George Elmer Pataki (; born June 24, 1945) is an American lawyer and Republican politician who served as the 53rd Governor of New York (1995–2006). An attorney by profession, Pataki was elected mayor of his hometown of Peekskill, New York and went on to be elected to the State Assembly and the State Senate. In 1994, Pataki ran for Governor of New York against three-term incumbent Mario Cuomo, defeating him by a margin of more than three points as part of the Republican Revolution of 1994. Pataki would himself be elected to three consecutive terms, and was the third Republican Governor of New York elected since 1923 (the other two were Govs. Thomas E. Dewey and Nelson Rockefeller). As of 2020, Pataki is the most recent Republican to hold any statewide office in New York. In early 2015, Pataki began exploring a candidacy for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 2016; he announced his candidacy on May 28, 2015. On December 29, 2015, Pataki ended his campaign before the Republican presidential primaries had begun.