BUFFALO, N.Y. — Election 2014
Andrew Cuomo won his 2nd term as Governor of New York and his running mate, Western New York's Kathy Hochul, was elected Lt. Governor.
Cuomo would win another term before resigning amid a sexual harassment scandal, which elevated Hochul to the governor's mansion where she remains today.
Nationally republicans celebrated victories which allowed the G.O.P to capture both houses of congress in a midterm election which NBC News characterized as "a rejection of President Obama."
Election 2004
George W. Bush won a second term as President, defeating John Kerry.
In Western New York's hottest race Brian Higgins won his first term in congress, defeating Erie County comptroller Nancy Naples for the seat left open by the retirement of Jack Quinn.
The race was tight with Higgin's emerging victorious by just 1%
Higgins, a career politician who had previously served as a NYS Assemblyman and member of the Buffalo Common Council, would go on to serve nearly 20 years in the House of Representatives before resigning in early 2024 to become President and CEO at Sheas Performing Arts Center.
Naples returned to her job as County Comptroller and later became Commissioner of the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles before becoming a member of the board of directors at Amtrak.
Election 1994
Mario Cuomo's bid for a fourth term as Governor of New York was thwarted by NYS Senator George Pataki, who would also go on to serve three terms as governor. It was also the first of three times that future Buffalo Sabres owner Tom Golisano would run for governor on the Independence Party line.
Dennis Vacco, the former US Attorney for Western New York, surprised the pundits by winning the race for New York State Attorney General. Vacco was the last Western New Yorker to win statewide office until Kathy Hochul won the Governor's race in 2022.
Nationally, it was another rough midterm election for the incumbent president's party after which President Bill Clinton said he needed to do a batter job listening to the voices of Americans. That's because republicans, campaigning on a "Contract with America" took control of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1952. The so called Republican Revolution also saw the GOP pick up a net of ten governorships that year.
Election 1984
Ronald Reagan won a second term as president, defeating Walter Mondale in one of the biggest landslide in modern history. Reagan amassed over 525 electoral votes in winning 49 of 50 states including New York and remains the last republican presidential candidate to win the Empire State.
Voters in Niagara County overwhelmingly rejected a proposition to change the county charter allowing for the creation of an office of County Executive.