1986 New York State Comptroller election
1986 Comptroller Election in New York State
The 1986 New York State Comptroller election took place on November 4, 1986, to elect a candidate to the position of Comptroller. Republican nominee and incumbent Comptroller Edward Regan defeated Democratic nominee Herman Badillo, resulting in his election to the third of four consecutive terms he held as comptroller.
Regan was the only Republican candidate to win a statewide election for a position in the New York State Government in 1986, as Democratic candidates won both the gubernatorial and Attorney General elections. However, the Republicans won the concurrent U.S. Senate election.
Republican convention
Edward Regan was the only Republican incumbent out of four statewide elected officials; He won the Republican nomination by acclamation in May along with all other Republican candidates on the statewide ballot.
The Republican ticket had a decided tilt in favor of Westchester County, with four out of five Republican candidates being from the county. This drew criticism from Republican Rockland County Clerk Joseph R. Holland, among others. Erie County Republican leader Victor Farley described a shift in power between sociological classes by stating "The party of Rockefeller, Teddy Roosevelt, the patroons and the millionaires is now the party of D'Amato, O'Rourke, [Anthony J.] Colavita and even Farley,".
As part of this gradual shift in power from the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants living north and west of New York City to the urban-dwelling Italian and Irish Catholics, the Republican Party began to bank on the suburbs more heavily than in previous years. The shift in power was partially fueled by the assumption that upstate voters would vote Republican no matter what; It was also fueled by easier access to money downstate.
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