1992 United States Senate election in New York

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

• Al D'Amato, incumbent Senator

Withdrew

• Laurance Rockefeller Jr., environmental attorney and nephew of former New York Governor and Vice President Nelson Rockefeller (failed to submit signatures)

Results

Senator D'Amato was unopposed for re-nomination.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

• Robert Abrams, New York Attorney General
• Geraldine Ferraro, former U.S. Representative, and Democratic nominee for vice president in 1984
• Elizabeth Holtzman, New York City Comptroller, and nominee for the U.S. Senate in 1980
• Al Sharpton, Baptist minister and civil rights activist

Withdrew

• Robert Mrazek, U.S. Representative from Suffolk County

Declined

• Mark Green, New York City Commissioner of Consumer Affairs; Democratic nominee for Senate in 1986

Campaign

The Democratic primary campaign featured State Attorney General Robert Abrams, former U.S. Congresswoman and 1984 vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, Reverend Al Sharpton, and New York City Comptroller and former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman. Congressman Robert J. Mrazek was also an early candidate, but withdrew from the race after being named in the House banking scandal. Abrams was considered the initial front-runner.

Ferraro emphasized her career as a teacher, prosecutor, congresswoman, and mother, and positioned herself as being tough on crime. She soon took the lead in the polls, additionally capitalizing on her name recognition from 1984. However, she drew attacks from the media and her opponents over her husband John Zaccaro's finances and business relationships. Initially, Ferraro used the attacks in an attempt to galvanize the feminist vote, but her lead began to dwindle under the criticism, and she released additional tax returns in an attempt to defray the attacks. Holtzman ran a negative ad accusing Ferraro and Zaccaro of taking more than $300,000 in rent in the 1980s from a pornographer with purported ties to organized crime.

Results

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In the primary, Abrams won by less than one percentage point, winning 37 percent of the vote to Ferraro's 36 percent. Ferraro did not concede the election for two weeks.

General election

Campaign

After Abrams emerged as the nominee, the Democrats remained divided. In particular, Abrams spent much of the remainder of the campaign trying to get Ferraro's endorsement. Ferraro, enraged and bitter after the nature of the primary, ignored Abrams, and accepted Bill Clinton's request to campaign for his presidential bid instead. She was eventually persuaded by state party leaders into giving an unenthusiastic endorsement, with just three days to go before the general election, in exchange for an apology by Abrams for the tone of the primary.

Abrams was also accused of engaging in ethnically charged attacks against the Italian ancestry of both Ferraro and D'Amato. Ahead of the primary, Ferraro sought to defend herself against accusations that she received financial support from organized crime in her 1978 congressional campaign, claiming that, "If I were not Italian American, this whole thing would never have been brought up." In October, Abrams was again accused of anti-Italian political attacks, after calling D'Amato a "fascist" at a campaign event and alleging that he had engaged in the "big lie techniques" of Nazi propaganda officers. At a Columbus Day parade the following day, D'Amato accused Abrams of engaging in ethnic insults on his Italian ancestry, and in a subsequent campaign ad featured images of Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini to depict the word "fascist" as an anti-Italian slur. Abrams narrowly lost the general election, partially as a result of these controversies.

Polling

Results

References

References

1. Purdum, Todd S.. (July 12, 1992). "JULY 5-11: Rockefeller vs. D'Amato; A Powerful Political Name Reappears in New York". The New York Times.
2. (June 9, 1991). "D'AMATO FOE GREEN RULES OUT REMATCH IN NEW YORK IN '92". [[The Washington Post]].
3. Pear, Robert. (March 20, 1992). "Mrazek Is Said to Be Ready to Quit Senate Race".
4. Kolbert, Elizabeth. (October 21, 1991). "In Senate Campaign, Ferraro Picks Up Where She Left Off". [[The New York Times]].
5. Braden, Maria. (1996). "Women Politicians and the Media". [[The University Press of Kentucky]].
6. Mitchell, Alison. (September 1, 1992). "For Ferraro, Cheers of '84 Are Still Resonating". [[The New York Times]].
7. Lurie, Leonard. (1994). "Senator Pothole: The Unauthorized Biography of Al D'Amato". [[Birch Lane Press]].
8. Blumenthal, Ralph. (September 11, 1992). "Ferraro Releases Tax Returns for 2 Missing Years to Offset Attacks by Rivals". [[The New York Times]].
9. Mitchell, Alison. (August 27, 1992). "Holtzman Draws Criticism From Feminists Over Ads". [[The New York Times]].
10. Purdum, Todd S.. (September 16, 1992). "Abrams, In Tight Senate Vote, Appears to Edge Out Ferraro". [[The New York Times]].
11. Verhovek, Sam Howe. (October 1, 1992). "Abrams Gets A Concession From Ferraro". [[The New York Times]].
12. "NY US Senate D Primary Race - September 15, 1992".
13. Manegold, Catherine S.. (November 1, 1992). "Ferraro Gets An Apology From Abrams". [[The New York Times]].
14. Treadwell, David. (September 15, 1992). "'92 POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE : A Family Feud Comes to a Close - at Ballot Box: N.Y. Senate primary today ends Democratic fight over Ferraro. But GOP could benefit.". Los Angeles Times.
15. Mouat, Lucia. (October 22, 1992). "D'Amato, Abrams Splatter Road To US Senate With Lots of Mud". The Christian Science Monitor.
16. Stanley, Alessandra. (November 5, 1992). "THE 1992 ELECTIONS: NEW YORK STATE - U.S. SENATE RACE; D'Amato: Combining Money, Attacks, and Foe's Blunders". The New York Times.
17. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE1DB1138F93AA3575AC0A965958260 Attorney General Abrams to Quit To Join a Law Firm in Manhattan]. New York Times. September 9, 1993.
18. [https://buffalonews.com/1992/10/30/poll-shows-senate-race-a-dead-heat-two-points-separate-abrams-damato/ Buffalo News/Political-Media Research Inc.]
19. "Our Campaigns - NY US Senate Race - Nov 03, 1992".
20. Clerk of the House of Representatives. (1993). "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional election of November 3, 1992". [[United States Government Publishing Office.