James L. Seward (born August 11, 1951)
was a Republican
New York State Senator
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 compo ...
from 1987 to 2020. Seward was first elected to represent the
50th District in 1986.
In his final term he represented the
51st District, which consists of
Schoharie,
Otsego, and
Cortland Counties, as well as parts of
Tompkins,
Herkimer,
Chenango,
Cayuga,
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
, and
Ulster Counties.
Early life and career
Seward was born in
Oneonta, New York and attended Oneonta public schools. He went on to
Hartwick College
Hartwick College is a private liberal arts college in Oneonta, New York. The institution's origin is rooted in the founding of Hartwick Seminary in 1797 through the will of John Christopher Hartwick. In 1927, the Seminary moved to expand into a ...
in Oneonta and graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
in political science.
He also studied at the Nelson Rockefeller Institute of SUNY Albany.
Seward has served as a Milford town justice and as chairman of the Otsego County Republican Committee. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1976, 1980, and 1988, and was also an alternate delegate in 1996. Seward and his wife Cynthia (née Milavec) reside in Milford, New York.
The Sewards have two grown children, Ryan and Lauren.
Senate career
Seward was elected to the state senate in 1986 and was appointed chairman of the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee. In 1999, Seward became chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Insurance.
In 2007, Seward was asked by former Senate Majority Leader
Joseph Bruno
Joseph Louis Bruno (April 8, 1929 – October 6, 2020) was an American businessman and Republican politician from upstate New York. Bruno served in the New York State Senate from 1977 to 2008 and was Senate Majority Leader from 1994 to 2008. Br ...
to assume a post in the senate leadership team as majority whip. In 2011, Senator Republican Leader
Dean G. Skelos asked him to assume the position of assistant majority leader on conference operations.
Seward voted against a same-sex marriage bill on December 2, 2009; the bill was defeated. He voted against legislation allowing same-sex marriage in New York again in 2011, but the bill was passed in a narrow 33-29 vote.
In November 2019, Seward announced that he was being treated for a recurrence of bladder cancer.
In January 2020, he announced that he would not seek re-election.
See also
*
2009 New York State Senate leadership crisis
References
External links
New York State Senate: James L. SewardSeward's New York State Senate site
James L. SewardSewards's personal senate site
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seward, James L.
1951 births
Living people
Republican Party New York (state) state senators
People from Oneonta, New York
21st-century American politicians
20th-century American politicians
Hartwick College alumni