has been the most prominent elected official of the Conservative Party. The Conservative Party of New York State was founded in 1962 by a group including
J. Daniel Mahoney,
Kieran O'Doherty,
Charles E. Rice, Raymond R. Walker and
Charles Edison, out of frustration with the perceived
liberalism of the state's
Republican Party. A key consideration was
New York's fusion voting, unusual among U.S. states, which allows individual candidates to appear on multiple party lines in the same election. The
Liberal Party of New York, founded in 1944, had benefited from this system; the Conservative Party desired to balance the Liberal Party's influence. According to
The New York Times, the party's support "came mainly from those who would later be called
Reagan Democrats—working-class, urban and suburban, often Catholic."
1960s Prominent conservative author and commentator
William F. Buckley Jr. ran for
Mayor of New York City on the Conservative Party line in
1965, winning 13.4% of the vote. An op-ed in
The New York Times described the Buckley campaign as "a watershed campaign for the Conservatives, who gained heavy publicity and proved their strength in the overwhelmingly Democratic city." winning Row C for the Party.
1970s In
1970,
James Buckley, the brother of William F. Buckley Jr., ran for
U.S. Senate as the candidate of the Conservative Party. Running only on the Conservative Party line and the Independent Alliance Party line, Buckley defeated Democratic Congressman
Richard Ottinger and unelected incumbent Republican U.S. Senator
Charles Goodell, receiving 39% of the vote. Buckley served one term in the Senate. According to the
New York Post, "Buckley's victory cemented, for a time, an electoral coalition of urban, ethnic Democrats with rural and suburban Republicans—all disgusted with excessive taxation, runaway government spending and the decline of traditional values." In 1978, registered Conservative
William Carney, a member of the
Suffolk County legislature, was elected to the
United States House of Representatives in
New York's 1st congressional district, a long-time Democratic stronghold on
Long Island, after winning the Republican primary and running on both party lines. He eventually served four terms before retiring.
1980s In 1980, the Conservative Party endorsed
Al D'Amato in a
U.S. Senate race in which he successfully challenged incumbent Sen.
Jacob Javits in a Republican primary. D'Amato then narrowly prevailed in the general election over Democrat
Elizabeth Holtzman; the 275,100 votes D'Amato received on the Conservative line exceeded his slim margin of victory. represented
New York's 1st congressional district as a member of the Conservative Party from 1979 to 1985. In the
1982 gubernatorial election, the party nominated Republican
Lewis Lehrman, who was narrowly defeated by Democrat
Mario Cuomo. In the
1986 gubernatorial election, the party nominated Republican
Andrew P. O'Rourke, who was defeated by Cuomo in a landslide.
1990s Herbert London was the Conservative Party's nominee for Governor of New York in
1990; that year, the party broke from the Republican Party, declining to cross-endorse Republican nominee
Pierre Rinfret. Conservatives leaders cited Rinfret's support for abortion, his perceived lack of seriousness about his candidacy, and his potential difficulties in attacking incumbent Democratic Governor Mario Cuomo on fiscal policies as reasons for their decision to support London instead. London ran a strong campaign statewide and finished one percentage point behind Rinfret, while Democratic Governor
Mario Cuomo easily won re-election. The party declined to endorse Republican
Rudy Giuliani for Mayor of New York City in his successful
1993 and
1997 campaigns. In each of those elections, Giuliani accepted the endorsement of the Liberal Party. The Conservative Party endorsed George Marlin for Mayor in 1993 and left its line blank in the 1997 New York City mayoral race. The party endorsed Republican
George Pataki in his successful
1994 campaign to unseat incumbent Democratic Gov.
Mario Cuomo. In that race, Pataki "drew more than 300,000 votes on the Conservative line, double his slender winning margin over Mr. Cuomo."
2000s The party ran its own candidates for Mayor of New York City in the
2001,
2005, and
2009, declining to support successful Republican candidate
Michael Bloomberg.
John Spencer, a former mayor of
Yonkers, New York, was nominated for U.S. Senate by the Republican and Conservative Parties in the
2006 Senate election against
Hillary Clinton. Spencer was defeated by Clinton. In the 2006 race for governor, Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long endorsed
John Faso, the former Assembly Minority Leader and Republican
State Comptroller nominee in 2002. Faso won the nomination at the Republican convention, defeating former Massachusetts Gov.
Bill Weld, 61–39%. Following the convention, Weld withdrew from the race as senior party officials (including state Republican chairman
Stephen Minarik, who endorsed Weld) urged party unity. In the general election, Faso was the nominee of both the Republican and Conservative parties, but was defeated by
Eliot Spitzer. The Conservative Party nominated Republican candidates
John McCain and
Sarah Palin for president and vice president in the
2008 election, which was won by Democrat
Barack Obama and
Joe Biden. The Conservative Party nominated
Doug Hoffman for the
2009 special election in New York's 23rd congressional district, an election won by the Democratic nominee,
Bill Owens. The Conservative Party chose Hoffman, a fiscal and social conservative, in reaction to the Republican Party's nomination of pro-choice, pro-same-sex-marriage, pro-union Assemblymember
Dede Scozzafava, who Chairman Mike Long declared to be a "nice lady who is too liberal." On October 31, 2009, Scozzafava suspended her campaign, leading prominent Republicans such as national chairman
Michael Steele to endorse Hoffman. On Election Day, Owens prevailed over Hoffman by a margin of 48.3% to 46%. The 2009 special election received significant national attention, and was alternately described as "a referendum on President
Barack Obama" and "a fight over the
identity of the Republican Party." According to one commentator, "tea party conservatives see the GOP loss as a victory for conservativism over mere political party loyalty. They're describing the defeat as a warning shot fired in defense of principle." In addition, elected officials and observers opined that the congressional race affected the New York State Senate's December 2, 2009 vote against same-sex marriage legislation.
2010s Party Chairman Michael Long endorsed
Rick Lazio for the
2010 New York gubernatorial election and directed his allies to do the same. However, several county chairmen instead coalesced behind vice chairman Ralph Lorigo. Lazio defeated Lorigo in the primary election by a roughly 60–40% margin, but was defeated by
Carl Paladino in the Republican primary. Lazio dropped out of the race on September 27, requiring a vacancy committee to convene and select a replacement for him on the Conservative line. Long eventually endorsed Paladino and the vacancy committee followed, placing Paladino on the Conservative Party line. Paladino lost the general election, but drew 232,264 votes on the Conservative Party line, which allowed the party to overtake the
Independence Party of New York and retake Row C (the third place ballot position in New York elections) for the first time since the 1998 elections. The party has held Row C ever since. Prior to the passage of
same-sex marriage legislation in 2011, Long stated that the party would not endorse any candidate who supported same-sex marriage. Four Republican state senators—Sens.
James Alesi,
Mark Grisanti,
Roy McDonald, and
Stephen Saland—voted in favor of same-sex marriage. Alesi did not seek re-election in 2012, while Grisanti, McDonald, and Saland faced challengers in 2012 who received the Conservative Party's endorsement. Grisanti was re-elected to the State Senate, while McDonald was defeated in a Republican primary and Saland was defeated in a general election in which a Conservative Party-endorsed challenger acted as a spoiler. State Senator
Mark Grisanti, the last remaining Republican state senator to have voted for the Marriage Equality Act, was again denied Conservative Party endorsement in 2014; the party instead endorsed
dummy candidate Timothy Gallagher in State Senate District 60. Grisanti lost the Republican primary, but remained in the general election on the
Independence line. In the general election, Gallagher—despite not campaigning at all—won 8 percent of the vote; the vote split between Gallagher, Grisanti, and Republican candidate Kevin Stocker allowed Democrat
Marc Panepinto to win the election with only 34 percent of the vote. The Party endorsed
Rob Astorino very early in the
2014 gubernatorial election process. In the election for New York State Comptroller, the party threatened to nominate its own candidate if the Republicans could not find a candidate from their party to run on the line; the GOP eventually nominated
Onondaga County Comptroller Rob Antonacci. accepting the Conservative nomination at the
New York Marriott Marquis on September 7, 2016 In 2016, the Conservative Party nominated eventual winner
Donald Trump for President of the United States. served as the chairman of the party for over 30 years, from 1988 to 2019. On April 13, 2018, the Conservative Party executive committee selected
Marcus Molinaro as its candidate in the
2018 gubernatorial election in what Long termed a "not very easy" decision; the party chose Molinaro over Deputy State Senate Majority Leader
John A. DeFrancisco and openly refused to consider
Erie County Executive
Joel Giambra. The Conservative Party of
Cattaraugus County is alleged to have been the target of a
hostile takeover by members of the Republican Party, after 37 former Republicans abruptly changed party registration in October 2017. County party chairman Leonard Ciros alleged that the Republican Party violated state party loyalty laws and the federal
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. As of 2018, the Party holds "Row C" on New York ballots—the third-place ballot position, directly below the
Democratic and
Republican parties—because it received the third-highest number of votes of any political party in the 2010, 2014, and 2018 gubernatorial elections. Long announced his retirement from the chairmanship of the Conservative Party on January 28, 2019 after having served in that role for 30 years. In February 2019, he was elected Chairman Emeritus of the Party. On February 23, 2019, the Party named Gerard Kassar of Brooklyn as its new chairman.
2020s In 2020, the Conservative Party nominated incumbent Republican President Donald Trump for re-election to the presidency. Trump was defeated by Democrat
Joe Biden. In 2021, the Conservative Party successfully teamed up with the Republican Party to raise opposition among the state's voters and defeat three ballot initiatives proposed by Democrats. During the
2022 New York gubernatorial election the party endorsed Republican
Lee Zeldin who had the best showing as a Republican for governor since 1970 earning 2,762,581 votes and losing to incumbent
Kathy Hochul by just 6.39% of the vote. On August 17, 2024, the Conservative Party nominated Donald Trump for President of the United States during the
2024 presidential election. The party ran its own candidates for Mayor of New York City in
2021 and
2025. In 2024,
Gonzalo Duran, Vice Chairman of the
Bronx Conservative Party, petitioned for the mayoral candidacy but was not selected. He subsequently pivoted to run for Public Advocate of New York City, becoming the first Conservative candidate in over three election cycles to receive a cross-party endorsement in a citywide race. ==Strategy and reputation==