States. The current governor is Democrat Kathy Hochul, the state's first female governor, who assumed the office on August 24, 2021, upon the resignation of Andrew Cuomo.^[6] Hochul went on to be elected as governor for a full term, after beating Republican Lee Zeldin in the 2022 election.

Governors

For the period before independence, see List of colonial governors of New York.

New York was one of the original Thirteen Colonies on the east coast of North America, and was admitted as a state on July 26, 1788. Prior to declaring its independence, New York was a colony of the Kingdom of Great Britain, which it in turn obtained from the Dutch as the colony of New Netherland; see the list of colonial governors and the list of directors-general of New Netherland for the pre-statehood period.

The office of the governor was established by the first New York Constitution in 1777. The governor originally served for a term of three years,^[7] though the constitution did not specify when the term began. A 1787 law set the start of the term at July 1.^[8] The New York State Constitutional Convention of 1821 amended the state constitution, reducing the term of office to two years,^[9] moving the election to November,^[10] and moving the beginning and the end of the term to coincide with the calendar year.^[11] An 1874 amendment extended the term of office back to three years,^[12] but the 1894 constitution again reduced it to two years.^[13] The most recent New York Constitution of 1938 extended the term to the current four years.^[14] There is no limit to the number of consecutive terms a governor may serve.

The Constitution has provided since 1777 for the election of a lieutenant governor of New York, who is ex officio President of the Senate, to the same term (keeping the same term lengths as the governor throughout all the constitutional revisions). Originally, in the event of the death, resignation or impeachment of the governor, the lieutenant governor would become acting governor until the end of the yearly legislative term, the office being filled in a special election, if there was a remainder of the term.^[15] Since the 1821 Constitution, the lieutenant governor explicitly becomes governor upon such vacancy in the office and serves for the entire remainder of the term.^[16] Should the office of lieutenant governor become vacant, the president pro tempore of the State Senate^[a] performs all the duties of the lieutenant governor until the vacancy is filled either at the next gubernatorial election or by appointment.^[b] Likewise, should both offices become vacant at the same time, the president pro tempore acts as governor, with the office of lieutenant governor remaining vacant. Should the presidency pro tempore be vacant too, or the incumbent unable to fulfill the duties, the Speaker of the State Assembly is next in the line of succession.^[17] The lieutenant governor is elected on the same ticket as the governor, since the 1954 election with a single joint vote cast for both offices, but is nominated separately.^[18]

Governors of the State of New York

No.	Governor			Term in office[c]	Party	Election	Lt. Governor[d]
1			George Clinton (1739–1812) [19][20]	July 30, 1777[21] – July 1, 1795 (did not run)[19]	No parties[e]	1777		Pierre Van Cortlandt
						1780
						1783
						1786
						1789
					Anti-Federalist[e]	1792
2			John Jay (1745–1829) [25][26]	July 1, 1795[27] – July 1, 1801 (did not run)[25]	Federalist[28]	1795		Stephen Van Rensselaer
						1798
1			George Clinton (1739–1812) [19][20]	July 1, 1801[29] – July 1, 1804 (did not run)	Democratic– Republican[28]	1801		Jeremiah Van Rensselaer
3			Morgan Lewis (1754–1844) [30][31]	July 1, 1804[29] – July 1, 1807 (lost election)	Democratic– Republican[f]	1804		John Broome (died August 8, 1810)
4			Daniel D. Tompkins (1774–1825) [33][34]	July 1, 1807[29] – February 24, 1817 (resigned)[g]	Democratic– Republican[28]	1807
						1810
							Vacant
								John Tayler (acting from January 29, 1811)[h]
								DeWitt Clinton (elected May 2, 1811)
						1813		John Tayler
						1816
5			John Tayler (1742–1829) [35][36]	February 24, 1817[37] – July 1, 1817 (successor took office)	Democratic– Republican[28]	Lieutenant governor acting		Philetus Swift (acting)
6			DeWitt Clinton (1769–1828) [38][39]	July 1, 1817[40] – January 1, 1823 (did not run)	Democratic– Republican[28]	1817		John Tayler
						1820
7			Joseph C. Yates (1768–1837) [41][42]	January 1, 1823[43] – January 1, 1825 (did not run)	Democratic– Republican[28]	1822		Erastus Root
6			DeWitt Clinton (1769–1828) [38][39]	January 1, 1825[44] – February 11, 1828 (died in office)	Democratic– Republican[28]	1824		James Tallmadge Jr.
						1826		Nathaniel Pitcher
8			Nathaniel Pitcher (1777–1836) [45][46]	February 11, 1828[29] – January 1, 1829 (did not run)	Democratic– Republican[28]	Succeeded from lieutenant governor		Peter R. Livingston (acting)
								Charles Dayan (acting from October 17, 1828)
9			Martin Van Buren (1782–1862) [47][48]	January 1, 1829[49] – March 12, 1829 (resigned)[i]	Democratic– Republican[28]	1828		Enos T. Throop
10			Enos T. Throop (1784–1874) [50][51]	March 12, 1829[52] – January 1, 1833 (did not run)[50]	Democratic[28]	Succeeded from lieutenant governor		Charles Stebbins (acting)
								William M. Oliver (acting)
						1830		Edward Philip Livingston
11			William L. Marcy (1786–1857) [53][54]	January 1, 1833[54] – January 1, 1839 (lost election)	Democratic[28]	1832		John Tracy
						1834
						1836
12			William H. Seward (1801–1872) [55][56]	January 1, 1839[57] – January 1, 1843 (did not run)[55]	Whig[28]	1838		Luther Bradish
						1840
13			William C. Bouck (1786–1859) [58][59]	January 1, 1843[59] – January 1, 1845 (lost nomination)[58]	Democratic[28]	1842		Daniel S. Dickinson
14			Silas Wright (1795–1847) [60][61]	January 1, 1845[62] – January 1, 1847 (lost election)	Democratic[28]	1844		Addison Gardiner[j] (resigned July 5, 1847)
15			John Young (1802–1852) [63][64]	January 1, 1847[65] – January 1, 1849 (did not run)	Whig[28]	1846
								Albert Lester[j] (acting)
								Hamilton Fish (took office January 1, 1848)
16			Hamilton Fish (1808–1893) [66][67]	January 1, 1849[68] – January 1, 1851 (did not run)	Whig[28]	1848		George W. Patterson
17			Washington Hunt (1811–1867) [69][70]	January 1, 1851[71] – January 1, 1853 (lost election)	Whig[28]	1850		Sanford E. Church[j]
18			Horatio Seymour (1810–1886) [72][73]	January 1, 1853[74] – January 1, 1855 (lost election)	Democratic[28]	1852
19			Myron H. Clark (1806–1892) [75][76]	January 1, 1855[77] – January 1, 1857 (lost nomination)[k]	Whig/ Free Soil (fusion)[l]	1854		Henry Jarvis Raymond
20			John A. King (1788–1867) [79][80]	January 1, 1857[81] – January 1, 1859 (did not run)[79]	Republican[28]	1856		Henry R. Selden
21			Edwin D. Morgan (1811–1883) [82][83]	January 1, 1859[84] – January 1, 1863 (did not run)[82]	Republican[28]	1858		Robert Campbell
						1860
18			Horatio Seymour (1810–1886) [72][73]	January 1, 1863[85] – January 2, 1865 (lost election)	Democratic[28]	1862		David R. Floyd-Jones
22			Reuben Fenton (1819–1885) [86][87]	January 2, 1865[m] – January 1, 1869 (did not run)	Union[28]	1864		Thomas G. Alvord
						1866		Stewart L. Woodford
23			John T. Hoffman (1828–1888) [92][93]	January 1, 1869[94] – January 1, 1873 (did not run)	Democratic[28]	1868		Allen C. Beach
						1870
24			John Adams Dix (1798–1879) [95][96]	January 1, 1873[97] – January 1, 1875 (lost election)	Republican[28]	1872		John C. Robinson
25			Samuel J. Tilden (1814–1886) [98][99]	January 1, 1875[100] – January 1, 1877 (did not run)[n]	Democratic[28]	1874		William Dorsheimer
26			Lucius Robinson (1810–1891) [101][102]	January 1, 1877[103] – January 1, 1880 (lost election)	Democratic[28]	1876
27			Alonzo B. Cornell (1832–1904) [104][105]	January 1, 1880[106] – January 1, 1883 (lost nomination)[o]	Republican[28]	1879		George Gilbert Hoskins
28			Grover Cleveland (1837–1908) [107][108]	January 1, 1883[109] – January 6, 1885 (resigned)[p]	Democratic[28]	1882		David B. Hill
29			David B. Hill (1843–1910) [110][111]	January 6, 1885[112] – January 1, 1892 (did not run)[q]	Democratic[28]	Succeeded from lieutenant governor		Dennis McCarthy[r] (acting)
						1885		Edward F. Jones
						1888
30			Roswell P. Flower (1835–1899) [114][115]	January 1, 1892[116] – January 1, 1895 (did not run)	Democratic[28]	1891		William F. Sheehan
31			Levi P. Morton (1824–1920) [117]	January 1, 1895[118] – January 1, 1897 (did not run)	Republican[28]	1894		Charles T. Saxton
32			Frank S. Black (1853–1913) [119][120]	January 1, 1897[121] – December 31, 1898 (lost nomination)[119]	Republican[28]	1896		Timothy L. Woodruff
33			Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) [122][123]	January 1, 1899[124] – January 1, 1901 (did not run)[s]	Republican[28]	1898
34			Benjamin Odell (1854–1926) [125][126]	January 1, 1901[127] – December 31, 1904 (did not run)	Republican[28]	1900
						1902		Frank W. Higgins
35			Frank W. Higgins (1856–1907) [128][129]	January 1, 1905[130] – January 1, 1907 (did not run)[128]	Republican[28]	1904		Matthew Linn Bruce (resigned December 5, 1906)
								John Raines (acting)
36			Charles Evans Hughes (1862–1948) [131][132]	January 1, 1907[133] – October 6, 1910 (resigned)[t]	Republican[28]	1906		Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler[j]
						1908		Horace White
37			Horace White (1865–1943) [134][135]	October 6, 1910[136] – December 31, 1910 (successor took office)	Republican[28]	Succeeded from lieutenant governor		George H. Cobb (acting)
38			John Alden Dix (1860–1928) [137][138]	January 1, 1911[139] – January 1, 1913 (lost nomination)[140]	Democratic[28]	1910		Thomas F. Conway
39			William Sulzer (1863–1941) [141][142]	January 1, 1913[143] – October 17, 1913 (impeached and removed)[u]	Democratic[28]	1912		Martin H. Glynn
40			Martin H. Glynn (1871–1924) [144][145]	October 17, 1913[146] – December 31, 1914 (lost election)	Democratic[28]	Succeeded from lieutenant governor		Robert F. Wagner (acting)
41			Charles Seymour Whitman (1868–1947) [147][148]	January 1, 1915[149] – January 1, 1919 (lost election)	Republican[28]	1914		Edward Schoeneck
						1916
42			Al Smith (1873–1944) [150][151]	January 1, 1919[152] – December 31, 1920 (lost election)	Democratic[28]	1918		Harry C. Walker
43			Nathan L. Miller (1868–1953) [153][154]	January 1, 1921[155] – December 31, 1922 (lost election)	Republican[28]	1920		Jeremiah Wood (resigned September 26, 1922)
								Clayton R. Lusk (acting)
42			Al Smith (1873–1944) [150][151]	January 1, 1923[156] – December 31, 1928 (did not run)[v]	Democratic[28]	1922		George R. Lunn
						1924		Seymour Lowman[r]
						1926		Edwin Corning
44			Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) [157][158]	January 1, 1929[159] – December 31, 1932 (did not run)[w]	Democratic[28]	1928		Herbert H. Lehman
						1930
45			Herbert H. Lehman (1878–1963) [160][161]	January 1, 1933[162] – December 2, 1942 (resigned)[x]	Democratic[28]	1932		M. William Bray
						1934
						1936
						1938		Charles Poletti
46			Charles Poletti (1903–2002) [163][164]	December 2, 1942[165] – December 31, 1942 (successor took office)	Democratic[28]	Succeeded from lieutenant governor		Joe R. Hanley[r] (acting)
47			Thomas E. Dewey (1902–1971) [166][167]	January 1, 1943[168] – December 31, 1954 (did not run)	Republican[28]	1942		Thomas W. Wallace
						1946		Joe R. Hanley
						1950		Frank C. Moore (resigned September 30, 1953)
								Arthur H. Wicks (acting)
								Walter J. Mahoney (acting)
48			W. Averell Harriman (1891–1986) [169][170]	January 1, 1955[171] – December 31, 1958 (lost election)	Democratic[28]	1954		George DeLuca
49			Nelson Rockefeller (1908–1979) [172][173]	January 1, 1959[174] – December 18, 1973 (resigned)[y]	Republican[28]	1958		Malcolm Wilson
						1962
						1966
						1970
50			Malcolm Wilson (1914–2000) [176][177]	December 18, 1973[175] – December 31, 1974 (lost election)	Republican[28]	Succeeded from lieutenant governor		Warren M. Anderson (acting)
51			Hugh Carey (1919–2011) [178][179]	January 1, 1975[180] – December 31, 1982 (did not run)	Democratic[28]	1974		Mary Anne Krupsak
						1978		Mario Cuomo
52			Mario Cuomo (1932–2015) [181]	January 1, 1983[182] – December 31, 1994 (lost election)	Democratic[181]	1982		Alfred DelBello (resigned February 1, 1985)
								Warren M. Anderson[r] (acting)
						1986		Stan Lundine
						1990
53			George Pataki (b. 1945) [183]	January 1, 1995[184] – December 31, 2006 (did not run)	Republican[183]	1994		Betsy McCaughey[z]
						1998		Mary Donohue
						2002
54			Eliot Spitzer (b. 1959) [185]	January 1, 2007[186] – March 17, 2008 (resigned)[aa]	Democratic[185]	2006		David Paterson
55			David Paterson (b. 1954) [187]	March 17, 2008[188] – December 31, 2010 (did not run)	Democratic[187]	Succeeded from lieutenant governor		Joseph Bruno[r] (acting)
								Dean Skelos[r] (acting)
								Malcolm Smith (acting)
								Pedro Espada Jr. (acting)[ab]
								Richard Ravitch (contested)[ac]
								Malcolm Smith (acting)[ad]
								Richard Ravitch[ae]
56			Andrew Cuomo (b. 1957) [189]	January 1, 2011[190] – August 23, 2021 (resigned)[af]	Democratic[189]	2010		Robert Duffy
						2014		Kathy Hochul
						2018
57			Kathy Hochul (b. 1958) [191]	August 24, 2021[192] – Incumbent[ag]	Democratic[191]	Succeeded from lieutenant governor		Andrea Stewart-Cousins (acting)
								Brian Benjamin (appointed September 9, 2021) (resigned April 12, 2022)[ah]
								Andrea Stewart-Cousins (acting)
								Antonio Delgado (appointed May 25, 2022)
						2022

See also

• New York gubernatorial elections
• List of colonial governors of New York
• First ladies and gentlemen of New York
• List of governors of New York by time in office
• List of New York State legislatures

Notes

1. The state constitutions refer to this position as the "temporary president of the senate".
2. On September 22, 2009, the New York Court of Appeals upheld the right of the governor to appoint a lieutenant governor to fill the vacancy.
3. The 1846 constitution specified that the governor holds their office "until and including the thirty-first day of December"; this has been interpreted in modern times as the changeover occurring at midnight. Governors on this list are only marked as having left office on December 31 if an early or midnight swearing-in of their successor was documented.
4. Lieutenant governors represented the same party as their governor unless noted.
5. Dubin,^[22] Glashan,^[23] and Kallenbach^[24] note Clinton as having no party identification until either 1789 (Dubin) or 1792 (Glashan and Kallenbach).
6. Lewis is labeled a Federalist by Kallenbach,^[28] and a Democratic-Republican by Dubin,^[32] Glashan,^[23] and Sobel.^[30]
7. Tompkins resigned, having been elected Vice President of the United States.^[34]
8. At the time, the position of president pro-tempore of the Senate was only filled during a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor, so Tayler was not elected to fill the position until January 29, 1811.
9. Van Buren resigned, having been confirmed as United States Secretary of State.^[47]
10. Represented the Democratic Party
11. Clark lost the Republican nomination to John A. King.^[75]
12. Clark is widely labeled a Whig^[78] or Whig-Free Soil^[28][23] candidate, and Sobel notes he was nominated by the Whig, Free Democracy, Anti-Nebraska, and Temperance parties.^[75]
13. All modern sources say Fenton was inaugurated on January 1, and this is found in sources at least as old as 1910;^[88] however, all contemporary coverage says he was inaugurated at noon on Monday, January 2.^[89][90][91]
14. Tilden instead ran unsuccessfully for President of the United States.^[98]
15. Cornell lost the Republican nomination to Charles J. Folger.^[104]
16. Cleveland resigned, having been elected President of the United States.^[107]
17. Hill was elected to the United States Senate for a term starting March 4, 1891, but did not take office until his gubernatorial term expired.^[113]
18. Represented the Republican Party
19. Roosevelt was instead elected Vice President of the United States.^[122]
20. Hughes resigned, having been confirmed as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.^[131]
21. Sulzer was impeached and removed from office for campaign contribution fraud.^[141]
22. Smith instead ran unsuccessfully for President of the United States.^[150]
23. Roosevelt was instead elected President of the United States.^[157]
24. Lehman resigned, having been appointed director of the Office of Foreign Relief and Rehabilitation Operations at the United States Department of State.^[160]
25. Rockefeller resigned to devote himself to his Commission on Critical Choices for Americans.^[175]
26. Elected as Betsy McCaughey, but married and changed name in 1995.
27. Spitzer resigned due to a prostitution scandal.^[185]
28. Espada was a Democrat, but combined with the Republicans in a change of leadership which triggered the 2009 New York State Senate leadership crisis.
29. Ravitch was appointed on July 8, 2009, but the appointment was contested in the courts. On August 20, the Appellate Division rejected the appointment; Ravitch vacated the office.
30. Smith succeeded Espada on July 9 as temporary President of the New York State Senate and claimed to be Acting Lieutenant Governor under the provisions of the New York State Constitution while the appointment of Ravitch was contested.
31. On September 22, the New York Court of Appeals reversed the Appellate Division's ruling, thus re-instating Ravitch to the lieutenant governorship, beginning on July 8.
32. Cuomo resigned due to allegations of sexual harassment.^[6]
33. Hochul's first full term began at midnight on January 1, 2023,^[193] and will expire at midnight January 1, 2027.
34. Benjamin resigned after having been indicted earlier that day on federal wire fraud and bribery charges.^[194]