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| Turnout | 48.0%  14.8pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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    Cuomo: 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Molinaro: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Tie: 40–50% 50% No data | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in New York State |
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The 2018 New York gubernatorial election occurred on November 6, 2018. Incumbent Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo won re-election to a third term, defeating Republican Marc Molinaro and several minor party candidates. Cuomo received 59.6% of the vote to Molinaro's 36.2%.
Cuomo defeated actress and activist Cynthia Nixon in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Cuomo's running mate, Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul, beat New York City councillor Jumaane Williams in the Democratic primary for the lieutenant governorship. Democratic candidates Cuomo and Hochul also ran on the ballot lines of the Independence Party, and the Women's Equality Party; after Nixon and Williams withdrew from the race in October, Cuomo and Hochul received the nomination of the Working Families Party as well.
Dutchess County Executive and former New York State Assemblymember Marc Molinaro was the Republican, Conservative, and Reform Party candidate. Molinaro's running mate was former Rye City Councilmember Julie Killian. 3rd-party gubernatorial candidates appearing on the general election ballot included Howie Hawkins, repeat candidate for the Green Party; former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, running on the newly created Serve America Movement line; and Larry Sharpe of the Libertarian Party, who was the runner-up in the 2016 Libertarian primary contest for Vice President of the United States.
On election day, Cuomo ultimately won reelection with 59.6% of the vote, a margin of 23% over Molinaro. Cuomo flipped Monroe, Suffolk, and Ulster counties back into the Democratic column; all 3 supported him in 2010 but narrowly backed Republican Rob Astorino in 2014. Molinaro, however, flipped the North Country counties of Clinton, Franklin, and Essex, as well as Broome County in the Southern Tier, into the Republican column.
Cuomo won New York City itself by 81.51 percent to Molinaro's 15.2 (including a plurality in the somewhat conservative Staten Island borough).[1] He also maintained a ten-point edge over Molinaro in Long Island and Rockland County,[2] in addition to comfortably winning the suburban Westchester County by 36 points.[3] Upstate New York, however, voted for Molinaro, he received 50.7 percent of the vote there to Cuomo's 43.
As of 2022[update], this, along with the concurrent attorney general election, Senate election and Comptroller election, is the last time Richmond (Staten Island) or Suffolk counties have voted Democratic. This is the last time Nassau County and Rockland County voted Democratic in a gubernatorial election. This is the last time the counties of Schenectady and Columbia voted Republican in a statewide election. This is also the last time Cuomo would win reelection to the governorship, as he resigned in 2021 and was succeeded by Hochul.