George Elmer Pataki (born June 24, 1945) is an American politician who served as the 53rd Governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. He previously served in the State Legislature from 1985 to 1994, and as the Mayor of Peekskill from 1981 to 1984. Pataki was the third Republican since 1923 to win New York's governorship, after Thomas E. Dewey and Nelson Rockefeller. Pataki's most notable achievements as governor included the creation of a number of new health care programs, presiding over recovery efforts following the September 11 attacks, and for increasing the state's credit rating three times. He chose not to run for a fourth term in 2006; he was succeeded by Democrat Eliot Spitzer. Pataki and Mary Donohue (his second Lt. Governor) remain the last Republicans to be elected to statewide office in New York, although Republicans Joseph Bruno and Dean Skelos each briefly served as acting Lieutenant Governor in 2008. Pataki announced his candidacy for the Republican Party presidential nomination on May 28, 2015. He withdrew from the race shortly before the primaries began on December 29, 2015.
