2010 New York state elections


The 2010 New York state elections took place on November 2, 2010. These included elections for both Senate seats and a gubernatorial election.
Due to the special election for US Senate, all of New York's six statewide offices were up for popular election on the same date. At the same time, all of the U.S. House of Representatives, all 212 members of the New York State legislature, and many other local officers were elected.
The Democratic Party swept all of the statewide races, but Republicans made net gains of six seats in the House of Representatives, nine seats in the state Assembly and two seats in the New York State Senate, the last of which delivered the Senate chamber back to the Republican Party.

United States Senate

Senator Charles Schumer won reelection against Jay Townsend, his Republican opponent.
Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton resigned to become United States Secretary of State in the Obama Administration. Kirsten Gillibrand had been appointed to the seat by Governor David Paterson in 2009, and won the general election on November 2, 2010, to hold the seat for the remainder of its term, against Republican Joseph J. DioGuardi.

United States House

seat was vacated by Eric Massa, who resigned March 8. Under the authority of and provisions in New York state law, Governor David Paterson was supposed to call a special election in spring 2010 to fill the seat, but waited until September to call the election concurrent with the general election. The seat remained vacant from March 8, 2010 until new Congressman Tom Reed was sworn in, in November 2010. Two concurrent elections were held, one to fill the remainder of Massa's term and one to fill the seat in the subsequent Congress. Both elections had the same candidates on the ballot, Democrat Matthew Zeller and Republican Tom Reed. Reed prevailed in both elections.
All of the New York congressional districts that were expected to be competitive were in Democratic hands; Republicans were expected to mount serious challenges to Democratic incumbents in districts 1, 13, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25 and 29. Republican candidates won their races in Congressional Districts 13, 19, 20, 24, 25, and 29. Republican candidates prevailed in a total of eight congressional races in New York, while Democratic candidates prevailed in the other 21; thus, the GOP gained a total of six House seats in New York.

State

Governor

, a Democrat, resigned due to a prostitution scandal. David Paterson, the Lieutenant Governor of New York, succeeded Spitzer. Neither Paterson nor his appointed Lieutenant Governor, Richard Ravitch, sought election to a full term in 2010.
The following tickets were filed with the New York State Board of Elections:
Andrew Cuomo and Bob Duffy prevailed in the election, receiving 61.4% of the vote.

Attorney General

In the wake of incumbent Andrew Cuomo's decision to pursue the governor's post and not seek re-election, five Democrats ran in a primary election; the winner was State Senator Eric Schneiderman, who had heavy backing from labor. Dan Donovan was the nominee of the Republican and Conservative parties. Schneiderman prevailed over Donovan in the November 2, 2010 general election by a margin of 54.9% to 43.7%.

Comptroller

was appointed to fill out the term of Alan Hevesi after Hevesi's resignation. He faced Republican Harry Wilson in the election. DiNapoli prevailed over Wilson in the November 2, 2010 general election by a margin of 49.7% to 47.2%.

State Senate

All 62 seats of the New York State Senate were up for election in 2010 in accordance with state law.
Republicans retook the Senate majority in the 2010 elections, winning 32 seats to the Democrats' 30 on Election Day. One Republican Senate incumbent, Senator Frank Padavan of Queens, was defeated, while four Democratic incumbents were defeated in the general election. Democratic candidate David Carlucci was elected to an open seat in Senate District 38 that had become vacant due to the July 2010 death of Republican Senator Thomas Morahan. After defeating incumbent William Stachowski in a Democratic primary, Timothy M. Kennedy prevailed in the general election in Senate District 58. The Republicans' takeover of control of the State Senate was not confirmed until Johnson, who had sought a full hand recount of his race, exhausted his final appeal on December 20, 2010.
Control of the State Senate was considered of greater importance than other elections due to the prospects of redistricting in the 2010 United States Census. State Senate district boundaries had been gerrymandered to protect the interests of upstate New York, which had experienced a decline in population.

Open seats

All 150 seats in the Assembly were up for election.
Prior to the November 2 elections, the Democratic Party held an enrollment advantage of 107 seats to 42 seats over the Republican Party, with one vacancy. As of December 11, 2010, the Republicans had made a net gain of eight seats, with two races still undecided; if the Republican candidate prevails in the lone remaining undecided race, the Republicans will hold 51 seats in the chamber, depriving the Democratic Party of the veto-proof supermajority it has held in the New York State Assembly for the past several years.

Open seats

Village elections for a handful of mayors and board trustees were held on Tuesday, March 16, 2010. Four villages, three in Cattaraugus County and the fourth being the village of Seneca Falls, placed referenda for dissolution on their village ballots; all four approved dissolution. Two villages in Erie County rejected dissolution referenda held concurrently on August 17, despite the campaigning of Kevin Gaughan. Another referendum proposing the dissolution of Lakewood, New York was also defeated eight days later, on August 25, though Gaughan was not involved in that vote. The villages of Farnham and Cuba rejected dissolution referenda on September 28; Gaughan backed the Farnham dissolution. Odessa rejected dissolution on December 7. School board elections and budget referenda were held May 18, with approximately 92 percent of school budgets passing.