Thomas Kirwan

Thomas J. Kirwan (January 17, 1933 – November 28, 2011) was an American politician and member of the New York State Assembly. He represented the 100th Assembly District, which includes the cities of Beacon, Newburgh and Poughkeepsie, and the towns of Marlboro, Newburgh, Lloyd and Shawangunk. He was a native of, and lifelong resident of, the City of Newburgh, New York. Prior to his election to the Assembly, Kirwan served for 28 years with the New York State Police, retiring with the position of Lieutenant in the Bureau of Criminal Investigations. He spent four years with the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force.

Kirwin was born in 1933 in Newburgh, New York. Kirwan first served in the State Assembly from 1994 to 2008 representing parts of Orange, Ulster and Dutchess counties. A Republican, he was narrowly defeated in 2008 by Democrat Frank Skartados by some 800 votes. However, he recaptured the seat in 2010, beating Skartados by a razor thin margin of 15 votes. The results of the election took over one hundred days to certify, and when completed on February 16, 2011 was the last legislative race in the United States to be decided. The dramatic litigation over the recount occurred because the historic win eventually broke Speaker of the New York State Assembly Sheldon Silver's long-held Democratic supermajority in the Assembly Chamber by giving Assembly Republicans their 51st seat in the chamber, which would allow them to prevent the override of a gubernatorial veto.

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