New York state election, 1974

The 1974 New York state election was held on November 5, 1974, to elect the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the State Comptroller, the Attorney General, two judges of the New York Court of Appeals and a U.S. Senator, as well as all members of the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate.

In 1973, Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller resigned, and was succeeded by Lt. Gov. Malcolm Wilson.

In 1973, Judge Charles D. Breitel was elected Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, and Judge Adrian P. Burke resigned, effective December 31, 1973, thus leaving two vacancies on the Court of Appeals. In January 1974, Republican Samuel Rabin and Democrat Harold A. Stevens, the Presiding Justices of the Appellate Division's First and Second Departments, were appointed by Governor Malcolm Wilson to fill the vacancies temporarily.

The Democratic State Committee met from June 13 to 15 at Niagara Falls, New York, and designated Howard J. Samuels for Governor, but Congressman Hugh L. Carey polled enough votes to force a primary election. They also designated Mario M. Cuomo for Lieutenant Governor; the incumbent Arthur Levitt for Comptroller; Robert R. Meehan for Attorney General; Judge Harold A. Stevens and Appellate Justice Lawrence H. Cooke for the Court of Appeals; and Mayor of Syracuse Lee Alexander for the U.S. Senate. The primary election was held on September 10. All the challenged party's designees were defeated, only the unopposed Comptroller Levitt and one of the judges got on the ballot.

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