How does government work in New York?

What may surprise you here

• The Supreme Court is the main trial court, not the highest court; the highest court is the Court of Appeals. source
• Court of Appeals judges serve fourteen-year terms and are chosen by the governor from names a judicial nomination commission recommends. source

Legislature

Name

Legislature source

Senate: seats

63 source

Senate: term in years

2 source

Assembly: seats

150 source

Assembly: term in years

2 source

Term limits

None source

Structure set by: N.Y. Const. art. III, sec. 1 and sec. 2.

Governor and statewide offices

Term in years

4 source

Term limit

None source

Next regular election

2030 source

Lieutenant governor

joint ticket source

Attorney general

elected source

Attorney general’s term in years

4 source

Secretary of state

appointed by governor source

Courts

Highest court

Court of Appeals source

Intermediate appeals court

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court source

Main trial court

Supreme Court source

How high-court judges reach the bench

mixed: Court of Appeals judges are appointed by the governor with Senate consent; Supreme Court justices are elected source

Local government

Called

county source

How many

62 source

Cities and towns

New York’s subcounty general-purpose governments are cities and villages (the municipal governments) and towns. source

Schools

New York has independent school districts, such as central, union-free and enlarged city districts, which Census statistics count as separate governments. source

Elections

Chief election official

State Board of Elections source

Who runs elections locally

County boards of elections (bipartisan) source

Primary type

closed source

Regular governor elections fall in

even source

Citizen initiatives

no source

Who holds these offices

As of November 5, 2026. Terms of the current Congress run to January 3, 2027. Winners of the November 3, 2026 elections are not shown until results are certified and they take office.

Governor: Kathy Hochul DDemocratic, in office since August 24, 2021. source

Who has held each Senate seat since 2001

Each band is one person in the seat. The line marks November 2026; anything to its right is the rest of a current term. Dates through 2026 come from the congress-legislators public dataset, whose current members are matched against the Senate’s own roster on every build.

Sources