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The1958 New York state election was held on November 4, 1958, to elect thegovernor, thelieutenant governor, thestate comptroller, theattorney general, a judge of theNew York Court of Appeals and aU.S. Senator, as well as all members of theNew York State Assembly and theNew York State Senate.
In January 1957,Jacob K. Javits took his seat in theU.S. Senate and thus vacated the office ofNew York State Attorney General. On January 9, theNew York State Legislature elected Louis J. Lefkowitz to the office for the unexpired term.
Marvin R. Dye had been elected to the Court of Appeals in 1944, thus his 14-year term would expire at the end of the year.
TheSocialist Labor state convention met on March 23 and nominatedEric Hass for governor; John Emanuel[1] for lieutenant governor; Milton Herder for state comptroller; and Stephen Emery[2] for U.S. Senator.[3] The ticket was ruled off the ballot, but Hass and his fellow nominees continued to campaign aswrite-in candidates.[4]
The "United Independent Socialist Campaign Committee" met on July 17 and selectedJohn T. McManus for governor; andDr. Annette T. Rubinstein for lieutenant governor.[5]
TheIndependent-Socialist Party filed a petition to nominate candidates to five offices on September 9 with the Secretary of State.[6]
TheDemocratic state convention met on August 25 atBuffalo, New York, and re-nominated GovernorW. Averell Harriman and Lt. Gov.George B. DeLuca.[7] The convention continued on August 26 and into the early hours of August 27. They nominated D.A. of New YorkFrank S. Hogan for the U.S. Senate after a roll call (vote: Hogan 772, Thomas E. Murray[8] 304).[9]
TheRepublican state convention met on August 26 atRochester, New York, and nominatedNelson A. Rockefeller for governor.[10]
TheLiberal Party met on August 26, and endorsed the Democratic nominees Harriman, DeLuca and Levitt; and nominatedThomas K. Finletter for the U.S. Senate.[11] On August 28, Finletter declined to run, and urged the Liberals to back Hogan.[12] On September 4, the Liberals substituted Democrat Hogan for Finletter on the ticket, but rejected the endorsement of Crotty.[13] They completed the ticket with Edward Goodell for attorney general.[14]
Despite a good year for the Democratic Party nationwide, almost the whole Republican ticket was elected; only the Democratic ComptrollerArthur Levitt managed to stay in office.
The incumbents Levitt, Lefkowitz, and Dye were re-elected. The incumbents Harriman and DeLuca were defeated.
As of 2023, this is the last time the Republicans won the state's Class 1 Senate seat. (James L. Buckley was elected Senator for this seat in1970 on theConservative Party line, defeating appointed incumbent RepublicanCharles Goodell. Buckley caucused with Republicans in the Senate and ran for re-election as a Republican in1976, but was defeated.)
| Office | Republican ticket | Democratic ticket | Liberal ticket | Independent-Socialist ticket | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | Nelson A. Rockefeller | 3,126,929 | W. Averell Harriman | 2,269,969 | W. Averell Harriman | 283,926 | John T. McManus | 31,658 |
| Lieutenant Governor | Malcolm Wilson | George B. DeLuca | George B. DeLuca | Annette T. Rubinstein[15] | ||||
| Comptroller | James A. Lundy | 2,763,795 | Arthur Levitt | 2,484,171 | Arthur Levitt | 294,575 | Hugh Mulzac | 34,038 |
| Attorney General | Louis J. Lefkowitz | 2,915,657 | Peter J. Crotty[16] | 2,353,374 | Edward Goodell[17] | 280,655 | Scott K. Gray, Jr. | 31,746 |
| Judge of the Court of Appeals | Marvin R. Dye | 2,739,522 | Marvin R. Dye | 2,400,650 | Marvin R. Dye | 290,566 | (none) | |
| U.S. Senator | Kenneth B. Keating | 2,842,942 | Frank S. Hogan | 2,434,899 | Frank S. Hogan | 275,051 | Corliss Lamont | 49,087 |
Note: The vote for governor is used to defineballot access, for automatic access are necessary 50,000 votes.
