The New York gubernatorial election of 1994 was an election for the state governorship

Governor of New York

The Governor of the State of New York is the chief executive of the State of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military and naval forces. The officeholder is afforded the courtesy title of His/Her...

 held on November 8, 1994. The election resulted in the defeat of Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 incumbent Governor Mario Cuomo

Mario Cuomo

Mario Matthew Cuomo served as the 52nd Governor of New York from 1983 to 1994, and is the father of Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York.-Early life:...

 by Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 George Pataki

George Pataki

George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006.- Early life :...

.

Primaries

Democratic Primary	popular vote	percentage	Republican Primary	popular vote	percentage
Mario Cuomo Mario Cuomo Mario Matthew Cuomo served as the 52nd Governor of New York from 1983 to 1994, and is the father of Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York.-Early life:...	548,762	(79.45%)	St. Sen. George Pataki George Pataki George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006.- Early life :...	273,620	(75.60%)
Lenora Fulani Lenora Fulani Lenora Branch Fulani is an American psychologist, psychotherapist, and political activist. She may be best known for her presidential campaigns and development of youth programs serving minority communities in the New York City area...	141,918	(20.55%)	Richard M. Rosenbaum	88,302	(24.40%)

Libertarian Nomination

The original Libertarian candidate was New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 radio personality Howard Stern

Howard Stern

Howard Allan Stern is an American radio personality, television host, author, and actor best known for his radio show, which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style...

, who announced his candidacy for governor on his nationally syndicated radio show on March 22, 1994 on a platform of reinstating the death penalty and promising to resign as soon as this goal was accomplished. Shortly thereafter the Libertarian Party drafted Stern to run on their ticket; Stern won the party's nomination by a two-thirds majority over Buffalo activist James Ostrowski on the first ballot at their state convention on April 23, 1994. However, Stern refused to file the financial disclosures required by law of any party seeking to hold public office; he filed suit against the state of New York arguing the law violated his right to privacy and freedom of association. When the court denied his petition for injunction, Stern called a press conference on August 4, 1994 and withdrew from the election.

Robert L. Schulz, a political activist from Queensbury, New York

Queensbury, New York

Queensbury is a town in and the county seat of Warren County, New York, United States. The town is located in the southeastern part of the county. The population was 25,441 at the 2000 census. The town is named in honor of Queen Charlotte, the consort of George III of Great Britain and Ireland. It...

, replaced Stern on the statewide ballot. Stern's running mate, Stan Dworkin of Westchester County, remained on the slate as candidate for Lieutenant Governor.

General Campaign

Though early on in the election Cuomo lead by as much as ten points Pataki was eventually able to tie with him due to Cuomo being in a negative poisition having to defend his record. Pataki promised to cut income taxes by 25 precent which appealed to voters in a economic downturn.

One key issue in the election was capital punishment

Capital punishment

Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...

. Cuomo had long been a staunch opponent of the death penalty while Pataki supported it. In the 1980's and 1990's most New Yorkers supported capital punishment due to high crime rates. Republicans ads pointed to the case of Arthur Shawcross

Arthur Shawcross

Arthur John Shawcross was an American serial killer, also known as The Genesee River Killer in Rochester, New York...

, a multiple murderer convicted of manslaughter who was paroled from New York in 1987 and on release became a serial killer while Cuomo was governor. This caused a significant cut support for Cuomo.

Results

General election results

Governor candidate	Running Mate Running mate A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference to the person in the subordinate position but can also properly be used when referring to both candidates, such as "Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen were...	Party	Popular Vote (PV)
George E. Pataki George Pataki George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006.- Early life :...	Betsy McCaughey Ross Betsy McCaughey Ross Betsy McCaughey , formerly known as Betsy McCaughey Ross, was the Republican Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1995 to 1998, during the first term of Governor George Pataki. She unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party nomination for Governor after Pataki dropped her from his 1998 ticket.An...	Republican, Conservative, Tax Cut Now	2,488,631	(48.8 %)
Mario M. Cuomo Mario Cuomo Mario Matthew Cuomo served as the 52nd Governor of New York from 1983 to 1994, and is the father of Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York.-Early life:...	Stan Lundine Stan Lundine Stanley Nelson Lundine is a politician from Jamestown, New York who served as Mayor of Jamestown, a United States Representative, and lieutenant governor of New York. A Democrat, he was inaugurated Mayor in 1970 and served to 1976 when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives after the...	Democratic, Liberal Liberal Party of New York The Liberal Party of New York is a minor American political party that has been active only in the state of New York. Its platform supports a standard set of social liberal policies: it supports right to abortion, increased spending on education, and universal health care.As of 2007, the Liberal...	2,364,904	(45.4 %)
B. Thomas Golisano Tom Golisano Blase Thomas Golisano is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder of Paychex, the second-largest payroll processor in the United States and former co-owner of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team and of the Buffalo Bandits lacrosse team...	Dominick Fusco	Independence Fusion Independence Party of New York The Independence Party is an affiliate in the U.S. state of New York of the Independence Party of America. The party was founded in 1991 by Dr. Gordon Black, Tom Golisano, and Laureen Oliver from Rochester, New York, and acquired ballot status in 1994...	217,490	(4.1 %)
Robert T. Walsh	Virginia E. Sutton	Right to Life New York State Right to Life Party The New York State Right to Life Party was founded to oppose the legalization of abortion in New York in 1970. The party first made the state ballot in the 1978 gubernatorial election, where its candidate Mary Jane Tobin won 130,000 votes...	67,750	(1.3 %)
Robert L. Schulz	Stan Dworkin	Libertarian	9,506	(0.2 %)
Lawrence Lane Lawrence Lane Lawrence Lane is a theatrical producer who is best known as one of the original producers of Harvey Fierstein's "Torch Song Trilogy". Lane, who served as Managing Director for The Glines, produced the play in 1978 with his lover John Glines, who served as the company's Artistic Director. The show...	May Nell Bockman	Socialist Workers	5,410	(0.1 %)