Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo (/ˈkwoʊmoʊ/; born December 6, 1957) is an American politician who is the 56th and current Governor of New York. A member of the Democratic Party, Cuomo was elected in 2010, holding the same position his father, Mario Cuomo, held from 1983 to 1994. Born in Queens, New York, he is a graduate of Fordham University and Albany Law School. Cuomo began his career working as campaign manager for his father then served as an assistant district attorney in New York City before entering private practice. He founded the Housing Enterprise for the Less Privileged and was appointed Chairman of the New York City Homeless Commission, where he served from 1990 to 1993. Cuomo then joined the Clinton Administration in 1993 when he was appointed assistant secretary for Community Planning and Development in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He then served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1997 to 2001. After a failed campaign for governor in 2002, Cuomo was elected to one term as Attorney General of New York in 2006; serving until 2011. After incumbent governor David Paterson was forced to drop out of his reelection campaign because of scandals, Cuomo was announced for the Democratic nomination in May 2010. He won in an uncontested primary and faced Republican Carl Paladino in the general election, where he won with 62% of the vote. During his first term, New York legalized same-sex marriage and toughened gun controls. Cuomo was elected to a second term in 2014.