Elections are held every four years in the
off-year immediately after
United States presidential election
The election of the president and the vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are registered to vote in one of the fifty U.S. states or in Washington, D.C., cast ballots not dire ...
years in
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...
to elect
the city's mayor.
Elections before 2005
2005
The 2005
Albany mayoral election occurred on November 8, 2005.
Incumbent
The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
Gerald Jennings
Gerald David "Jerry" Jennings (born July 31, 1948) is an American former politician from the state of New York who was the 74th mayor of Albany. A Democrat, Jennings won five terms as mayor of Albany and served in that capacity for 20 years.
...
was reelected to a fourth consecutive term.
Primaries
Primary election
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...
s were held on September 13, 2005.
Democratic
;Candidates
*
Gerald Jennings
Gerald David "Jerry" Jennings (born July 31, 1948) is an American former politician from the state of New York who was the 74th mayor of Albany. A Democrat, Jennings won five terms as mayor of Albany and served in that capacity for 20 years.
...
- incumbent
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
*Archie Goodbee - retired broadcasting executive
Conservative
General election
In the general election, Jennings defeated
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
candidate
Alice Green
Alice Green is an African-American activist and prison reform advocate, living in Albany, New York. An active participant in her community, Dr. Green was the Green Party candidate for Lt. Governor in 1998 and its Albany mayoral candidate in 2005. ...
, and
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
*Republican Party (Liberia)
* Republican Part ...
candidate Joseph Sullivan, a perennial candidate and local activist. This was a great result for Green who, 7 years earlier as the running mate of
Al Lewis, helped the nascent
Green Party of New York to achieve
automatic ballot access by winning over 50,000 votes in the
1998 New York gubernatorial election
The 1998 New York gubernatorial election was an election for the state governorship held on November 3, 1998. Incumbent Republican governor George Pataki was re-elected with 54% of the vote. This remains the last statewide election in New York ...
.
2009
The
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...
mayoral election of 2009 occurred on November 3, 2009. It saw the reelection of
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
Gerald Jennings
Gerald David "Jerry" Jennings (born July 31, 1948) is an American former politician from the state of New York who was the 74th mayor of Albany. A Democrat, Jennings won five terms as mayor of Albany and served in that capacity for 20 years.
...
to a fifth consecutive term.
Democratic primary
The
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
primary was held on September 15, 2009. Incumbent Mayor
Gerald Jennings
Gerald David "Jerry" Jennings (born July 31, 1948) is an American former politician from the state of New York who was the 74th mayor of Albany. A Democrat, Jennings won five terms as mayor of Albany and served in that capacity for 20 years.
...
defeated Corey Ellis, a city council member, by a vote of 8,130 to 6,301.
General election
In the general election, Jennings (running on both the Democratic and
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
lines) defeated Ellis (running as the
Working Families Party candidate), and
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
*Republican Party (Liberia)
* Republican Part ...
candidate
Nathan Lebron
Nathan or Natan may refer to:
People
*Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name
*Nathan (surname)
*Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible
*Nathan (son of David), biblical figure, son of King David and ...
. Jennings got 10,466
votes in total, Ellis came in second with 4,801 votes, and LeBron got 1,178 votes; there were also a few dozen write-in votes.
2013
The
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...
mayoral election of 2013 took place on November 5, 2013. The general election was preceded by the primaries on September 10, 2013. The winner of the election was
Democratic nominee
Kathy Sheehan
Katherine M. Sheehan (born December 5, 1963) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 75th List of mayors of Albany, New York, Mayor of Albany, New York. Prior to being elected Mayor, Sheehan served as City Treasurer from 2010 to 201 ...
.
Incumbent
The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...
Democratic mayor
Gerald Jennings
Gerald David "Jerry" Jennings (born July 31, 1948) is an American former politician from the state of New York who was the 74th mayor of Albany. A Democrat, Jennings won five terms as mayor of Albany and served in that capacity for 20 years.
...
did not seek reelection.
Background
The 2013 mayoral election was the City of Albany's first open-seat mayoral election since 1993.
Incumbent
The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...
mayor
Gerald Jennings
Gerald David "Jerry" Jennings (born July 31, 1948) is an American former politician from the state of New York who was the 74th mayor of Albany. A Democrat, Jennings won five terms as mayor of Albany and served in that capacity for 20 years.
...
announced on May 14, 2013, that he would not run for a sixth term. Jennings is the second-longest-serving mayor in the history of Albany (
Erastus Corning 2nd
Erastus Corning 2nd (October 7, 1909 – May 28, 1983) was an American politician. A Democrat, Corning served as the 72nd mayor of Albany, New York from 1942 to 1983, when Albany County was controlled by one of the last classic urban political ...
was the city's longest-tenured mayor).
Democratic primary
On November 17, 2012, Sheehan announced herself as a candidate for mayor.
On September 10, 2013, Sheehan defeated Corey Ellis in the Democratic primary.
According to official returns released on October 9, Sheehan won the Democratic nomination with 7,468 votes (65.72%) to Ellis's 3,294 votes (28.99%), with 601 write in votes (5.29%) and a few void and blank ballots.
General election
In addition to Sheehan, who ran on the Democratic, Working Families, and Independence Party lines, Jesse D. Calhoun was the candidate of the Republican Party, Joseph P. Sullivan ran on the Conservative Party line, and Theresa M. Portelli (a former Albany City school board member) ran on the Green Party line.
On November 5, Sheehan won the general election in a landslide, receiving over 83% of the total vote.
2017
The 2017 mayoral election in
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...
, was held on November 7, 2017, and resulted in the incumbent
Kathy Sheehan
Katherine M. Sheehan (born December 5, 1963) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 75th List of mayors of Albany, New York, Mayor of Albany, New York. Prior to being elected Mayor, Sheehan served as City Treasurer from 2010 to 201 ...
, a member of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
, being re-elected to a second term over
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
candidate Joseph Sullivan,
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
candidate Bryan Jimenez, and
Independence Party
Independence Party may refer to:
Active parties Outside United States
* Independence Party (Egypt)
* Estonian Independence Party
* Independence Party (Finland)
* Independence Party (Iceland)
* Independence Party (Mauritius)
* Independence Part ...
candidate Frank Commisso Jr.
Democratic primary
Sheehan won the Democratic
primary election
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...
with less than 50 percent of the vote. Frank Commisso Jr., a member of the
Albany Common Council; and Carolyn McLaughlin, the president of the Common Council, also ran.
[
]
General election
Commisso ran again in the general election as the candidate of the Independence Party
Independence Party may refer to:
Active parties Outside United States
* Independence Party (Egypt)
* Estonian Independence Party
* Independence Party (Finland)
* Independence Party (Iceland)
* Independence Party (Mauritius)
* Independence Part ...
. He criticized Sheehan over her handling of the city's finances and on the issue of tax break
Tax break also known as tax preferences, tax concession, and tax relief, are a method of reduction to the tax liability of taxpayers. Government usually applies them to stimulate the economy and increase the solvency of the population. By this fis ...
s. Sheehan responded to Commisso's criticism through television advertisements, which were funded by a $387,000 loan from Sheehan to her campaign.[
]
2021
The 2021 mayoral election in Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...
, was held on November 2, 2021. Incumbent
The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...
Democratic mayor Kathy Sheehan
Katherine M. Sheehan (born December 5, 1963) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 75th List of mayors of Albany, New York, Mayor of Albany, New York. Prior to being elected Mayor, Sheehan served as City Treasurer from 2010 to 201 ...
won re-election to a third term in office.
Democratic primary
Candidates
=Declared
=
*Valerie Faust, reverend and write-in candidate for mayor in 2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
and 2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
Kathy Sheehan
Katherine M. Sheehan (born December 5, 1963) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 75th List of mayors of Albany, New York, Mayor of Albany, New York. Prior to being elected Mayor, Sheehan served as City Treasurer from 2010 to 201 ...
, incumbent mayor
=Disqualified
=
*Marlon Anderson, advocate ''(continued as a write-in candidate)''
=Declined
=
*Dorcey Applyrs, Chief City Auditor of Albany ''(endorsed Sheehan)''2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
and 2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
''(endorsed Sheehan)''
Republican primary
Candidates
*Alicia Purdy, radio host ''(also nominated by the Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
)''
Third-party and independent candidates
*Greg Aidala, comedian and activist (Independence Party
Independence Party may refer to:
Active parties Outside United States
* Independence Party (Egypt)
* Estonian Independence Party
* Independence Party (Finland)
* Independence Party (Iceland)
* Independence Party (Mauritius)
* Independence Part ...
)
General election
References
{{New York elections