1918 New York gubernatorial election


The 1918 New York gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 1918, to elect the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of New York, concurrently with [United States Senate United States Senate elections, 1918|elections, 1918|elections] to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Al Smith, president of the New York City aldermen, was elected to the first of his four two-year terms as governor.

Republican primary

Candidates

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declined

Campaign

Following his failed candidacy for U.S. Senate in 1914, Franklin D. Roosevelt reconciled with Tammany Hall. He delivered the keynote address at the society's 1917 Fourth of July celebration, and Tammany stalwarts John M. Riehle, William Kelley, Thomas J. McManus, and up-and-comer Jimmy Walker endorsed him as a potential candidate for governor in 1918. President Woodrow Wilson also privately urged Roosevelt to consider a campaign. However, he refused, believing that the ongoing Great War would continue through the election and that 1918 would be a Republican year.
Roosevelt instead endorsed William Church Osborn, though he would later claim to have engineered Smith's nomination himself.

General election

Candidates