Editing Westchester County, New York (section)

==Government==
{{Main|Westchester County Executive|Westchester County Clerk}}
The Westchester County Government is currently headed by the County Executive [[Ken Jenkins (politician)|Ken Jenkins]], who won a [[2025 Westchester County Executive special election|special election]] to finish the term of [[George Latimer (New York politician)|George Latimer]] who resigned on January 2, 2025 in order to be sworn in as [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. representative]] of [[New York (state)|New York's]] [[New York's 16th congressional district|16th Congressional District]]. The [[district attorney]] is Miriam E. Rocah, and the County Clerk is [[Timothy C. Idoni]]. All three are Democrats.

===Board of Legislators===
{{Main|Westchester County Board of Legislators}}
The Westchester County Board of Legislators is the legislative branch of Westchester County. Currently, there are fifteen Democrats, one Republican, and one Conservative who caucuses with the Republicans. The current chair of the board is Vedat Gashi.<ref name="Auto3Z-6"/>

===Politics===
{{PresHead|place=Westchester County, New York|source=<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|last=Leip|first=David|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=October 25, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Democratic|167,795|287,434|2,609|New York}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|144,731|312,437|5,196|New York}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|131,238|272,926|16,491|New York}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|143,122|240,785|4,540|New York}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|147,824|261,810|3,410|New York}}
{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|159,628|229,849|6,293|New York}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|139,278|218,010|14,525|New York}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|123,719|196,310|24,834|New York}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|151,990|184,300|42,550|New York}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|197,956|169,860|3,192|New York}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|229,005|160,225|1,078|New York}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|198,552|130,136|36,461|New York}}
{{PresRow|1976|Republican|208,527|173,153|2,616|New York}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|262,901|154,412|1,122|New York}}
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|201,652|173,954|25,201|New York}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|149,052|243,723|460|New York}}
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|224,562|171,410|691|New York}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|271,906|104,857|0|New York}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|237,105|113,358|1,454|New York}}
{{PresRow|1948|Republican|177,077|95,681|17,853|New York}}
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|174,635|107,591|756|New York}}
{{PresRow|1940|Republican|182,883|110,114|694|New York}}
{{PresRow|1936|Republican|133,670|123,561|4,338|New York}}
{{PresRow|1932|Republican|112,747|101,435|6,606|New York}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|109,939|80,926|4,679|New York}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|85,029|30,964|17,042|New York}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|76,020|28,060|7,255|New York}}
{{PresRow|1916|Republican|34,693|22,457|1,230|New York}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|15,843|21,160|16,708|New York}}
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|29,438|18,346|2,638|New York}}
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|25,101|18,093|1,685|New York}}
{{PresRow|1900|Republican|21,256|16,439|1,032|New York}}
{{PresRow|1896|Republican|19,337|11,752|1,345|New York}}
{{PresRow|1892|Democratic|13,456|16,088|1,595|New York}}
{{PresRow|1888|Democratic|13,799|14,948|732|New York}}
{{PresRow|1884|Democratic|11,286|12,525|683|New York}}
|}

Westchester County generally leans toward the political left in recent decades. The Republican nominee for president last won a majority in 1988.

Historically, Westchester County was a classic "Yankee Republican" county. It supported Republican presidential candidates in all but two elections from 1896 to 1988. The only exceptions were 1912, when the GOP was divided between [[William Howard Taft]] and [[Theodore Roosevelt]], and 1964, when [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] won a national landslide and swept every county in New York. As a measure of how Republican the county was for years, it was one of the few counties where [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] of neighboring Dutchess County was completely shut out in all four of his campaigns for president.

However, it swung Democratic in the early 1990s—much like other New York City suburbs. In the most recent national elections, Westchester voters tended to be far more Democratic than the national average. In fact, Westchester, after New York City and [[Albany County, New York|Albany County]], has produced the biggest margins for statewide Democrats in recent years. Democratic voters are mainly concentrated in the more populated southern and central parts of the county. More than 63 percent of Westchester County voters voted for [[Barack Obama]] in the [[2008 United States presidential election|2008 presidential race]], the seventh-highest percentage of any New York county.

Currently, Westchester County is represented in the U.S. House by Republican {{Representative|nycd|17|fmt=linked}} and Democrat {{Representative|nycd|16|fmt=linked}}. Lawler's district covers most of the county's northern half. It also includes all of [[Rockland County|Rockland]] and [[Putnam County, New York|Putnam]] Counties and a portion of [[Dutchess County|Dutchess]]. Latimer's district includes most of the southern half of the county, including Yonkers, Mount Vernon, White Plains, New Rochelle and Rye along with a sliver of the Bronx.

Additionally, Republicans remain competitive with Democrats in state and local elections. For instance, it voted for Republican [[George Pataki]], by a margin of 23.07% against Democratic candidate, [[Carl McCall]] in the [[2002 New York gubernatorial election|gubernatorial race of 2002]], and by 26.22% in 1998. Pataki hails from Westchester; he previously served as mayor of Peekskill and represented part of the county in the state Assembly and state Senate prior to being elected governor.

In 1998, County Executive [[Andrew Spano]] became just the second Democrat to hold the post in at least a half-century. In 2006, county legislator [[Andrea Stewart-Cousins]] defeated 20-year incumbent [[Nicholas Spano]] for a seat in the [[New York State Senate]] in a rematch of the 2004 race, which she had lost by only 18 votes. His brother, Assembly Member [[Mike Spano]], switched parties in July 2007 to become a Democrat. District attorney [[Janet DiFiore]] also switched parties from Republican to Democratic in August 2007. In 2009, Republican [[Rob Astorino]] ousted three-term county executive Andy Spano, who had the endorsement of the New York Conservative Party, winning in a landslide. Astorino became the first Republican county executive since [[Andrew O'Rourke]] left the post in 1997. In 2011, the GOP broke the Democratic two-thirds majority in the county legislature by picking up two seats. However, two of the Democrats formed a coalition with the Republicans to control the board, with a Republican becoming vice-chair. In 2017 Democrats gained three seats to take outright control of the board. In 2019 Democrats gained two seats and in 2020 the last remaining Republican switched parties to become a Democrat. As of the 2021 elections the current composition is fifteen Democrats, one Republican and one Conservative.

{| class=wikitable
! colspan = 6 | Voter registration as of April 1, 2016<ref>{{cite web |title=NYSVoter Enrollment by County, Party Affiliation and Status |date=April 2016 |url=http://www.elections.ny.gov/NYSBOE/enrollment/county/county_apr16.pdf |publisher=New York State Board of Elections |access-date=July 30, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730140838/http://www.elections.ny.gov/NYSBOE/enrollment/county/county_apr16.pdf |archive-date=July 30, 2016 }}</ref>
|-
! colspan = 2 | Party
! Active voters
! Inactive voters
! Total voters
! Percentage
|-
| {{party color cell|Democratic Party (United States)}}
| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 263,855
| style="text-align:center;"| 26,561
| style="text-align:center;"| 290,416
| style="text-align:center;"| 47.65%
|-
| {{party color cell|Republican Party (United States)}}
| [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 128,152
| style="text-align:center;"| 12,200
| style="text-align:center;"| 140,352
| style="text-align:center;"| 23.02%
|-
| {{party color cell|Independent Party (United States)}}
| Unaffiliated
| style="text-align:center;"| 129,709
| style="text-align:center;"| 14,297
| style="text-align:center;"| 144,006
| style="text-align:center;"| 23.62%
|-
| {{party color cell|Libertarian Party (United States)}}
| Other{{efn|Included are voters affiliated with the [[Conservative Party of New York State|Conservative Party]], [[Green Party of New York|Green Party]], [[Working Families Party]], [[Independence Party of New York|Independence Party]], [[Women's Equality Party (New York)|Women's Equality Party]], [[Reform Party of New York State|Reform Party]], and other small parties.}}
| style="text-align:center;"| 31,460
| style="text-align:center;"| 3,348
| style="text-align:center;"| 34,808
| style="text-align:center;"| 5.71%
|-
! colspan = 2 | Total
! style="text-align:center;"| 553,176
! style="text-align:center;"| 56,406
! style="text-align:center;"| 609,582
! style="text-align:center;"| 100%
|}

Westchester County was the home of U.S. Vice President [[Nelson Rockefeller]], who occupied the [[Kykuit]] mansion near the hamlet of [[Pocantico Hills, New York|Pocantico Hills]].

The county is also home to 42nd U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]] and Secretary of State [[Hillary Clinton]], who live in [[Chappaqua, New York|Chappaqua]]. Former First Lady [[Barbara Bush]] grew up in Rye.

U.S. President [[Donald Trump]] owns a home in [[Bedford (town), New York|Bedford]]. The 230-acre [[Seven Springs (Bedford, New York)|Seven Springs estate]] was acquired by Trump in 1996.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Seven Springs, Trump's N.Y. property, spared spotlight –for now|url=https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/2017/04/25/donald-trump-seven-springs/100562900/|last=McKinney|first=Michael P.|website=USA Today|language=en-US|access-date=May 7, 2020}}</ref>