About Us
The Conservative Party was formed in 1962 to restore a meaningful choice to the voters of New York State. At that time, the three existing political parties espoused the doctrinaire liberal philosophy of the welfare state at home and the collectivist ideology abroad. In just four short decades, the party has grown from a small band of conservative-minded men and women to a statewide organization dedicated to the traditional American values of individual freedom, individual responsibility, and individual effort.
From a humble beginning garnering 141,000 votes on ballot Row F, Conservative Party principles have attracted Empire State voters in sufficient numbers to raise the Party to Row C. It twice received over a million votes for its candidate in a statewide election. From the founding of the party, it has been successively chaired by Kieran O’Doherty, J. Daniel Mahoney, Serphin R. Maltese, Michael R. Long, and currently, Gerard Kassar. Through the leadership of these men and the hard work of committee members, the Conservative Party elected James L. Buckley to the U. S. Senate, William Carney to the House of Representatives, Serphin R. Maltese to the State Senate, Rosemary R. Gunning, Charles Jerabec and Angela M. Wozniak to the State Assembly, and many county, city, town and village offices.
The 1994 elections were a breakthrough for the Conservative Party as it provided the margin of victory for Governor George E. Pataki with the 326,605 votes cast on the Conservative ballot line. Attorney General Vacco nosed out radical Karen Burstein by 88,340 votes. He received 305,961 votes on the Conservative line. In 1998, 348,272 votes for Governor George E. Pataki were cast on the Conservative line, over 20,000 more than in 1994, an anomaly in political history.
During the past 53 years, the Conservative Party has made the margin of victory for officials from Supreme Court Justices to Town Justices, County Executives to Village Board Members, Mayors and City Council Members to Ward Leaders, and will continue to play a pivotal role in the process of electing those who are committed to conservative values.
The Party strongly supports term limits and was instrumental when New York City voters went to the polls two separate times and defeated proposed changes to the term limit laws for the offices of Mayor and the City Council.
In 1997, the Conservative Party led the citizens of New York in defeating the $2.4 billion School Bond Act. Liberals outspent conservatives 6 to 1 in trying to pass what would have been nothing more than a colossal waste of taxpayer money, and averted a Constitutional Convention. In the year 2000, conservatives were instrumental in defeating the most expensive transportation bond ever placed on the ballot. In November 2003, party members helped defeat the “non-partisan election” ballot question in New York City and the raising of the debt limit for small city school districts. In 2005, conservatives also led the way to defeat the ill-conceived “Power Grab” by Albany’s legislators.
In 2009, the NYS Conservative Party made history again. The Conservative Party’s candidate for the 23rd Congressional District, Doug Hoffman, ran on the Conservative Party line alone, and garnered 45.98% of the vote, the highest for a minor party in a U.S. House race since 1949. The race was covered nationally and internationally, and energized a grassroots response seldom seen in politics. This energy translated to the establishment of the Taxed Enough Already “TEA Party” movement.
In 2020, the Conservative Party nominated incumbent Republican President Donald Trump for re-election to the presidency. In 2021, the Conservative Party successfully teamed up with the Republican Party to raise opposition among the state’s voters and defeat three ballot initiatives proposed by Democrats.
With your help, the Conservative Party will continue its vital role in reshaping the political agenda of the State and Nation.
