The Republican state convention met on September 29, SpeakerOswald D. Heck presided. They nominated D.A. of New York Thomas E. Dewey for governor. Also nominated were Frederic H. Bontecou for lieutenant governor; Julius Rothstein for comptroller; Col. Arthur V. McDermott for attorney general; and John Lord O'Brian and Edward Corsi for the U.S. Senate.[1]
The Democratic state convention met on October 1, and re-nominated the incumbents Lehman, Tremaine, Bennett and Wagner; and completed the ticket with Supreme Court Justice Charles Poletti for lieutenant governor; and John M. Mead for short term in the U.S. Senate.[2]
The Socialist state convention met on October 1, and nominated again Norman Thomas for governor; and Dr. George W. Hartmann for lieutenant governor; Coleman B. Cheney for Comptroller; and Miss Marion L. Severn for attorney general.[3]
The American Labor state convention met on October 3 at the Manhattan Opera House in New York City and nominated the Democratic incumbent Herbert H. Lehman for governor. They also endorsed Democrats Poletti, Wagner, Mead,[4] Merritt and O'Day; and completed the ticket with Langdon W. Post for Comptroller and Joseph V. O'Leary for Attorney-General.[5] Lehman was only able to win reelection due to the votes he received on the American Labor ballot line. Dewey received more votes on the Republican ballot line than Lehman had on the Democratic ballot line.[6]
The "Independent Progressive" Party filed a petition to nominate a ticket headed by Republican Thomas E. Dewey. This was done to have a second ballot line, like Gov. Lehman who ran on two lines also.[7]
The Socialist Labor Party changed its name and filed a petition to nominate candidates as the "Industrial Government Party."[8]
Result
The whole Democratic ticket was elected.
The incumbents Lehman, Tremaine, Bennett, Wagner, Merritt and O'Day were re-elected. This was the first election where governors were elected to four year terms.
"Blank, void and scattering" votes: 75,047 (Governor)
The vote for governor is used to define ballot access, for all other offices numbers are totals on all tickets for candidates nominated on more than one.
Notes
^Dr. George Wilfried Hartmann (1904-1955), psychologist, of Columbia University, editor of The Social Frontier, ran also for Mayor of New York in 1941
^Jeremiah D. Crowley, of Marcellus, ran also for State Engineer in 1910; for Lieutenant Governor in 1912, 1914 and 1920; for Governor in 1916, 1922, 1926 and 1930; for the U.S. Senate in 1932; and for Congress at-large in 1934
^Edna Mitchell Blue, wife of Lewi Tonks, ran also in 1938