The 2014 New York Attorney General election took place on November 4, 2014, to elect the Attorney General of New York. The incumbent Democratic Attorney General

Eric Schneiderman Eric Tradd Schneiderman (born December 31, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 65th Attorney General of New York from 2011 until his resignation in May 2018. Schneiderman, a member of the Democratic Party, spent ten year ...

won reelection to a second term in office, defeating Republican John P. Cahill.

Background

Incumbent Democratic attorney general

Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cu ...

declined to run for reelection in 2010, instead successfully running for Governor. State Senator

narrowly won the Democratic primary and then won the general election by a wide margin. In 2014, all statewide offices in New York were held by Democrats. Republicans believed that their best chance of winning a statewide election in 2014 rested on defeating Schneiderman, citing Governor Cuomo's high approval ratings and large campaign war chest and the belief that Comptroller

Thomas DiNapoli Thomas Peter DiNapoli II (born February 10, 1954) is an American politician serving as the 54th and current New York State Comptroller since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he was previously the New York State Assemblyman for the 16th dis ...

was unlikely to be vulnerable because " Comptrollers seem to get re-elected as long as they do their jobs." Schneiderman has used his designation as Republicans' "top target" to raise money. ''

Governing Governance is the process of interactions through the laws, norms, power or language of an organized society over a social system ( family, tribe, formal or informal organization, a territory or across territories). It is done by the gove ...

'' did not believe Schneiderman would be defeated in 2014. A March 2013 article listed the 2014 New York attorney general election as "not competitive", citing the high-profile cases Schneiderman had taken on. A December 2013 article rated the race as "Safe Democratic", stating that "Schneiderman should have no problem winning a second term."

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominated

, incumbent attorney general

Withdrew

* Aniello "Neil" Grimaldi (removed from ballot)

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominated

* John P. Cahill, attorney and former chief of staff for Governor

George Pataki George Elmer Pataki (; born June 24, 1945) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 53rd governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. An attorney by profession, Pataki was elected mayor of his hometown of Peekskill, New York, and went on ...

Declined

* Michael A. Battle, former Director of the

Executive Office for United States Attorneys The Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) is the office within the Department of Justice that provides executive and administrative support for the 93 United States Attorneys located throughout the 50 states, District of Columbia, Gu ...

and former

United States Attorney for the Western District of New York The United States Attorney for the Western District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in seventeen New York (state), New York counties: Allegany County, New York, Allegany, Cattaraugus County, New York, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua ...

Daniel M. Donovan, Jr. Daniel Michael Donovan Jr. (born November 6, 1956) is an American attorney, former prosecutor and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the U.S. representative for New York's 11th congressional district from 2015 to 2019. D ...

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

Richmond County Richmond County may refer to places: Australia *Richmond County, New South Wales, a cadastral division Canada *Richmond County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom *Richmondshire, the original Richmond County in Yorkshire, England United States ...

and nominee for Attorney General in 2010 * Michael J. Garcia, former

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in eight New York counties: New York (Manhattan), Bronx, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess and Sullivan. Establishe ...

* Randy Mastro, attorney and former chief of staff to

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...

* Marc Mukasey, attorney and son of former

United States Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

Michael Mukasey Michael Bernard Mukasey (; born July 28, 1941) is an American attorney and former federal judge who served as the 81st Attorney General of the United States from 2007 to 2009. Born in New York City in 1941, Mukasey attended Ramaz School, gradua ...

Dennis Vacco Dennis C. Vacco (born August 16, 1952) is an American lawyer and Republican Party politician. He graduated with a B.A. from Colgate University in 1974, a J.D. from the University at Buffalo Law School in 1978, and was admitted to the New York S ...

, former attorney generalLovett, Kenneth (March 19, 2014)
Former NY Attorney General Dennis Vacco Says He's Been Asked To Consider Another Run
''New York Daily News''. Retrieved March 19, 2014.

Major third parties

Besides the Democratic and Republican parties, the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

and Working Families parties all enjoyed automatic ballot access as

qualified New York parties In New York State, to qualify for automatic ballot access, a party must have qualify every two years by receiving the greater 130,000 votes or 2% of the vote in the previous gubernatorial election or presidential election.In Troy, Hawkins gets Green Party nod
''Times Union''. Retrieved May 18, 2014.

Independence

Candidates

=Nominated

= *

, incumbent attorney general

Working Families

Candidates

=Nominated

= *

, incumbent attorney general

Minor third parties

Any political party other than the six qualified New York parties (Democratic, Republican, Conservative, Green, Independence and Working Families) was required to petition their way onto the ballot.

Libertarian

Candidates

=Nominated

= *

Carl Person Carl E. Person (pronounced /ˈpir sən/) (born July 20, 1936) is an American attorney and politician. He founded the Paralegal Institute in the early 1970s and played a pivotal role in creating the paralegal field. He has also run unsuccessfull ...

, nominee for Attorney General in 2010,

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * t ...

for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and Reform Party nominee for

Mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...

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 ...

Odato, James (April 26, 2014)
Libertarians unite behind Suffolk County real estate broker
''Times Union'' (Albany, NY). Retrieved April 29, 2014.

Stop Common Core

Candidates

=Nominated

= * John P. Cahill, Republican nominee

Women's Equality

Candidates

=Nominated

= *

, incumbent attorney general

General election

Polling

◆ Internally-conducted poll for the John P. Cahill campaign that he was required by state law to publish after parts of the poll were revealed in a fundraising appeal.

Results

References

External links

New York Attorney General election, 2014
at

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{{New York elections

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

New York Attorney General elections New York