The 1946 New York state election was held on November 5, 1946, to elect the

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, the

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

, the state comptroller, the

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 ...

, a

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

, the

chief judge A chief judge (also known as presiding judge, president judge or principal judge) is the highest-ranking or most senior member of a lower court or circuit court with more than one judge. According to the Federal judiciary of the United States, th ...

and an associate judge of the

New York Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Unified Court System of the State of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six Associate Judges who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by t ...

, as well as all members of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

and the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

Background

On September 22, 1945, Chief Judge Irving Lehman died. On September 28, Judge John T. Loughran was appointed Chief Judge to fill the vacancy temporarily, and George Z. Medalie was appointed temporarily to the seat vacated by Loughran. On March 5, 1946, Medalie died too, and Stanley H. Fuld was appointed on April 25 to fill the vacancy temporarily.

Nominations

The

Socialist Labor The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924 ...

state convention met on April 7, and nominated Aaron M. Orange for Governor. They also nominated Nathan Karp for Lieutenant Governor; Bronko Papadopolos, of Buffalo, for Comptroller; Walter Steinhilber, of

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, for Attorney General; and

Eric Hass Eric Hass (March 4, 1905 – October 2, 1980) was a four-time Socialist Labor candidate for President of the United States. Life Hass was of German and Danish ancestry, and was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1905. He died of a heart attack in ...

for the U.S. Senate. The party filed a petition to nominate candidates under the name "Industrial Government Party." The

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

state convention met on April 14, and nominated Prof. Coleman B. Cheney for Governor; and Walter O'Hagan for Lieutenant Governor. The Liberal Party gathered 51,015 signatures and filed a petition to nominate candidates with the Secretary of State on September 2. The Republican state convention met on September 4 at

Saratoga Springs, New York Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over 2 ...

. They re-nominated the five Republican incumbents Dewey, Hanley, Moore, Goldstein and Fuld; endorsed the Democratic Chief Judge Loughran to succeed himself; and completed the ticket with

Assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

Majority Leader Irving M. Ives for the U.S. Senate. The Democratic state convention met on September 4 at

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 ...

, and nominated U.S. Senator James M. Mead for Governor;

Mayor of Albany From its formal chartering on 22 July 1686 until 1779, the mayors of Albany, New York, were appointed by the royal governor of New York, per the provisions of the original city charter, issued by Governor Thomas Dongan. From 1779 until 1839, may ...

Erastus Corning 2nd for Lieutenant Governor; New York City Treasurer Spencer C. Young for Comptroller;

City Councilman A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural council ...

Anthony J. DiGiovanna for Attorney General; Ex-Governor Herbert H. Lehman (in office 1933-1942) for the U.S. Senate; Ex-State Solicitor General Henry Epstein for the Court of Appeals; and the incumbent Chief Judge John T. Loughran to succeed himself. The American Labor state convention met on September 3 and endorsed the Democratic nominee James M. Mead for Governor; and also endorsed the Democrats Lehman and Loughran. They completed the ticket with Benjamin F. Fielding, of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, for Lieutenant Governor; Harry J. Chapman, of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, for Comptroller; Joseph Lucchi, of

, for Attorney General; and John Abt for the Court of Appeals. Fielding, Chapman and Abt were withdrawn from the ticket on September 5, and Democrats Corning, Young and Epstein substituted on the ticket. Lucchi declined to run on September 7, and Democrat DiGiovanna was substituted on the ticket. The

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

filed a petition to nominate candidates on September 2. They nominated Party State Chairman Robert Thompson for Governor;

Israel Amter Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

for Lieutenant Governor; Benjamin J. Davis, Jr., of

, for the U.S. Senate; Dr. Bella V. Dodd for Attorney General; and Marie Guidoni for Comptroller. On September 9, Thompson announced that all candidates except himself for Comptroller would be withdrawn in an effort to strengthen the Democratic candidates in their quest to oust Governor Dewey, but Davis also remained on the ticket, running for Attorney General. On October 19, Supreme Court Justice William H. Murray denied an application by Spencer C. Young, the Democratic nominee for Comptroller, to bar the Communist ticket from the ballot. The Socialist Workers Party filed a petition to nominate candidates headed by Farrell Dobbs for Governor. The Industrial Government, Socialist and Socialist Workers tickets were not allowed on the ballot because of "defective nominating petitions." The Court of Appeals upheld the decisions of the lower courts.''MINOR PARTIES RULED OFF BALLOT IN STATE''
in NYT on October 26, 1946 (subscription required)

Result

The whole Republican ticket was elected in a landslide. The incumbents Dewey, Hanley, Moore, Goldstein, Loughran and Fuld were re-elected. The Liberal Party attained automatic ballot access (necessary 50,000 votes for governor). Obs.: *"Blank, void and scattering" votes: 178,694 (Senator) *The vote for Governor is used to define ballot access, for automatic access are necessary 50,000 votes.

Notes

Sources

*Official Result
''RECORD FOR DEWEY IN OFFICIAL COUNT; His 687,151 Majority Topped Lehman's 627,388 in 1932; Won in 1942 by 173,254''
in NYT on December 14, 1946 (subscription required) New York State Red Book 1947

Background

Nominations

Result

Notes

Sources

See also