Conservative Party (1962– )

In 1962 the New York State Conservative Party began to take shape under the direction of J. Daniel Mahoney, a New York attorney, and his brother-in-law, Kieran O'Doherty. They were motivated primarily by the belief that real political alternatives were no longer being offered to the state electorate. They saw the three dominant parties in the state—the Liberal Party, the Democratic Party, and the Republican Party under Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller and Sen. Jacob K. Javits—as offering a generally liberal agenda.

Although political commentators predicted the early demise of the party—particularly in the aftermath of Barry Goldwater's overwhelming defeat in the 1964 presidential elections—the party continued to grow in both membership and in candidate endorsements. In 1965 the nationally known columnist and intellectual William F. Buckley ran for mayor of New York City, generating national publicity for the party. One year later, the Conservative candidate for governor, Professor Paul Adams, outpolled Liberal Party candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., obtaining Row C of the ballot for the party. A party's position on the ballot is determined by the number of votes cast for its candidate for governor. Appearing in Row C is significant because the higher the row, the more notice voters are likely to take of the party's candidates. In 1970 James Buckley was elected to the U.S. Senate on Row C alone, and from the mid-1970s onward no statewide Republican candidate gained office without Conservative cross-endorsement.

Although the Conservative Party suffered some setbacks, such as the loss of Row C to the Independence (Reform) Party in 1996 and the siphoning off of some supporters to the Right to Life Party, it remains a major force in New York State politics. (Unlike the Right to Life Party, the Conservative Party, although opposed to abortion, has occasionally backed proabortion candidates whose conservative credentials were otherwise satisfactory.) In 1998, for instance, the Liberal Party's gubernatorial nominee drew fewer than 80,000 votes, while the Conservative Party line provided Republican incumbent George E. Pataki with nearly 350,000 votes.

Even though some members of the Conservative Party are Protestant fundamentalists, the plurality of its membership and much of its leadership are traditional Roman Catholics. In a very real sense, the rise of the party has mirrored the rise of the conservative movement in America—from Goldwater's capture of the 1964 Republican convention to Ronald Reagan's electoral triumphs in 1980 and 1984. In addition, the party has successfully fought the image of extremism while generally remaining true to its core principles—tax limitation, education reform, and tough anticrime policies.