BUFFALO, N.Y. — 2 On Your Side's Dave McKinley takes a look through the lens of history, and resurrecting some of the pols of the past, as we recall the elections held 10, 20, and 30 years ago.
2012
Ten years ago the election 2012 saw voters re-elect Barrack Obama to serve a second term as President over mitt Romney
Closer to home former Erie County Executive Chris Collins won a hotly contested race for congress, defeating the incumbent Kathy Hochul. Collins went on to serve three terms before having to resign when he admitted to charges connected to insider trading, for which he went to prison and was later pardoned by President Trump. Hochul, of course, now serves as the Governor of New York.
This was the same year that voters in Colorado and Washington passed referendums allowing those states to become the first to legalize recreational marijuana as a result of the election of 2012.
2002
20 years ago, the election of 2002 saw George Pataki win a third term as Governor of New York, defeating New York State Comptroller Carl McCall, the democratic candidate, and Independence Party candidate Tom Golisano, the Rochester businessman who would later become better known to Western New Yorkers as the owner of the Buffalo Sabres. Pataki, by the way, remains the last republican to hold the state's highest office, or any statewide office in New York for that matter.
It was also the year Richard Gere came to Buffalo while on the campaign trail stumping for the late Rep. Louise Slaughter, who won handily over her republican opponent Henry Wojtaszek.
1992
30 years ago, in the election of 1992, voters chose William Jefferson Clinton to be the 42nd President of the United States.
Clinton defeated the incumbent George H.W. Bush, and an independent candidate who ended up getting 19 percent of the popular vote.
(If you don't recall the name of that person, watch the video above to learn the answer)
1992 also saw Alphonse D'Amato win the last of huis three terms in the Untied States Senate, by defeating NY State Attorney General Robert Abrams, and Jack Quinn defeat Erie County Executive Dennis Gorski in a race for congress.