David Paterson
1954
The first legally blind person to be sworn in as governor of a U.S. state, and is the first African – American governor of New York.
First Black Governor of New York
Democratic Party
New York State Senate
Lieutenant Governor of New York
Governor of New York
David Alexander Paterson was born on May 20, 1954, he is an American politician and the former Democratic Governor of New York, serving from 2008-2010. He was the first legally blind and the first black governor of New York.
During his short tenure as governor, Paterson was one of two black governors in the United States, the other being Deval Patrick of Massachusetts. It was the first time in U.S. history that two black governors served concurrently.
After graduating from law school, Paterson worked in the District Attorney’s office of Queens County, New York, and on the staff of Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins. In 1985, he was elected to the New York State Senate to a seat that was once held by his father, former New York Secretary of State Basil Paterson. In 2003, he rose to the position of Senate Minority Leader. Paterson was selected as running mate by then New York Attorney General and Democratic Party nominee Eliot Spitzer in the 2006 New York gubernatorial election.[1] They were elected in November 2006 with 69 percent of the vote, and Paterson took office as Lieutenant Governor on January 1, 2007, After Spitzer resigned in the wake of a prostitution scandal, Paterson was sworn in as governor of New York on March 17, 2008
Paterson was the first African American Governor of New York and the fourth in any U.S. state (following Reconstruction-era Louisiana Gov. P. B. S. Pinchback, former Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder, and current Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick). For the first time, two African-American governors served simultaneously in the United States (Paterson and Patrick). The Lieutenant Governor’s office remained vacant until the term ran out in 2010. Under the state’s constitution, the president pro tempore of the state senate, Dean Skelos, a Republican, is next in the line of succession for the Governor’s office.