List of Premiers of the Province of New Albany
1973–1983: Hamilton Fish IV (Progressive Conservative)
1975 (maj.) def. James Hanley (Liberal)
1979 (maj.) def. John LaFalce (Liberal), Benjamin Nichols (New Democratic)
1983–1987: Stan Lundine (Liberal)
1983 (maj.) def. Hamilton Fish IV (Progressive Conservative), Benjamin Nichols (New Democratic)
1987–1993: Joseph Bruno (Progressive Conservative)
1987 (min.) def. Stan Lundine (Liberal), John Dow (New Democratic)
1990 (maj.) def. Mary Anne Krupsak (Liberal), John Dow (New Democratic)
1993–1998: Randy Kuhl (Progressive Conservative)
1994 (maj.) def. Jerry Jennings (Liberal)
1998–2003: Mike McNulty (Liberal)
1998 (maj.) def. Randy Kuhl (Progressive Conservative), Maurice Hinchey (New Democratic)
2001 (c&s from New Democratic) def. Gerald Solomon (Progressive Conservative), Maurice Hinchey (New Democratic)
2003–2006: Neil Breslin (Liberal)
2004 (min.) def. Benjamin Gilman (Progressive Conservative), Maurice Hinchey (New Democratic)
2006–2016: John McHugh (Progressive Conservative)
2006 (min.) def. Neil Breslin (Liberal), Maurice Hinchey (New Democratic)
2009 (maj.) def. Maurice Hinchey (New Democratic), Hamilton Fish V (Liberal)
2013 (maj.) def. Michael Arcuri (Liberal), Paul Tonko (New Democratic)
2016–2020: John Faso (Progressive Conservative)
2017 (maj.) def. Robert Duffy (Liberal), Rachel May (New Democratic), David Bellavia (New Albany People's League)
2020–2022: Tom Reed (Progressive Conservative)
2021 (min.) def. Max Della Pia (Liberal), Michelle Hinchey (New Democratic), David Bellavia (New Albany People's League)
2022–0000: Max Della Pia (Liberal)
2022 (rotation with New Democratic) def. John Faso (Progressive Conservative), Michelle Hinchey (New Democratic), Alicia Purdy (New Albany People's League)
List of First Ministers of the Autonomous City of New York
1968–1977: Paul O'Dwyer (New York Liberal)
1970 (maj.) def. Roy Goodman (United Centre)
1974 (maj.) def. Roy Goodman (United Centre), Allard Lowenstein (Coalition for Democratic Reform)
1977–1983: Bess Myerson (New York Liberal)
1978 (maj.) def. Roy Goodman (United Centre), Allard Lowenstein (Coalition for Democratic Reform)
1982 (maj.) def. Roy Goodman (United Centre)
1983–1988: Stanley Simon (New York Liberal)
1984 (maj.) def. Roy Goodman (United Centre)
1988–1991: Roy Goodman (United Centre)
1988 (min.) def. Stanley Simon (New York Liberal)
1991–2000: Peter Vallone Sr. (New York Liberal)
1991 (maj.) def. Larry Sanders (Metropolitan Progressive League), Roy Goodman (United Centre)
1995 (min.) def. Larry Sanders (Metropolitan Progressive League), Charles Millard (United Centre)
1997 (maj.) def. Diana Taylor (United Centre), Karen Burstein (Metropolitan Progressive League)
2000–2015: Eliot Engel (New York Liberal)
2000 (maj.) def. Deborah Glick (Metropolitan Progressive League), Diana Taylor (United Centre)
2003 (maj.) def. Andrew Eristoff (United Centre), Deborah Glick (Metropolitan Progressive League)
2007 (min.) def. Norman Siegel (Metropolitan Progressive League), Bob Turner (United Centre)
2008 (maj.) def. Norman Siegel (Metropolitan Progressive League), Pete King (United Centre), Dov Hikind (Maalos)
2012 (maj.) def. Norman Siegel (Metropolitan Progressive League), Andrew Lanza (United Centre), Dov Hikind (Maalos)
2015–2018: Malcolm Smith (New York Liberal)
2016 (maj.) def. Zephyr Teachout (Metropolitan Progressive League), John Flanagan (United Centre), Simcha Felder (Maalos)
2018–2022: Martin Malave Dilan (New York Liberal)
2019 (coalition with United Centre) def. Zephyr Teachout (Metropolitan Progressive League), Dick Parsons (United Centre), Simcha Felder (Maalos)
2022–0000: Michael Gianaris (Metropolitan Progressive League)
2022 (c&s from Independent Liberals) def. Martin Malave Dilan (New York Liberal), John Flanagan (United Centre), Perry Gershon & Evelyn Farkas (Independent Liberal), Simcha Felder (Maalos)
Political orthodoxy was turned on its head in 2022 for the province of New Albany and its southern neighbour, the Autonomous City of New York.
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In New Albany, Premier Tom Reed, who'd been leading the Progressive Conservative government as of late, suddenly announced his plans to retire after allegations of sexual misconduct emerged. Reed, the leader of the New Albany PCs' moderate wing, had been a successful and popular premier ever since he replaced John Faso at the helm of the strongly-PC leaning province. Prior to the emergence of the allegations, the government's approval ratings were remarkably high by minority government standards, with Reed being seen as the designated heir of the extremely popular former Premier John McHugh, who'd resigned in 2016 to accept an appointment to the Senate. When the news broke, Reed's popularity tanked and opposition leader Max Della Pia and NDP leader Michelle Hinchey announced in a press conference that they would be jointly filing a motion of no confidence. With the votes of the right-wing People's League secured, the motion narrowly passed and the writs were dropped for a snap general election. Reed announced shortly thereafter that he would be resigning immediately as PC leader, and would stand down both as Premier and as an MPP at the next election. Former Premier John Faso was quickly elected by the parliamentary PC party to replace him.
As the campaign wore on, the polls showed the opposition parties gaining rapidly at the PCs' expense. The Reed affair did them no favours, and Faso's promise of a fresh start--despite having been premier himself for four years--simply did not fly for the voters. When the results came in, the Liberals and NDP gained heavily but neither had the numbers for a majority. Desperate to keep the PCs out of power for just the fourth time since the 1920s, they announced something unprecedented: a rotation government. Under the coalition agreement, Liberal leader Max Della Pia, the former Air Force general, would serve as Premier for the first two years and last six months of the government's term, and NDP leader Michelle Hinchey, the conservationist and daughter of popular former leader Maurice Hinchey--the first NDP leader to lead the party into opposition--would lead it for the one year and six months in between. With the ministerial portfolios divided proportionally between the two parties, the coalition appears to be working smoothly. Time will tell whether that will be the case in four years' time.
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In New York, meanwhile, the mighty have fallen. The New York Liberal Party, which has governed the city continuously since the 19th century (save for a three-year stretch from 1988 to 1991), has lost this year's election.
The events of the last few years in New York politics seems almost like a perfect storm for the Metropolitan Progressive League, which was formed in the early 1990s expressly to combat the Liberals' ironclad rule and to call for accountability in the city-province notorious for political oligarchy and corruption. Things began in 2017, when Premier Malcolm Smith was charged with corruption by federal courts, with bribery charges soon added. The shock of Smith's prosecution and the unpopularity of his successor as Liberal leader and Premier, Martin Malave Dilan, led to the Liberals falling to a weak plurality. Dilan's decision to form a coalition with the United Centre Party further incensed the reformist left-wing of the Liberals, who broke off and formed the Independent Liberal Conference under the leadership of backbenchers Evelyn Farkas and Perry Gershon.
The coalition was shaky, but for fear of sending the Progressives into power, it soldiered on. John Flanagan, who'd returned to the United Centre leadership after calling an internal vote of no confidence in the more moderate Dick Parsons, was able to leverage his position to extract more conservative policies from the Dilan government. Ultimately, however, the coalition agreement collapsed in 2022 when irreconcilable budget disputes led Flanagan to withdraw from government and back calls for a new election. Dilan, seeing no alternative choice, acquiesced. By then, the tides had turned and the Liberals had fallen behind in the polls for the first time in decades. As the campaign wore on, the energetic Progressive leader Michael Gianaris relentlessly hammered the Liberals as Dilan, looking exhausted and stressed, floundered in the debates. The parallel voting system, which had long favoured the Liberals, turned on its head to leave the Metropolitan Progressive League just four seats short of a majority, which was quickly remedied after a coalition agreement was reached with the Independent Liberals just three days after the election.
Premier Gianaris is now set to implement the most ambitious agenda New York has ever seen. With the Independent Liberals behind him and eager for reform, he has the majority he needs. Yet, in a system still so full of archaic rules, red tape, backroom deals, and straight-up corruption, his task will be far from easy.
